Its mission is finding new and innovative ways to bring together the poetry community with the general public through a series of events and projects.
[2] Events are collaborative, interactive and sometimes held in large-scale public venues in contrast to traditional poetry reading formats.
The society has three current and four retired projects and events: The festival was first organized in 2010 and is funded in part by an annual Kickstarter campaign[7] as well as sponsors that, in 2016, included the Brooklyn Brewery, The New School, New York State Council on the Arts, The Poetry Table and the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
[10] Attendees for the 2016 festival attracted residents of West Virginia, Florida, New Jersey and "a poetry journal staffed by students from around the world.
"[12] The winner of the 6th Annual Clint Eastwood Award for American Poetry was announced at the 2016 after-party held at Fraunces Tavern Restaurant.
Brothel events are a blend of burlesque, Vaudeville and poetic performances, the sum of which has been referred to as a "think tank for art.
"[16] The Poetry Brothel has been staged in and/or maintains sister organizations in: Past readers and performers include: Ariana Reines (2008), David Lehman (2008), Dorianne Laux (2009), Dorothea Lasky (2012), Karen Abbott (2015), Mark Doty (2013), Matthea Harvey (2015), Patricia Smith (2008), Paul Muldoon (2013), Robert Pinsky (2016), and Timothy Donnelly (2013).
The controversy is referenced in a reader’s comment posted in an article by The Guardian dated October 24, 2014 titled "Poetry Brothel puts the bawd in bard"[29] and The Review Review references another rival in Chicago, Illinois, which was started by The Poetry Society of New York but later went independent.