The Yakima Coffeehouse Poets presents Open Mic Night on the second Wednesday of each month, September through May, usually held at the Larson Gallery, YVC Campus, 1606 W. Nob Hill Blvd (across the street from the old Larson Gallery).
Our Open Mic meetings usually begin at 6:30pm (unless otherwise noted) with doors open 30 minutes before as a reception.
Next Open Mic:
Wednesday, January 14, 2026,
6:30pm
at the Larson Gallery
(Doors open at 6:00pm for a Reception prior to the Reading.)
Featured Poet: Val Marsh
Val is a Cle Elum native who has lived in Yakima for 23 years. She has been writing poetry and prose since her teenage years, but is back from a long break, and has been writing in earnest since January 2025. She is always learning, listening, and seeking to grow her heart and hone her craft through exposure to other artists.
Val hopes you enjoy her work, and please, if you do nothing else, just keep writing and reading!
This reading is dedicated to the late, great Robert Michel Nevills, her first and most important mentor.”
If you wish to read, please sign up via email:
Like the Poetry contest, Open Mic Night got its start at Allied Arts. The event was initiated in 2005 by local poet Elaine Smith. Then encouraged by the former Allied Arts director Elizabeth Herres Miller and her successor Jessica Moskwa. They felt a monthly forum where local poets could read original work would complement the annual contest. They were right.
Poets Claire Carpenter, Dotty Armstrong, Chuck Forster, Rod Nelson, Linda Brown, Ed Stover, Elaine Smith, and Mark Fuzie have kept Open Mic alive.
Open Mic Night was popular at the outset and remains so as a program now run by the Yakima Coffeehouse Poets. Come read a poem and meet your fellow Yakima poets.