With the COVID-19 situation, our in-person Open Mic Night meetings were temporarily derailed. However, we want to keep our poetry community engaged. Stay tuned for new Poetry options this Open Mic season!
The Yakima Coffeehouse Poets presents Open Mic Night on the second Wednesday of each month, September through May, usually held at the Larson Gallery, YVCC Campus but…
There is a hitch in our plan for a public meeting. We will continue to present via ZOOM™, at least for a bit.
Check back here for updates.
Next Open Mic
Wednesday, December 8, 2021,
7:00pm.
Host: Xavier Cavazos
Yes, we’re coming up on that time of the month again.
That would be the second Wednesday which means it’s almost time for another Yakima Coffeehouse Poets Open Mic Night. So be sure and crank up your ZOOM™ chops for Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. because this will be another on-line event. Our featured poet this month will be Ellensburg poet and Central Washington University professor Xavier Cavazos. We will send out a ZOOM™ link early next week. Meanwhile, here is Xav’s bio and picture…
Xavier Cavazos is a trauma poet and the author of three award-winning poetry collections: “Barbarian at the Gate” (Poetry Society of America), “Diamond Grove Slave Tree” (Ice Cube Press), and “The Devil’s Workshop,” (forthcoming from Cleveland State University Poetry Center 2023). He hopes to conjure.
Virtual Open Mic Nights may continue, the in person schedule is uncertain.
In that case, a ZOOM™ link circulated by email the day before the event
for those of you who want to attend virtually.
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.