Safe Space
Held space,
not just a stage.
LOV3 Always exists because Houston needed a Saturday afternoon room for poets that was held with intention. This is how we hold it.
Our promise
LOV3 Always is a deliberate safe space — for the trauma-content poet, for the first-timer who’s never read out loud, for the queer voice, the Black voice, the recovering voice, the religious voice, the secular voice, the voice that doesn’t fit in any of those boxes.
What performers can expect
One piece, under 4 minutes. Read from a phone, a page, a memorized line — we don’t care which.
What the audience can expect
- Respect the mic. When anyone is on the mic, keep your conversations low.
- Provide energy before, during, and after. If you hear something you like, snap, clap, shout — the only thing we ask is don’t hold a conversation with the performer.
- If you record and post on social media, tag the performer. If a poet asks you not to record, respect their wishes — most likely they are practicing for a performance.
- Tip the show. Feed the bucket. There’s no cover — the donation bucket at the door pays the feature poet and the show expenses.
Reporting an incident
If someone in the room breaks the conduct code, tell any LOV3 staff, the host on the mic, or text the venue at (346) 833-6892. You won’t be questioned about whether what happened was “big enough.” We will believe you.
Follow-up reporting (post-show, anonymous) can be sent to safe-space@lov3htx.com. We read everything; we respond within 48 hours; we keep your name out of any action we take unless you ask us not to.
This page is a living document. If something on it doesn’t serve the room, tell us. The poets who built this code wrote it with the poets who use it in mind — and the people using it are who keep it honest.