Meet-a-Ram: Maurice ‘Moeflowz’ Brown puts poetry in motion

By Liz DeFluri

Maurice “Moeflowz” Brown is a man of letters – and numbers.

In April, Brown was named one of two new poet laureates for Richmond, a program that supports the city’s arts communities. But at Virginia Commonwealth University, Brown is known as well for his numerical pursuits: He earned his Ph.D. in systems modeling and analysis from the College of Humanities and Sciences in 2022 and teaches math in the School of Business.

Brown has always enjoyed writing but became more intentional about poetry during his U.S. Army service. After his first Richmond poetry performance in the early 2000s, he combined his passions for poetry and business by founding Ink & Barrel, which highlights spoken-word poetry. Brown also serves as associate director of the Writer’s Den RVA, a collective that offers open-mic events, poetry slams and other creative showcases.

As one of the city’s poet laureates – colleague Rosa Castellano also has VCU ties (see sidebar) – Brown will serve as a cultural ambassador, supporting the Richmond community through poetry and storytelling while developing projects that connect residents and champion literacy.

VCU News caught up with Brown to talk about his journey and poetry’s place in Richmond.

How did you get your start in the Richmond poetry scene?

When I started to look at getting out of the military and transitioning to what I was going to do, I started writing again. I’m originally from Philadelphia, but I came to Virginia and went to this poetry location in Jackson Ward; it used to be called Tropical Soul, and there was this whole community of poets. Once I got immersed in that, I started writing all the time and became more intentional about writing.

What does the poet laureate position mean for storytelling in Richmond?

For me, it has always meant being an ambassador for the city. It’s about taking the mayor’s vision and helping people in other spaces see the vision of what Richmond’s all about in all its richness and all of its truth, regardless of how comfortable or uncomfortable that truth might be.

As a poet laureate, how do you intend to promote poetry and support the community?

I want to bring some of the poetry that I know exists outside of Richmond into Richmond as well, because I believe there are stories for us to share and things that we need to see as far as poetry is concerned.

I also do slam [poetry], and there are a lot of cities that do slam events that bring hundreds of people together. We used to have one in Richmond called Food for Thought, so I want to bring that back. The second thing is getting into the schools and offering workshops for the kids.

For the big project, I want to build an event where we can all come together for a conference with different workshops to learn from each other, culminating in events that showcase what we learn, showcase the youth and showcase the talent in Richmond.

What other creative endeavors are you working on?

I have my hands in a lot of things. I work with the Writer’s Den in Richmond, and we’re hoping to build that out. I just finished my first book, so now I’m in the process of figuring out what my next book is going to look like. I have also been talking to other artists to see if Ink & Barrel is something they want to be a part of in regard to sharing the building of this platform.

Share a final big-picture thought about your new role.

Being selected as poet laureate really means a lot to me, and I look forward to making sure I serve Richmond well and that I leave a space for the next person to pick up, carry on and feel comfortable. I knew it was something that I wanted to do at some point in the future. I honestly didn’t expect it to happen this soon in my career.