Beautiful Black Books presents Tiny Room Poetry Series featuring Danez Smith and DVT
Tiny Room Poetry Series | Special Edition | Presented by Listen Different and Poetry Center San José
Join us for an intimate evening of poetry, music and community! This special edition offers a rare chance to connect with poets and musicians up close, meet fellow lovers of the art, and experience a vibrant local space in a fresh new way.
With performances by Danez Smith, DVT and Keana Aguila Labra.
Reserve your seat here!
Choose a donation priced ticket or a free ticket—no one turned away for lack of funds. Any support you can offer helps us pay our guest performers. There are a limited number of free online tickets, but more are available at the door. We ask that those who claim a free ticket to wait for available seating at show time.
Danez Smith and DVT will also participate in a Q&A after the show.
Tiny Room Poetry Series is supported by SVCreates, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara, Poetry Foundation, Recycle Book Store and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Our performers:
Danez Smith
Danez Smith was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. As a poet, performer, and cultural critic, their work transcends arbitrary boundaries to present art that is gripping, dismantling of oppression constructs, and striking on the human heart. Smith is the author of numerous poetry collections, including Love, Time (2027), Bluff (Graywolf Press, 2024), which won the Minnesota Book Award for Poetry, was nominated for the NAACP Image Award and Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in poetry. The collection is described as a book of “searching, stunning poems” where “Smith metaphorizes city into body politic, showing us the interstate running through all our hearts; demonstrating that we all contain protest and police, cowardice and commitment, money and kindness, looting and food drives,” according to Nam Le at The New York Times Book Review; Homie (Graywolf Press, 2020), which won the Minnesota Book Award, the Heartland Bookseller Award, and was a Finalist for both the National Book Critics Circle Award and the NAACP Image Award; Don’t Call Us Dead (Graywolf Press, 2017), which was a Finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the Forward Prize; and [insert] boy (YesYes Books, 2014), winner of the Lambda Literary Award and the Kate Tufts Discovery Award. They have also published two chapbooks, Black Movie (Button Poetry, 2014), which won the 2014 Button Poetry Prize, and hands on ya knees (Penmanship Books, 2013). Most recently, Smith edited Blues in Stereo: The Early Works of Langston Hughes (Hachette, 2024).
Smith’s writing has appeared in Vanity Fair, The New York Times, The New Yorker, GQ, Best American Poetry, Lit Hub, on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and in many other outlets. As a spoken word poet and performer, Smith uses rhythm, fierce, raw power, and image to re-imagine the world as they take it apart in their work. They were Individual World Poetry Slam finalist in 2011 and received Second Place at Individual World Poetry Slam in 2014. Smith is a four-time Rustbelt Individual Champion and was festival director for the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam in 2014. They were a featured performer at Louisiana Literature Festival in Denmark (2024), London Literature Festival (2024), Poesia Barcelona (2023), and the Queer Contact Festival in Manchester, UK (2011); they were also a featured poet at Nuyorican Poets Cafe (2014), Split This Rock Festival (2014), FAMU Younger Poets Series (2015), and Brave New Voices (2014).
Smith has been featured on Forbes’s annual 30 under 30 list and has received a National Endowment for the Arts literary grant, a Princeton Arts Fellowship (2020-2022), a United States Artist Fellowship (2020), the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship (2014), and fellowships from the McKnight Foundation, Cave Canem, and Voices of Our Nation (VONA). They are winner of the 2014 Paris American Reading Series and were a Finalist for both the Norma Farber First Book Award and the Debutlitzer prize in 2015. Smith was also featured in the Academy of American Poets’s Emerging Writers Series by National Book Award Finalist, Patricia Smith.
Smith earned a BA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where they were a First Wave Urban Arts Scholar. From 2017 to 2021, they were a co-host of the Poetry Foundation’s podcast, VS, and are a founding member of the multi-genre, multicultural Dark Noise Collective, a group which aims to help poets find common ground in their commitment to using art as a site for radical truth telling. Smith teaches at the Randolph College MFA program and the Black Youth Healing Arts Center in St. Paul, and lives in Minneapolis with their people.
DVT
Poetry that doesn't wait for the music to stop. DVT is composed of bandleader Damani Rhodes, former San Francisco Poet Laureate Tongo Eisen-Martin and singer-songwriter VADIA. Rhodes creates the sonic landscape, Tongo brings to life the spoken word, and VADIA sings with the spirit of a revival. Apart, they are forces. Together, they are a frequency.
Damani Rhodes is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, composer, and entrepreneur whose music blends jazz, gospel, hip hop, funk, and soul. He produced, arranged, and toured with hip hop/soul band SOL Development and founded the jazz fusion group Mino Yanci. His diverse body of work includes the socially conscious releases with SOL Development, the fusion-driven explorations of Mino Yanci, and his debut solo project, R.E.A.C.H., recorded live during a residency at the Kennedy Center and released during the pandemic. Damani was the composer for the Emmy-winning documentary Dear Beloved and the Emmy-nominated When the Waters Get Deep. He is currently spearheading the musical foundation and direction of a new project featuring VADIA and Tongo, continuing his mission to create music that moves both hearts and minds.
VADIA is a native of Oakland, California who teaches perseverance through art. She is a singer/songwriter who has shared many stages with local and international artists. Her vocal ability allows her to easily adapt to practically every style of music, be it jazz, show tunes, r&b, or pop music–but with an unbridled spiritual power in the delivery of every song that she sings. In her writing, Her a song “No Graves” has inspired a growing movement that can be followed under the hashtag #NOGRAVES. Listen closely to her lyrics and you will discover that she not only wants to share the beauty of her mind with others, but she invites you to experience the joy and pleasure she feels as she vocally creates an environment of openness, personal reflection, love, and empowerment of artists everywhere.
Tongo Eisen-Martin is a poet, movement worker, and educator. He was San Francisco’s eighth poet laureate (2021-2024), and is the author of three collections of poetry: Blood on the Fog (2021), selected by the New York Times as among the Best Poetry of 2021; Heaven is All Goodbyes (2017); and Someone’s Dead Already (2015). In 2020, Eisen-Martin co-founded Black Freighter Press to publish revolutionary works. His curriculum on the extrajudicial killing of Black people, We Charge Genocide Again, has been used as an educational and organizing tool throughout the country. Eisen-Martin is the recipient of several awards including the American Book Award (2018), a California Book Award (2018), and the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award (2018). He holds a B.A. and M.A. from Columbia University.
Keana Aguila Labra
Keana Aguila Labra (they/them/she/her) is a Cebuana Tagalog Fil-Am genre- and genderfluid poet, reviewer, editor, playwright, and writer in diaspora residing on stolen Ohlone Tamyen land. They are the author of the chapbooks, No Saints (Lazy Adventurer Publishing, 2020), Mohilak (Fahmidan Co. & Publishing, 2021), Kanunay (Violet & Bird, 2022), Conversations with(out) Lolo about Daddy (Sampaguita Press, 2025). Their first full-length collection, The Language of Unbreaking, was released February 2025 (Sampaguita Press).
Your host, Tshaka Campbell
Tshaka Campbell is the first black, Santa Clara County Poet Laureate and has authored four books of poetry entitled “TARMAN”, “MUTED WHISPERS”, “STUFF, I will write more”, “TUNNEL VISION'' and is latest book published by El Martilo press entitled “BLOOD AT THE ROOT. ” His words have been featured in Bridges Review, BBC UK, Content magazine, Speakeasy vol 1, Liminal Animals, Rigorous magazine, among others. A city of Milpitas and city of Sunnyvale commendation in the arts award recipient, Tshaka has also collaborated on projects with the World Health Organization (WHO), the De young museum in San Francisco, the NUMU and Triton museums, as well sits on the Board of Directors for Silicon Valley Creates arts council and Poetry Center San Jose. He has partnered with the Silicon Valley Transit Authority and community members to deliver youth programs centered around expanding poetry and literature. He has 4 spoken word albums entitled "ONE", “BLOODLINES”, "SKIN vol.1"; and his most recent release "NKISI" is currently available on all streaming platforms.
Well-RED features contributors to Magpie On The Gallows
Well-RED Reading Series featuring readings from contributors to Magpie on the Gallows: Poems on the art of Bosch and Bruegel
Co-sponsored by Works/San José art and performance center!
38 South Second Street, downtown San José.
Featured guests include: David Allen Sullivan, Jessica Breheny, Taylor Gorman, Dion O’Reilly, and Ken Weisner
If you are unable to attend in person, we welcome you to join via Zoom! Register in advance for this event via Zoom.
Downtown SJ provides free parking on the street after 6:00 p.m. Available street parking is difficult to find after 6:30 p.m.
If you are unable to find parking on the street, there are two parking garages of note:
1.) 25 S. 3rd Street PARKSJ Garage (located underground, under The Globe Apartments), about 300 meters from Works/San Jose;
2.) 2nd & San Carlos PARKSJ Garage (first 90 minutes are free). This is a 5-10 minute walk to Works/San Jose.
TO SUBMIT EVENT FEEDBACK, visit: https://bit.ly/4dBnxR2
Poetry Center San José is a member supported organization and is funded, in part, by grants from Applied Materials Foundation, The Blackbaud Giving Fund, the City of San José's Office of Cultural Affairs, Literary Arts Emergency Fund, supported by the Mellon Foundation (@MellonFdn), Knight Foundation, The Poetry Foundation, Poets & Writers, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, SVCREATES, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council and also supported in part by a SVCreates National Endowment for the Arts American Rescue Plan grant. We also thank Brandenburg Family Foundation and Anne & Mark's Art Party for their generous giving.
San José Poetry Slam feat. Lorenz Dumuk – Live at Wheelhouse
Poetry Center San José presents San José Poetry Slam – Live In Person! Featuring Lorenz Dumuk!
Come early and grab dinner. Wheelhouse owns the Round Table Pizza next door, and you can order your food from the bar in Wheelhouse.
Parking is free in Willow Glen and most of the parking lots are behind the businesses
Wheelhouse of Willow Glen
1173 Lincoln Avenue
San Jose, CA 95125
Sunday, July 19, 2026
Doors open and the sign up list goes out at 6:30pm
The Poetry Slam starts at 7:00pm
Admission is $5–10 sliding scale; no one turned away for lack of funds.
Hosted by Scorpiana Xlent.
Our Featured Poet is Lorenz Dumuk!
Lorenz Mazon Dumuk (siya/they/he) is a poet and spoken word artist from San Jose, California. Siya is the author of the book, Held (Sampaguita Press), as well as the author to two self published chapbooks, Ay Nako: Writing Through the Struggle, and I Think In Poetry. Lorenz is a VONA alumni, and a MALI (Multicultural Arts Leadership Institute) alumni, which is a Silicon Valley based program that focuses on developing leaders of color in the arts, culture, and entertainment sectors. Siya is one of the curators for, Glowing with the Moon, an open mic and interactive community space in San Jose. Lorenz writes with, against, and through the contradictions siya encounters, which allows siya to explore the different silences in niya life through niya poetry. Lorenz's spoken word performances are painfully heartfelt as well as magnificently healing. An awkwardly adorable poet who can be caught doing hip-circles before a poetry reading.
Poetry Slam Competition Info
Cash prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.
If you have never been to a Poetry Slam before, a poetry slam is a competition, imagine spoken word poetry as an olympic sport. The rules are simple:
1.) Poets must use their own poems.
2.) poet must use only one poem per round.
3.) no musical accompaniment.
4.) no props.
5.) there is a time limit of 3 minutes and 10 seconds. going over that will result in a time penalty.
This is a two-round slam, poets with the highest scores will move up to round two.
If you're not competing, we could use judges.
A Little Bit About the Slam
Established in 1998, the San José Poetry Slam was one of the first continuous competitive poetry events in the Bay Area. It has been a foundation and home for spoken word and performance poetry, loaded with a collection of regional and national championships to boot. San José has a widely respected name for spoken word thanks to the quality work and notable poets that have come up through the ranks, all thanks to the poetry slam community. Our slam has hosted many acclaimed featured guests from around the world, and it has brought home both national and international trophies.
Please remember to submit a quick audience survey to help us improve our logistics and content and report to our funders and sponsors. Here is the link to the survey: https://bit.ly/3M63VqH
Poetry Center San José promotes and supports the literary arts in San José. Over the past four decades, PCSJ has brought hundreds of exceptional writers from around the country to read from their works and, in many cases, to conduct workshops for local writers. PCSJ is a nonprofit organization established in 1978. Its base of operations is in the charming turn-of-the-century Victorian home where the renown poet Edwin Markham once lived, now located in San José History Park. Poetry Center San José is a member supported organization and is funded, in part, by grants from Applied Materials Foundation, the City of San José's Office of Cultural Affairs, Knight Foundation, Poets & Writers, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, SVCREATES, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council and also supported in part by a SVCreates National Endowment for the Arts American Rescue Plan grant. We also thank Brandenburg Family Foundation and Anne & Mark's Art Party for their generous giving.
PCSJ Board of Directors Meeting (via Zoom)
Public comment period will be available to begin the meeting, a chance for the public to share feedback on programming, suggestions, and constructive criticism to be considered by board members of PCSJ.
To join and participate in the public comment, please RSVP on Zoom here.
Between 6:30-6:35 is your time to notify that you wish to be heard. Provide your name in the chat to reserve your two minute time-slot.
Agenda and minutes will be provided.
Markham House & Library Open Hours with Barry Endick
Looking for a cozy spot to read, write, or just unwind? Stop by Markham House from 11am to 4pm. Enjoy a cup of coffee or tea while you browse our library, chat with our friendly docent, and take in some dedicated poetry appreciation time.
Barry Endick will perfom a short reading of Edwin Markham's poems at 2:00 pm. He will have copies of other Markham poems that anyone who attends can get up and read.
Barry Endick in the middle of an Edwin Markham poem!
📍Location: Markham House @ History Park • 635 Phelan Ave, San Jose, CA.
Free parking right outside of the main gate or in the lot at the end of Phelan Avenue (except during some History Park events.)
Once you walk into the park from Phelan Avenue, go straight until the road ends, then make a left. Markham House is then the second house on your left. There will be a flag over the steps that reads OPEN.
Well-RED featuring Santa Clara County Youth Poet Laureate Sierra Elman, Vice-Laureate Rohan Mahapatra and Ambassadors Polina Korobitsyna & Makela Shen
Well-RED Reading Series featuring Santa Clara County Youth Poet Laureate Sierra Elman, Vice-Laureate Rohan Mahapatra and Ambassadors Polina Korobitsyna & Makela Shen
Co-sponsored by Works/San José art and performance center!
38 South Second Street, downtown San José.
If you are unable to attend in person, we welcome you to join via Zoom! Register in advance for this event via Zoom.
Link: https://bit.ly/Well-RED_December2026
Downtown SJ provides free parking on the street after 6:00 p.m. Available street parking is difficult to find after 6:30 p.m.
If you are unable to find parking on the street, there are two parking garages of note:
1.) 25 S. 3rd Street PARKSJ Garage (located underground, under The Globe Apartments), about 300 meters from Works/San Jose;
2.) 2nd & San Carlos PARKSJ Garage (first 90 minutes are free). This is a 5-10 minute walk to Works/San Jose.
***
Sierra Elman is a poet from the San Francisco Bay Area and the 2024–2025 Burlingame-Hillsborough Youth Poet Laureate. She has been recognized by The Adroit Journal, the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, Bow Seat Ocean Awareness, DePaul’s Blue Book: Best American High School Writing, and many more. An alumna of The Adroit Journal's Summer Mentorship Program and the Kenyon Review’s Young Writers Workshop, she is also the co-founder and editor-in-chief of international youth literary magazine Marmalade Lit. Outside of writing, she can be found playing the guitar or trying to get her dog to come when called.
***
Rohan Mahapatra is a high school student poet and Santa Clara County’s honorary Vice-Youth Poet Laureate for 2026-2027. Years of studying tabla have shaped his attention to rhythm and cadence, while his background in choir and musical theater informs the musicality and performative voice of his poetry. Beyond writing, he volunteers with programs serving neurodivergent individuals, experiences that continue to deepen his understanding of communication, patience, and artistic connection.
Rohan’s work often explores impermanence, family, and the ubiquity of loss. He is a two-time Scholastic Art & Writing Awards national silver medalist and was selected for the 2026 Adroit Writing Mentorship Program in poetry. His poems have been published in the National Federation of State Poetry Societies’ 2026 Youth Poetry Book and the 1455 Young Poets Anthology, both available on Amazon.com. He has also received recognition from Voces de Sacramento and the Literacy in Place Rural Teen Writing Awards. Rohan developed his poetic foundations through the University of Massachusetts’ Juniper Institute for Young Writers and the University of the South’s Sewanee Young Writers’ Winter Conference. As a poetry editor for Eucalyptus Lit and a reporter in his school journalism program, he is continually interested in how language can preserve memory, foster empathy, and strengthen community.
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Polina Korobitsyna is a student poet at Silicon Valley International School from San Jose, California. Her poetry explores intersections between gender, society, and family. Her work is featured or forthcoming in the Minnesota Review, Narrative Magazine, and the South Carolina Review, and was recently recognized with a National Scholastic Writing Awards Silver Medal and Second Place in the Narrative High School Poetry Contest. Her poems have also been recognized in contests sponsored by 1455, Interlochen Arts Academy, the Roanoke Review, and Woorilla Poetry.
Polina currently serves as a Poetry Reader for Afterbodies, an international literary magazine that seeks to unite students across cultures and experiences by platforming diverse youth voices.
***
Makela Shen is a high-school writer from California. She is a Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Gold Medalist and has been recognized by JUST POETRY!!!, Writers of the Future, and more. Her work appears in Blue Marble Review, Eunoia Review, Rogue Agent, and The Weight Journal. On any given day, you might also find her debating mid-round or rewatching Hamilton for the 200th time.
TO SUBMIT EVENT FEEDBACK, visit: https://bit.ly/4dBnxR2
Poetry Lounge Online Open Mic featuring Scorpiana Xlent
POETRY LOUNGE ONLINE OPEN MIC!
Please note this change in date for this month:
Sunday, November 1, 1:00 p.m. (PST) via Zoom
Poetry Lounge is held twice a month on the first and third Sunday.
Hosted by Lesa Medley! Contact Lesa Medley to receive your Zoom link: lcmedley016@gmail.com.
Our featured poet: Scorpiana Xlent
Scorpiana Xlent is a Bronx raised poet and spoken word artist who now makes San José her home. A member of San José Poetry Slam’s 2014 slam team competing in Nationals, she has also featured at venues in New York, Florida, and California. Scorpiana’s poems have been published in two anthologies: Fruition and The Bandana Republic. She also has her own book of poetry, Inked. In addition to writing and performing, she has taught youth poetry workshops in San José. Scorpiana X is currently the Slam Master for San José Poetry Slam and a board member of Poetry Center San Jose. She likes bacon and chocolate, but not together, and has learned to accept her caffeine addiction.
Poetry Center San José's mission is to nurture and promote diverse literary expression in our community as a means of exploring, defining, and enriching the human experience. We offer programs and services to stimulate passion for the literary arts and to inspire and support emerging and established writers.
Markham House & Library Open Hours with Barry Endick
Looking for a cozy spot to read, write, or just unwind? Stop by Markham House from 11am to 4pm. Enjoy a cup of coffee or tea while you browse our library, chat with our friendly docent, and take in some dedicated poetry appreciation time.
Barry Endick will perfom a short reading of Edwin Markham's poems at 2:00 pm. He will have copies of other Markham poems that anyone who attends can get up and read.
Barry Endick in the middle of an Edwin Markham poem!
📍Location: Markham House @ History Park • 635 Phelan Ave, San Jose, CA.
Free parking right outside of the main gate or in the lot at the end of Phelan Avenue (except during some History Park events.)
Once you walk into the park from Phelan Avenue, go straight until the road ends, then make a left. Markham House is then the second house on your left. There will be a flag over the steps that reads OPEN.
PCSJ Board of Directors Meeting (via Zoom)
Public comment period will be available to begin the meeting, a chance for the public to share feedback on programming, suggestions, and constructive criticism to be considered by board members of PCSJ.
To join and participate in the public comment, please RSVP on Zoom here.
Between 6:30-6:35 is your time to notify that you wish to be heard. Provide your name in the chat to reserve your two minute time-slot.
Agenda and minutes will be provided.
Writers' Cafe at Markham House
You're invited to a gathering for those looking for a supportive writing community that focuses on the social aspects of being a writer and a space to discuss any and all disciplines of writing.
We welcome writers from all disciplines to hang out, work, then hang out some more.
This isn't a workshop, but a work time in a workspace with other writers.
This event is free and no registration necessary. Just show up with something to write.
We will meet at 11:30am for pastries, snacks, coffee and tea. Some will be provided, but more is welcome. If you do bring pastries, please only bring enough to share with one or two others.
Approximate Schedule
11:30am: Conversation over coffee and tea.
12:30: Quiet work. There are quite a few places to work quietly inside Markham House. Find your nook and write, or explore the books in our library upstairs, or continue your conversation outside, on the porch, or somewhere in History Park. We'll keep the coffee and kettle hot while you work.
2:45–3:15pm: Optional sharing and conversation. Writers are not expected to share what they’ve written, but if you’d like feedback, this would be the time for it.
Keep in mind, Markham House will be open to the public, so visitors will be coming in to peruse, but we will let them know that the house is infested with writers writing!
Admission: Free, but donations are welcome!
Parking:
There is a parking strip on Phelan Avenue at the park gate. If there is no space available, there is a lot at the end of Phelan Ave.
Location:
Once you walk into the park from Phelan Avenue, go straight until the road veers left with the firehouse on the right, then follow the left turn. Markham House is then the second house on your left. There should be an OPEN flag out on the porch.
Here is a map of History Park’s parking options:
San José Poetry Slam – Live at Wheelhouse
Poetry Center San José presents San José Poetry Slam – Live In Person!
Come early and grab dinner. Wheelhouse owns the Round Table Pizza next door, and you can order your food from the bar in Wheelhouse.
Parking is free in Willow Glen and most of the parking lots are behind the businesses
Wheelhouse of Willow Glen
1173 Lincoln Avenue
San Jose, CA 95125
Sunday, July 19, 2026
Doors open and the sign up list goes out at 6:30pm
The Poetry Slam starts at 7:00pm
Admission is $5–10 sliding scale; no one turned away for lack of funds.
Hosted by Scorpiana Xlent.
Our Featured Poet TBA
Bio info is on the way!
Poetry Slam Competition Info
Cash prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.
If you have never been to a Poetry Slam before, a poetry slam is a competition, imagine spoken word poetry as an olympic sport. The rules are simple:
1.) Poets must use their own poems.
2.) poet must use only one poem per round.
3.) no musical accompaniment.
4.) no props.
5.) there is a time limit of 3 minutes and 10 seconds. going over that will result in a time penalty.
This is a two-round slam, poets with the highest scores will move up to round two.
If you're not competing, we could use judges.
A Little Bit About the Slam
Established in 1998, the San José Poetry Slam was one of the first continuous competitive poetry events in the Bay Area. It has been a foundation and home for spoken word and performance poetry, loaded with a collection of regional and national championships to boot. San José has a widely respected name for spoken word thanks to the quality work and notable poets that have come up through the ranks, all thanks to the poetry slam community. Our slam has hosted many acclaimed featured guests from around the world, and it has brought home both national and international trophies.
Please remember to submit a quick audience survey to help us improve our logistics and content and report to our funders and sponsors. Here is the link to the survey: https://bit.ly/3M63VqH
Poetry Center San José promotes and supports the literary arts in San José. Over the past four decades, PCSJ has brought hundreds of exceptional writers from around the country to read from their works and, in many cases, to conduct workshops for local writers. PCSJ is a nonprofit organization established in 1978. Its base of operations is in the charming turn-of-the-century Victorian home where the renown poet Edwin Markham once lived, now located in San José History Park. Poetry Center San José is a member supported organization and is funded, in part, by grants from Applied Materials Foundation, the City of San José's Office of Cultural Affairs, Knight Foundation, Poets & Writers, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, SVCREATES, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council and also supported in part by a SVCreates National Endowment for the Arts American Rescue Plan grant. We also thank Brandenburg Family Foundation and Anne & Mark's Art Party for their generous giving.
Poetry Lounge Online Open Mic!
POETRY LOUNGE ONLINE OPEN MIC!
Sunday, October 18, 2026
1:00 p.m. (Pacific)
Hosted by: Lesa Medley
Poetry Lounge is held twice a month on the first and third Sunday.
Contact Lesa Medley to receive your Zoom link: lcmedley016@gmail.com
Markham House & Library Open Hours with Barry Endick
Looking for a cozy spot to read, write, or just unwind? Stop by Markham House from 11am to 4pm. Enjoy a cup of coffee or tea while you browse our library, chat with our friendly docent, and take in some dedicated poetry appreciation time.
Barry Endick will perfom a short reading of Edwin Markham's poems at 2:00 pm. He will have copies of other Markham poems that anyone who attends can get up and read.
Barry Endick in the middle of an Edwin Markham poem!
📍Location: Markham House @ History Park • 635 Phelan Ave, San Jose, CA.
Free parking right outside of the main gate or in the lot at the end of Phelan Avenue (except during some History Park events.)
Once you walk into the park from Phelan Avenue, go straight until the road ends, then make a left. Markham House is then the second house on your left. There will be a flag over the steps that reads OPEN.
Well-RED features contributors to the anthology Convergence: Poetry on Environmental Impacts of War
Well-RED Reading Series featuring readings from contributors to Convergence: Poetry on Environmental Impacts of War
Co-sponsored by Works/San José art and performance center!
38 South Second Street, downtown San José.
Featured guests include: Sean Mclain Brown, Teresa Mei Chuc, Anne Coray, Lucille Lang Day, and J.C. Todd!
If you are unable to attend in person, we welcome you to join via Zoom! Register in advance for this event via Zoom.
Link: https://bit.ly/Well-RED_October2026
Downtown SJ provides free parking on the street after 6:00 p.m. Available street parking is difficult to find after 6:30 p.m.
If you are unable to find parking on the street, there are two parking garages of note:
1.) 25 S. 3rd Street PARKSJ Garage (located underground, under The Globe Apartments), about 300 meters from Works/San Jose;
2.) 2nd & San Carlos PARKSJ Garage (first 90 minutes are free). This is a 5-10 minute walk to Works/San Jose.
***
Sean Mclain Brown is a combat disabled Marine Corps veteran and writer based in Santa Clara, California. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Indiana Review, New American Writing, Terrain.org, the San Francisco Chronicle, Fourteen Hills, among others, and in anthologies including Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace, An Introduction to the Prose Poem, and Convergence: Poetry on the Environmental Impacts of War. His book A Field Guide to Disappeared Things is forthcoming from Ink & Ribbon Press in Spring 2027. He is also the winner of the 2026 Slapering Hol Press Chapbook Contest (Hudson Valley Writers Center), forthcoming Spring 2027, and was a finalist for the Tusculum Review Poetry Chapbook Prize.
***
Teresa Mei Chuc was born in Sài Gòn, Việt Nam shortly after the Việt Nam War and grew up in Pasadena and Altadena, California on unceded Tongva Territory. Altadena Poet Laureate (2018 to 2020) and a Pasadena Rose Poet since 2016, Teresa Mei Chuc is the author of three books of poetry, Invisible Light (Many Voices Press, 2018), Keeper of the Winds (FootHills Publishing, 2014) and Red Thread (Fithian Press, 2012). Her recent poetry chapbook, Incidental Takes, was published by Hummingbird Press in 2023. She is co-editor of the anthology, Convergence: Poetry on Environmental Impacts of War (Scarlet Tanager Books, 2026). Teresa has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (Poetry) from Goddard College. She is a public high school English teacher and has taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District for over twenty years.
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Anne Coray is the author of three full-length poetry collections: A Measure’s Hush (Boreal/Red Hen, 2011), Violet Transparent (Future Cycle Press, 2010), and Bone Strings (Scarlet Tanager Books, 2005), as well as a chapbook on climate change, Late Fall Bucolics (The Poetry Box, 2022). Her debut novel is Lost Mountain (West Margin Press, 2021). She is co-editor of the anthologies Crosscurrents North: Alaskans on the Environment (University of Alaska Press, 2008) and Convergence: Poetry on Environmental Impacts of War (Scarlet Tanager Books, 2026). She co-authored the nonfiction book Lake Clark National Park and Preserve (Alaska Geographic, 2009). Her work has appeared in many literary magazines including the Southern Review, Northwest Review, Green Mountains Review, Poetry, North American Review, and AQR. The recipient of grants and a fellowship from the Alaska State Council on the Arts and an Individual Artist Project Award and fellowship from the Rasmuson Foundation, she divides her time between the coastal town of Homer and her birthplace on remote Lake Clark in southwest Alaska.
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Lucille Lang Day is the author of The Cosmos and Me: New and Selected Poems (Trio House, 2026), as well as seven previous full-length poetry collections and four chapbooks. She has also edited the anthology Poetry and Science: Writing Our Way to Discovery, coedited Fire and Rain: Ecopoetry of California and Red Indian Road West: Native American Poetry from California, and published two children’s books and a memoir. Her work appears in more than 200 magazines and anthologies, such as The Cincinnati Review, The Hudson Review, River Styx, The Threepenny Review, Scientific American, ZYZZYVA, and Attached to the Living World: A New Ecopoetry Anthology. Her many honors include the Blue Light Poetry Prize, two PEN Oakland – Josephine Miles Literary Awards, the Joseph Henry Jackson Award, and eleven Pushcart Prize nominations. Founder and publisher of a small press, Scarlet Tanager Books, she lives in Oakland, California. https://lucillelangday.com
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J. C. TODD, co-editor of Convergence: Poetry on Environmental Impacts of War, is author of three books of poetry, most recently the bilingual (English-Lithuanian) new and selected, What Kept Me Awake?/Kas neleido uzmitgti? (PDR Press, 2024), and Beyond Repair, on the traumatic effects of war on civilian and combatant woman, the runner up for the 2019 Able Muse Press Poetry Book Award. She also has published three chapbooks, most recently The Damages of Morning (Moonstone Books, 2018). Her poems have appeared widely, including in The Paris Review, Pedestal, Prairie Schooner, and Virginia Quarterly Review. She has received fellowships from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Leeway Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and artist residency programs, including The Hambidge Center, Ragdale, Ucross, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and its international program at Schloss Wiepersdorf. Awards include the 2016 Rita Dove Poetry Prize from the International Writing Center. She has taught in the Creative Writing Program at Bryn Mawr College and the MFA Program at Rosemont College and received an MFA from the Warren Wilson Program for Writers. She lives in Philadelphia, PA.
TO SUBMIT EVENT FEEDBACK, visit: https://bit.ly/4dBnxR2
Markham House & Library Open Hours with Barry Endick
Looking for a cozy spot to read, write, or just unwind? Stop by Markham House from 11am to 4pm. Enjoy a cup of coffee or tea while you browse our library, chat with our friendly docent, and take in some dedicated poetry appreciation time.
Barry Endick will perfom a short reading of Edwin Markham's poems at 2:00 pm. He will have copies of other Markham poems that anyone who attends can get up and read.
Barry Endick in the middle of an Edwin Markham poem!
📍Location: Markham House @ History Park • 635 Phelan Ave, San Jose, CA.
Free parking right outside of the main gate or in the lot at the end of Phelan Avenue (except during some History Park events.)
Once you walk into the park from Phelan Avenue, go straight until the road ends, then make a left. Markham House is then the second house on your left. There will be a flag over the steps that reads OPEN.
San José Poetry Slam – Zoom Edition
Poetry Center San Jose presents The San Jose Poetry Slam Zoom Edition
Come join us for Poetry from the comfort of your own home
Room opens at 6:30p.m. Pacific time. (3 hours earlier than east coast time and 3 hours ahead of Hawaii.)
Register here through Ticket Tailor
Sign-up to slam: 6:30–7:00p.m. Slam starts at 7:00p.m.
This is a free event, hosted by Scorpiana Xlent. Donations are humbly accepted.
Cash prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.
If you have never been to a Poetry Slam before, a poetry slam is a competition, imagine spoken word poetry as an olympic sport.
The rules are simple:
Poets must use their own poems.
Poet must use only one poem per round.
No musical accompaniment.
No props.
Time limit of 3 minutes and 10 seconds. Going over that will result in a time penalty.
Poets must have video on while performing or there will be a 3-point penalty deduction.
This is a two-round slam, poets with the highest scores will move up to round two.
You can sign up to compete via the chat box in the zoom room.
If you're not competing, we could use judges.
Please remember to submit a quick audience survey to help us improve our logistics and content and report to our funders and sponsors. Here is the link to the survey: https://bit.ly/3M63VqH
Poetry Center San José promotes and supports the literary arts in San José. Over the past four decades, PCSJ has brought hundreds of exceptional writers from around the country to read from their works and, in many cases, to conduct workshops for local writers. PCSJ is a nonprofit organization established in 1978. Its base of operations is in the charming turn-of-the-century Victorian home where the renown poet Edwin Markham once lived, now located in San José History Park. Poetry Center San José is a member supported organization and is funded, in part, by grants from Applied Materials Foundation, the City of San José's Office of Cultural Affairs, Knight Foundation, Poets & Writers, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, SVCREATES, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council and also supported in part by a SVCreates National Endowment for the Arts American Rescue Plan grant. We also thank Brandenburg Family Foundation and Anne & Mark's Art Party for their generous giving
Poetry Lounge featuring Kaecey McCormick!
POETRY LOUNGE ONLINE OPEN MIC!
Featuring Kaecey McCormick!
Sunday, October 4, 1:00 p.m. (PST) via Zoom.
Poetry Lounge is held twice a month on the first and third Sunday.
Hosted by Lesa Medley! Contact Lesa Medley to receive your Zoom link: lcmedley016@gmail.com.
Kaecey McCormick is a poet and fiction writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her work appears in literary journals such as Poet Lore, The Baltimore Review, The Pinch Journal, Clockhouse, On the Seawall, The Heartland Review, Poetry South, Jabberwock Review, Pedestal Magazine, and Sky Island Journal. She is the author of Sleeping with Demons (2023) and Pixelated Tears (2018), and served as Poet Laureate for the city of Cupertino, California. Her writing has received numerous honors, including the Connecticut Poetry Prize, the Dare to Dream Poetry Prize, and multiple awards in the Joy Bale Boone Poetry Prize, as well as nominations for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. She has enjoyed support from the Community of Writers and the Good Hart Artist Residency. When she’s not writing or teaching, she spends her time hiking, painting, and reading.
Poetry Lounge Online Open Mic
POETRY LOUNGE ONLINE OPEN MIC!
Please note this change in date for this month:
Sunday, September 27, 1:00 p.m. (PST) via Zoom
Poetry Lounge is held twice a month on the first and third Sunday.
Hosted by Lesa Medley! Contact Lesa Medley to receive your Zoom link: lcmedley016@gmail.com.
Poetry Center San José's mission is to nurture and promote diverse literary expression in our community as a means of exploring, defining, and enriching the human experience. We offer programs and services to stimulate passion for the literary arts and to inspire and support emerging and established writers.
Writers’ Cafe at Markham House
You're invited to a gathering for those looking for a supportive writing community that focuses on the social aspects of being a writer and a space to discuss any and all disciplines of writing.
We welcome writers from all disciplines to hang out, work, then hang out some more.
This isn't a workshop, but a work time in a workspace with other writers.
This event is free and no registration necessary. Just show up with something to write.
We will meet at 11:30am for pastries, snacks, coffee and tea. Some will be provided, but more is welcome. If you do bring pastries, please only bring enough to share with one or two others.
Approximate Schedule
11:30am: Conversation over coffee and tea.
12:30: Quiet work. There are quite a few places to work quietly inside Markham House. Find your nook and write, or explore the books in our library upstairs, or continue your conversation outside, on the porch, or somewhere in History Park. We'll keep the coffee and kettle hot while you work.
2:45–3:15pm: Optional sharing and conversation. Writers are not expected to share what they’ve written, but if you’d like feedback, this would be the time for it.
Keep in mind, Markham House will be open to the public, so visitors will be coming in to peruse, but we will let them know that the house is infested with writers writing!
Admission: Free, but donations are welcome!
Parking: There is a parking strip on Phelan Avenue at the park gate. If there is no space available, there is a lot at the end of Phelan Ave.
Location: Once you walk into the park from Phelan Avenue, go straight until the road veers left with the firehouse on the right, then follow the left turn. Markham House is then the second house on your left. There should be an OPEN flag out on the porch.
Here is a map of History Park’s parking options:
PCSJ Board of Directors Meeting (via Zoom)
Public comment period will be available to begin the meeting, a chance for the public to share feedback on programming, suggestions, and constructive criticism to be considered by board members of PCSJ.
To join and participate in the public comment, please RSVP on Zoom here.
Between 6:30-6:35 is your time to notify that you wish to be heard. Provide your name in the chat to reserve your two minute time-slot.
Agenda and minutes will be provided.
San José Poetry Slam LIVE featuring Jaz Sufi
Poetry Center San José presents San José Poetry Slam – Live In Person!
Come join us for poetry and some of the most delicious pizza in San José at our new venue in Willow Glen:
Wheelhouse of Willow Glen
1173 Lincoln Avenue
San Jose, CA 95125
Sunday, September 20, 2026
Doors open and the sign up list goes out at 6:30pm
The Poetry Slam starts at 7:00pm
Guest host: Brandon Luu!
Admission: $5–10 sliding scale. No one turned away for lack of funds.
Our Featured Poet
Jaz Sufi (she/hers) is a queer Iranian-American poet and arts educator. Her work has been published or is upcoming in Best New Poets, Best of the Net, AGNI, Black Warrior Review, Muzzle, and elsewhere. She is a National Poetry Slam finalist and has received fellowships from Kundiman, the Watering Hole, and New York University, where she received her MFA. She is the current Poet Laureate of San Ramon, CA, where she lives with her dog, Apollo.
Poetry Slam Competition Info
Cash prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.
If you have never been to a Poetry Slam before, a poetry slam is a competition, imagine spoken word poetry as an olympic sport. The rules are simple:
1.) Poets must use their own poems.
2.) poet must use only one poem per round.
3.) no musical accompaniment.
4.) no props.
5.) there is a time limit of 3 minutes and 10 seconds. going over that will result in a time penalty.
This is a two-round slam, poets with the highest scores will move up to round two.
If you're not competing, we could use judges.
Follow Poetry Center San José on Facebook and Instagram for announcements about other amazing South Bay poetry events happening throughout the rest of the year. Help support Poetry Center San José by becoming a member.
Please remember to submit a quick audience survey to help us improve our logistics and content and report to our funders and sponsors. Here is the link to the survey: https://bit.ly/3M63VqH
Poetry Center San José promotes and supports the literary arts in San José. Over the past four decades, PCSJ has brought hundreds of exceptional writers from around the country to read from their works and, in many cases, to conduct workshops for local writers. PCSJ is a nonprofit organization established in 1978. Its base of operations is in the charming turn-of-the-century Victorian home where the renown poet Edwin Markham once lived, now located in San José History Park. Poetry Center San José is a member supported organization and is funded, in part, by grants from Applied Materials Foundation, the City of San José's Office of Cultural Affairs, Knight Foundation, Poets & Writers, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, SVCREATES, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council and also supported in part by a SVCreates National Endowment for the Arts American Rescue Plan grant. We also thank Brandenburg Family Foundation and Anne & Mark's Art Party for their generous giving.
Poets@Play Creative Writing Workshop with Lorenz Dumuk
Poets@Play is a monthly creative writing workshop hosted by Robert Pesich, Brandon Luu and former Santa Clara County Poet Laureate David Perez. Each session features a different guest facilitator leading hands-on exercises to inspire creativity and new ideas.
Our Facilitator
Lorenz Mazon Dumuk (siya/they/he) is a poet and spoken word artist from San Jose, California. Siya is the author of the book, Held (Sampaguita Press), as well as the author to two self published chapbooks, Ay Nako: Writing Through the Struggle, and I Think In Poetry. Lorenz is a VONA alumni, and a MALI (Multicultural Arts Leadership Institute) alumni, which is a Silicon Valley based program that focuses on developing leaders of color in the arts, culture, and entertainment sectors. Siya is one of the curators for, Glowing with the Moon, an open mic and interactive community space in San Jose. Lorenz writes with, against, and through the contradictions siya encounters, which allows siya to explore the different silences in niya life through niya poetry. Lorenz's spoken word performances are painfully heartfelt as well as magnificently healing. An awkwardly adorable poet who can be caught doing hip-circles before a poetry reading.
Workshop Description
"Revoking your poetic license while trying to metaphor."
Come journey with Lorenz Mazon Dumuk as we explore the images that color our lives and bring movement to them as we implement them into our writing. Re-imagine what was once abstract and workshop it into a concrete entity in your writing.
We might not be able to write immediately that day the poem we been itching to get to, but we very well might develop tools that will brave us to get closer to writing it.
Paper and pens are available. The park’s internet connection is unreliable.
No RSVP required. Just show up at 1:00pm
Admission: Free (donations welcome)
📍Location: Markham House @ History Park
635 Phelan Ave, San Jose, CA.
Free parking right outside of the main gate or in the lot at the end of Phelan Avenue (except during some History Park events.)
Once you walk into the park from Phelan Avenue, go straight until the road dead ends, then make a left. Markham House is then the second house on your left. There will be a flag over the steps that reads OPEN.
Membership Appreciation Party
Come celebrate and support the poetry community as we celebrate you for supporting Poetry Center San José!
Various readings will take place honoring the poetry of Alan Soldofsky, GusTavo Adolfo Guerra Vasquez, and Floi Baker, who have recently passed. An open mmic will follow.
Upstairs in the Firehouse, History Park from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM
PCSJ will provide food and drink. Potluck also welcome!
Bring a favorite dish or beverage. Let us know you are bringing a dish by emailing programming@pcsj.org!
📍Location: Firehouse @ History Park • 635 Phelan Ave, San Jose, CA.
Free parking right outside of the main gate or in the lot at the end of Phelan Avenue (except during some History Park events.)
Once you walk into the park from Phelan Avenue, go straight until the road ends, then make a left. Markham House is then the second house on your left. There will be a flag over the steps that reads OPEN.
Markham House & Library Open Hours with Barry Endick
Looking for a cozy spot to read, write, or just unwind? Stop by Markham House from 11am to 4pm. Enjoy a cup of coffee or tea while you browse our library, chat with our friendly docent, and take in some dedicated poetry appreciation time.
Barry Endick will perfom a short reading of Edwin Markham's poems at 2:00 pm. He will have copies of other Markham poems that anyone who attends can get up and read.
Barry Endick in the middle of an Edwin Markham poem!
📍Location: Markham House @ History Park • 635 Phelan Ave, San Jose, CA.
Free parking right outside of the main gate or in the lot at the end of Phelan Avenue (except during some History Park events.)
Once you walk into the park from Phelan Avenue, go straight until the road ends, then make a left. Markham House is then the second house on your left. There will be a flag over the steps that reads OPEN.
Bauchhaar Reading Series
Bauchhaar invites your poems and flash fiction in English and/or Hindi, inspired by and reflecting Poppy Charnalia's painting, "Khidki/Window/Ventana/Vatayan". Please email your work to bauchhaar@gmail.com by September 8th, 2026. Unlock those windows, and let the rain in...
Join us on September 13th, 2026, for a wholesome poetic experience.
Poetry Lounge Online Open Mic
POETRY LOUNGE ONLINE OPEN MIC!
Please note this change in date for this month:
Sunday, September 13, 1:00 p.m. (PST) via Zoom
Poetry Lounge is held twice a month on the first and third Sunday.
Hosted by Lesa Medley! Contact Lesa Medley to receive your Zoom link: lcmedley016@gmail.com.
Poetry Center San José's mission is to nurture and promote diverse literary expression in our community as a means of exploring, defining, and enriching the human experience. We offer programs and services to stimulate passion for the literary arts and to inspire and support emerging and established writers.
Well-RED Reading Series featuring Louise Kantro!
Well-RED Reading Series featuring Louise Kantro!
Co-sponsored by Works/San José art and performance center!
38 South Second Street, downtown San José
7:00 p.m. PDT
Open mic to start the show!
If you are unable to attend in person, we welcome you to join via Zoom! Register in advance for this event via Zoom.
Link: https://bit.ly/Well-RED_September2026
Louise Kantro worked in a hospital, county immigration, and held other usually part-time positions while her children were young. After receiving her California teaching credential, she taught high school English, and sometimes first-year Spanish, for twenty-five years. At the age of 49, in the middle of her teaching career, she pursued her MFA through a low-residency program at Goddard College.
After she retired, her focus became poetry and she has published poetry in many journals throughout the country such as SLAB, Glimpse, Trajectory Journal, Arlijo, The Willow Review, Monterey Poetry Review, and Song of the San Joaquin. She has been featured in anthologies such as Doomer Anthology, Rushing Through the Dark, The Anthology of New England Writers, Borders and Boundaries, and several Tallgrass (Outrider Press) anthologies. She has won prizes such as Grand Prize and second prize in the Westmoreland Arts and Heritage Festival; The Derick Burleson Prize and publication in The Best of Choeofpleirn, along with nomination to Best American Poets; and first prize in The Writer’s Place, and various prizes from the Ina Coolbrith Circle. In 2010, Pudding House Press published her first chapbook, Dwellingplaces.
She has three cats, plays bridge, has twice served as President of the local chapter of the National League of American Pen Women, and now finds that most of her poetry veers toward the political.
Downtown SJ provides free parking on the street after 6:00 p.m. Available street parking is difficult to find after 6:30 p.m.
If you are unable to find parking on the street, there are two parking garages of note:
1.) 25 S. 3rd Street PARKSJ Garage (located underground, under The Globe Apartments), about 300 meters from Works/San Jose;
2.) 2nd & San Carlos PARKSJ Garage (first 90 minutes are free). This is a 5-10 minute walk to Works/San Jose.
TO SUBMIT EVENT FEEDBACK, visit: https://bit.ly/4dBnxR2
Markham House & Library Open Hours with Barry Endick
Looking for a cozy spot to read, write, or just unwind? Stop by Markham House from 11am to 4pm. Enjoy a cup of coffee or tea while you browse our library, chat with our friendly docent, and take in some dedicated poetry appreciation time.
Barry Endick will perfom a short reading of Edwin Markham's poems at 2:00 pm. He will have copies of other Markham poems that anyone who attends can get up and read.
Barry Endick in the middle of an Edwin Markham poem!
📍Location: Markham House @ History Park • 635 Phelan Ave, San Jose, CA.
Free parking right outside of the main gate or in the lot at the end of Phelan Avenue (except during some History Park events.)
Once you walk into the park from Phelan Avenue, go straight until the road ends, then make a left. Markham House is then the second house on your left. There will be a flag over the steps that reads OPEN.
Markham House & Library Open Hours with Barry Endick
Looking for a cozy spot to read, write, or just unwind? Stop by Markham House from 11am to 4pm. Enjoy a cup of coffee or tea while you browse our library, chat with our friendly docent, and take in some dedicated poetry appreciation time.
Barry Endick will perfom a short reading of Edwin Markham's poems at 2:00 pm. He will have copies of other Markham poems that anyone who attends can get up and read.
Barry Endick in the middle of an Edwin Markham poem!
📍Location: Markham House @ History Park • 635 Phelan Ave, San Jose, CA.
Free parking right outside of the main gate or in the lot at the end of Phelan Avenue (except during some History Park events.)
Once you walk into the park from Phelan Avenue, go straight until the road ends, then make a left. Markham House is then the second house on your left. There will be a flag over the steps that reads OPEN.
PCSJ Board of Directors Meeting (via Zoom)
Public comment period will be available to begin the meeting, a chance for the public to share feedback on programming, suggestions, and constructive criticism to be considered by board members of PCSJ.
To join and participate in the public comment, please RSVP on Zoom here.
Between 6:30-6:35 is your time to notify that you wish to be heard. Provide your name in the chat to reserve your two minute time-slot.
Agenda and minutes will be provided.
2026 San José Poetry Festival: Poets of Poetry Slam
The 12th Annual San José Poetry Festival concludes!
This is the closing event of the 2026 festival! Today’s small press fair and reading take place inside History Park, under the oak tree in front of Markham House.
Our Poets
Scorpiana Xlent is a Bronx raised poet, spoken word artist, and armchair activist who now makes San José her home and considers herself equal parts New Yorker and Northern Californian. A member of The San José Poetry Slam’s 2014 slam team competing in Nationals, she has also featured at venues in New York, Florida, and California. Scorpiana's poems have been published in two anthologies: Fruition and The Bandana Republic. She also has her own book Inked. In addition to writing and performing she has taught youth poetry workshops in San José. Scorpiana Xlent is currently the Slam Coordinator for the San José Slam, and a member of the PCSJ Board of Directors. She likes bacon and chocolate, but not together, and has learned to accept her caffeine addiction.
Joseph Jason Santiago LaCour is a Filipino/French Creole Spoken Word Poet and Hip-Hop Artist from the Midwest now living in Santa Cruz. You can find him most weekends at Sacred Mud Henna and Tattoo Studio at The Tannery Arts Center offering workshops, coaching and henna & jagua hand art by Appointment.
In Partnership with Rica Smith De La Luz, @sacredpoets, he hopes to inspire a creative message of peace and empowerment. A part of Mic Drop!, the monthly open mic at 418 Project, and a member of Writers of Color Santa Cruz County, he works to contribute to a strong community of Artists and Supporters locally and globally. Currently, he is developing a grant project in collaboration with CityArts and Arts Council Santa Cruz County called Poets on the Path - in efforts to revitalize our San Lorenzo Riverwalk.
Brian Sonia-Wallace is the Poet Laureate of Los Angeles. They are a poet, educator, and public artist whose work explores the line between the intimate and the monumental, reimagining public space as a site of memory, care, and dialogue. Over the past decade and a half, he has written poems on-the-spot in public for over 10,000 strangers and their communities, a practice that has unfolded into books including The Poetry of Strangers (HarperCollins) and Maze Mouth (Moon Tide Press), as well as performances and public projects across theaters, galleries, and everyday city spaces. A City of LA Master Artist and former Poet Laureate of West Hollywood, Sonia-Wallace has served as Poet-in-Residence for places as varied as the National Parks, Amtrak, and the Mall of America (yes, really). His work centers on creating art that bridges civic space, public memory, and lived experience, often collaborating with LGBTQ+ communities, youth, and elders to amplify voices that are rarely heard. A Fellow of the Academy of American Poets and LA County, his writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, The Guardian, LitHub, Rattle, and American Poets, and has been performed from Walt Disney Concert Hall to the Kennedy Center. He teaches at UCLA Extension, facilitates the APLA Health Writers’ Group, and leads school outreach for Get Lit – Words Ignite. More @rentpoet.
Here is a map of History Park. Click image to expand it in a new tab. There are three parking lot options.
Follow Poetry Center San José on Facebook and Instagram for announcements about other amazing South Bay poetry events happening throughout the rest of the year. Help support Poetry Center San José by becoming a member.
The San José Poetry Festival is possible thanks to the support of these organizations.
San José Poetry Festival 2026 is presented by Poetry Center San José and sponsored in part by a Cultural Affairs grant from the City of San José; a grant from SVCreates, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council; and additional support from Anne & Mark’s Art Party and the Brandenburg Family Foundation. Many thanks to Four Points by Sheraton for hotel accommodations and Robertino R. Ragazza for his guidance and hospitality. We would like to acknowledge and offer our deepest gratitude to past and current venues worthy of your support: San José Stage, Central Park Library Santa Clara, Convergence Arts Center, SJZ Break Room, Art Boutiki (R.I.P.), Books Inc., Caravan Lounge, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, First Unitarian Church of San José, History/San José, MACLA, Cafe Stritch / Mama Kin (R.I.P.), Recycle Bookstore, The School of Arts and Culture (R.I.P.), Mexican Heritage Plaza, Tabard Theatre (R.I.P.), Willow Glen Public Library, Works/San José art & performance center and Hillbrook Upper School of San José. Please support these spaces however you can. And we thank all our volunteers whose time and effort make this festival possible.
2026 San José Poetry Festival: Small Press Fair & Open Mic
2026 San José Poetry Festival, Day 4: Our delightful Small Press Fair & Open Mic!
This is Day Four of our four-day festival! Check out the complete list of events that are part of the 2026 San José Poetry Festival!
Admission is free to the public.
Come tour our headquarters at Markham House in the serene comfort of History Park. Peruse the books and wears by publishers from around California, listen to the poetry open mic, and stick around for a Poets of Poetry Slam performance at the end of the fair!
If you’d like to read a poem in the open mic, be sure to sign up in person.
Small Presses & Publishers Tabling:
Here is a map of History Park. Click image to expand it in a new tab. There are three parking lot options.
Follow Poetry Center San José on Facebook and Instagram for announcements about other amazing South Bay poetry events happening throughout the rest of the year. Help support Poetry Center San José by becoming a member.
The San José Poetry Festival is possible thanks to the support of these organizations.
San José Poetry Festival 2026 is presented by Poetry Center San José and sponsored in part by a Cultural Affairs grant from the City of San José; a grant from SVCreates, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council; and additional support from Anne & Mark’s Art Party and the Brandenburg Family Foundation. Many thanks to Four Points by Sheraton for hotel accommodations and Robertino R. Ragazza for his guidance and hospitality. We would like to acknowledge and offer our deepest gratitude to past and current venues worthy of your support: San José Stage, Central Park Library Santa Clara, Convergence Arts Center, SJZ Break Room, Art Boutiki (R.I.P.), Books Inc., Caravan Lounge, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, First Unitarian Church of San José, History/San José, MACLA, Cafe Stritch / Mama Kin (R.I.P.), Recycle Bookstore, The School of Arts and Culture (R.I.P.), Mexican Heritage Plaza, Tabard Theatre (R.I.P.), Willow Glen Public Library, Works/San José art & performance center and Hillbrook Upper School of San José. Please support these spaces however you can. And we thank all our volunteers whose time and effort make this festival possible.
2026 San José Poetry Festival featuring Lee Herrick, Solange Aguilar and Brandon Luu
This is Day 3 of our four-day festival! Photo credit: Curtis Messer
The 12th Annual San José Poetry Festival continues!
Join us in front of Markham House inside History Park for readings by California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick, Brandon Luu and Solange Aguilar.
Free admission.
Our Featured Poets
Photo credit: Mark Tabay
Lee Herrick is the California Poet Laureate. He is the author of four books of poems: In Praise of Late Wonder: New and Selected Poems (Gunpowder Press, September 2024); Scar and Flower, finalist for the 2020 Northern California Book Award; Gardening Secrets of the Dead; and This Many Miles from Desire.
He is co-editor of The World I Leave You: Asian American Poets on Faith and Spirit (Orison Books 2020) and Afterlives: An AGNI Portfolio of Asian Adoptee Diaspora Writing. His poems appear widely, in The Poetry Foundation, Academy of American Poets, The Place That Inhabits Us: Poems from the San Francisco Bay Watershed, Naming the Lost: The Fresno Poets; Poetry Goes to the Movies; Indivisible: Poems of Social Justice with a foreword by Common, HERE: Poems for the Planet, with a foreword by the Dalai Lama, and Dear America: Letters of Hope, Habitat, Defiance, and Democracy, among others. Herrick serves on the advisory board of Terrain.org and Sixteen Rivers Press. He co-founded LitHop in Fresno. He has taught in Qingdao, China; at Kundiman in New York City, and for twelve years in the low-residency MFA program at University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe.He was born in Daejeon, Korea and adopted as an infant. He lives with his family in Fresno, California and served as Fresno Poet Laureate from 2015-2017. He teaches at Fresno City College. He is the 10th California Poet Laureate, and the first Asian American to serve in the role. In April 2025, he became the first California Poet Laureate to be officially reappointed to a second two-year term.
Solange Aguilar (They/Ze) is an award-winning queer Mescalero Apache, Yo'eme, and Filipinx (Kapampángan) multimedia artist, poet, zinemaker, and author of Red Like Earth. They are a 2025 Jack McCarthy Book Prize winner with Write Bloody Publishing, a co-winner of the Corazón de Oro from Raíces for their work on the Mispu Story Signs at Santa Barbara City College, and a first place winner in the Santa Barbara Poetry Slam. They're also a recipient of The Pachamama Skillshare and Women's Creative Collective for Change artist scholarship and a 2021 fellow from the Artist2Artist program by the Art Matters Foundation. Their work has been featured in News from Native California, Earth First! Journal, at The Getty, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, and in Harvard Library's zine collection.
Brandon Luu is a poet from San Jose, California. He received his Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from San Jose State University, and he is a member of the Board of Directors of Poetry Center San Jose. He also served as a 2022 Creative Ambassador for the City of San Jose. For him, poetry is an opportunity to bring people together, regardless of age or circumstance. "Through language, we attempt to make sense of the human condition, and from there, we begin to understand each other."
Here is a map of History Park. Click image to expand it in a new tab. There are three parking lot options.
Follow Poetry Center San José on Facebook and Instagram for announcements about other amazing South Bay poetry events happening throughout the rest of the year. Help support Poetry Center San José by becoming a member.
The San José Poetry Festival is possible thanks to the support of these organizations.
San José Poetry Festival 2026 is presented by Poetry Center San José and sponsored in part by a Cultural Affairs grant from the City of San José; a grant from SVCreates, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council; and additional support from Anne & Mark’s Art Party and the Brandenburg Family Foundation. Many thanks to Four Points by Sheraton for hotel accommodations and Robertino R. Ragazza for his guidance and hospitality. We would like to acknowledge and offer our deepest gratitude to past and current venues worthy of your support: San José Stage, Central Park Library Santa Clara, Convergence Arts Center, SJZ Break Room, Art Boutiki (R.I.P.), Books Inc., Caravan Lounge, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, First Unitarian Church of San José, History/San José, MACLA, Cafe Stritch / Mama Kin (R.I.P.), Recycle Bookstore, The School of Arts and Culture (R.I.P.), Mexican Heritage Plaza, Tabard Theatre (R.I.P.), Willow Glen Public Library, Works/San José art & performance center and Hillbrook Upper School of San José. Please support these spaces however you can. And we thank all our volunteers whose time and effort make this festival possible.
2026 San José Poetry Festival – Palabras & Poetry: Zapatista Principles - Writing Workshop with Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo
The 12th Annual San José Poetry Festival continues!
This is Day Three of our four-day festival! This free creative poetry workshop will be facilitated by local poet Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo as a part of the 2026 San Jose Poetry Festival!
To be held upstairs in the Firehouse at History Park. Elevator accessible.
Free, but seats are limited. Reserve yours here.
2026 San José Poetry Festival
poetry workshop
Palabras & Poetry: Zapatista Principles
by Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo in partership with La Raíz Magazine
Palabras & Poetry: Zapatista Principles is a bilingual generative poetry workshop inspired by the seven principles of the Zapatistas of the EZLN, Indigenous peoples of Chiapas, México. 7 Principles: 1. To Obey, Not Command, 2. To Propose, Not Impose, 3. To Represent, Not Supplant, 4. To Convince, Not Conquer, 5. To Construct, Not Destroy, 6. To Serve Others, Not Serve Oneself, 7. To Work From Below, Not Seek To Rise.
This is an interactive workshop with sample poetry, prompts, verse starters, and sample verses. Everyone will be welcome to share their poetry aloud with the group and comment. The workshop is open to writers of all ages with any level of experience and is a continuation of the theme, with new content.
Palabras & Poetry: Zapatista Principles es un taller de poesía generativo, inspirado por los siete principios de los Zapatistas del EZLN, gente indígena de Chiapas, México. Los siete principios: 1) Obedecer y No Mandar; 2) Proponer y No Imponer; 3) Representar y No Suplantar; 4) Convencer y No Vencer; 5) Construir y No Destruir; 6) Servir y No Servirse; 7) Bajar y No Subir. Se guiará a los participantes a escribir poesía en un taller interactivo con tres segmentos de poesía de ejemplo, entrada, versos para completar, y versos de ejemplo. Todos seran bienvenidos a compartir su poesía con el grupo y ofrecer comentarios. El taller es para escritores de todas edades y cualquier nivel de experiencia.
Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo is a poet, visual artist, and education facilitator whose work is informed by her Indigenous ancestry, Mesoamerican philosophy, Mexika & Mixtec art, Mexican culture, Raza history, and her experiences as a Chicana. Her poetry is published widely in journals and anthologies, while her paintings have been featured in over seventy exhibitions across the country. Editorial Xingao published her book, Breathe Liberación. She earned a BFA in Pictorial Art and a BA in French from San José State University, served as Creative Ambassador of the San José Office of Cultural Affairs, and was selected as Creative Corps Initiative grantee by California Arts Council and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. She serves as a Board Member of Poetry Center San José and is the Founder of La Raíz Magazine. www.ejmontelongo.com/poetry
Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo es poeta, artista plástica y facilitadora. Fué nombrada embajadora creativa de la oficina de asuntos culturales de San José, y tambien seleccionada para el programa del concilio de arte de California y YBCA, Creative Corps Initiative. Ella há facilitado talleres de poesía para universidades y organizaciones sin fines de lucro. Elizabeth recibió licenciaturas en arte y frances de la universidad estatal de San José. Es miembra de la mesa directiva de Poetry Center San José y editora y directora de La Raíz Magazine, una publicación bilingüe. www.ejmontelongo.com/poetry
Instagram: @elizabethjimenezmontelongo Facebook: @ejmontelongo
Partnership
La Raíz Magazine provides culturally-relevant, generative arts engagement experiences and opportunities for the publication and public presentation of creative work, with an emphasis on promoting the expression of people of color, women of color, women & girls, and people whose ancestry is rooted in this continent, Indigenous peoples, Raza, Chicanos, and people from areas that are now Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. www.laraizmagazine.com
La Raíz Magazine provee oportunidades para participar en el arte de manera cultural y generativa, también abriendo paso para la publicación y presentación pública de obras creativas, con el enfoque en apoyar la expresión de gente de varias culturas, mujeres y niñas, particularmente personas con herencia en este continente, gente indígena, Raza, Chicana, y de areas que ahora son México, Centro América, el Caribe, y Sur América, de alguna parte del continente Américano. www.laraizmagazine.com
Instagram: @laraizmagazine Facebook: @laraizmag
Image: detail of artwork by Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo
#palabrasandpoetry #pcsj #laraizmagazine #poetryworkshop #multilingualpoetry #spanglishpoetry #ezln #zapatista principles#chicanapoet #chicanopoetry #laculturacura
Here is a map of History Park. Click image to expand it in a new tab. There are three parking lot options.
Follow Poetry Center San José on Facebook and Instagram for announcements about other amazing South Bay poetry events happening throughout the rest of the year. Help support Poetry Center San José by becoming a member.
The San José Poetry Festival is possible thanks to the support of these organizations.
San José Poetry Festival 2026 is presented by Poetry Center San José and sponsored in part by a Cultural Affairs grant from the City of San José; a grant from SVCreates, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council; and additional support from Anne & Mark’s Art Party and the Brandenburg Family Foundation. Many thanks to Four Points by Sheraton for hotel accommodations and Robertino R. Ragazza for his guidance and hospitality. We would like to acknowledge and offer our deepest gratitude to past and current venues worthy of your support: San José Stage, Central Park Library Santa Clara, Convergence Arts Center, SJZ Break Room, Art Boutiki (R.I.P.), Books Inc., Caravan Lounge, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, First Unitarian Church of San José, History/San José, MACLA, Cafe Stritch / Mama Kin (R.I.P.), Recycle Bookstore, The School of Arts and Culture (R.I.P.), Mexican Heritage Plaza, Tabard Theatre (R.I.P.), Willow Glen Public Library, Works/San José art & performance center and Hillbrook Upper School of San José. Please support these spaces however you can. And we thank all our volunteers whose time and effort make this festival possible.