Several creative circles merged in the Red Room at KGB Bar in the East Village of Manhattan on a recent March evening. Sipping stiff martinis and enjoying a dedicated playlist of “2008’s top hits,” the intersection of literature, fashion, art and internet filled the room with a throwback, almost Beatnik buzz. They were here for the sixth installment of “Straight Girls,” a monthly poetry reading hosted by the poets Riley Mac and Montana James.
In just a few short months Ms. Mac, 30, and Mr. James, 28, have gained reputations for escaping the sometimes frumpy poetry scene of the outer boroughs. Their knack for pulling together a vaudevillian, stylish repartee is a breath of fresh air for many regular attendees of poetry readings.
“There are a lot of great poetry events in the city, but they can be so insular,” said Meg Yates, an artist who makes work under the name Meg Superstar Princess.
Ms. Yates, 27, praised the two not only for their ability to curate a potent lineup of readers, but also for their effortlessness in organizing a stylish fete that attracts established literary-world figures as well as “scenesters, socialites and artists that don’t leave their house.” The goal, Ms. Mac says, is for the milieu to mirror that of the house parties she would host in high school, which she characterized as “every social clique you could imagine in my mom’s basement.”
The night’s roster included the writer Gideon Jacobs, the poet Jordan Franklin and the digital artist Molly Soda, among others. The flyer with the event’s details featured a photo from the show “Jackass” — which debuted on MTV in 2000.
The readings are often a mix of original poetry and found texts that the readers find accidentally poetic. The mood is a mix of ironic and sincere in equal measure, with plenty of pastiche and a heavy appreciation for the profundity of cultural detritus. The poet Erin Perez opened the evening with work about homoerotic friendships, followed by readings of her own LetterBoxed reviews. The audience laughed when Ms. Perez, 27, delivered her review of “Phantom Thread, from 2017: “Why was he so mean?”
Ms. Soda, 36, brought a stack of printed-out images from the casting website ModelMayhem.com. She had written captions in the voice of each model. “After about 15 minutes, I’m OK again,” she said. “But, I guess, for those 15 minutes, Picasso would be proud,” she added, holding a photo of a would-be model crouching in a field.
Ms. Franklin, 34, who wore a hooded sweatshirt printed with an image from “The Re-Animator,” a sci-fi film from 1985, was the final act of the evening. Her set included a work titled “Break: Ode to the Indonesian Action Flick,” and she ended her time onstage by telling the crowd that they were so supportive she found it “disgusting.”
Ms. Mac and Mr. James said they started “Straight Girls” because they were feeling relegated to basements in Bushwick and wanted to bring a queer sensibility to the poetry scene in Manhattan, where they both live. “Poets deserve a stage and a spotlight,” Mr. James said. “And the audience deserves to be separate from the stage, in the dark. You should be able to roll your eyes in private.”
Ms. Mac met Mr. James at a poetry reading in 2021. Mr. James had read a poem about a “beautiful spoiled cow,” and Ms. Mac read one on the actress Lea Michele. Mr. James suggested they “do lunch,” and Ms. Mac replied by saying she had been “really into hot dogs lately.”
“I was in love,” Mr. James recalls. (The two are not romantically involved. Ms. Mac is engaged to the artist and sometimes-model Coco Gordon-Moore.)
In 2023, Ms. Mac quit drugs and alcohol, and Mr. James followed suit a few months later. When the two started Straight Girls last November, the name was a partial wink at their newfound sober status — as well as an ode to heterosexual girlhood.
Mr. James said it was not so much the attraction to men that defined a straight girl, but rather the themes of self-discovery, longing and a propensity for “self-romanticizing, keeping a diary.” He added, with appreciation, that “they’re totally self-conscious and not at the same time.” Sofia Coppola and Lana Del Rey were cited as exemplars of artists working in the genre.
“I credit the straight girls in my life for loving me and letting me love them,” said Ms. Mac, who has the phrase “everyone on earth is a teenage girl” tattooed in lowercase on her abdomen. A bit of poetry, made permanent.
