Author: trishhopkinsonpoet

Rock Canyon Poets 10th anniversary reading – Thursday, Oct. 23, 6:30pm at Pioneer Book

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Join us for an evening of celebration and poetry! Rock Canyon Poets returns to their original home at Pioneer Book in Provo to read from their 10th anniversary anthology Orogeny as part of Utah Humanities Book Festival. The 2025 Utah Humanities Book Festival marks 28 years of strengthening Utah communities through reading, literature, and conversations with authors and each other. Held during October’s National Book Month, the Book Festival offers virtual and in-person events. Click here for a full schedule of Utah Humanities Book Festival.

The special 10th anniversary collection of poems by the Rock Canyon Poets, with over 75 pages of poems by living poets. Orogeny is the seventh printed anthology by Rock Canyon Poets members and is currently available for $10 plus shipping if ordered online. Click here to order.

Praise for Orogeny: Volume 7

Arising in a particularly salty part of the Great American Desert, The Rock Canyon Poets look into the fundamental landscape to question accepted homogeneities, and find them crumbling rapidly. These poems observe and examine evolving scenes of love, family, and community in the crucible that is twenty-first century Utah, USA, and sees the world reimagined. The fact that this group of writers has lasted long enough to collaborate on a 7th anthology is a testament to the power of small diverse groups of humans who come together with the common urge – to write – and thus, find ways to move through the modern wilderness with increasing grace. Picking up the frayed pieces of their lives these poets collectively decide that, as one of the prime movers of the group, Trish Hopkinson, says, “When the garden grows poison, make pie.” —Danny Rosen, Lithic Press

In “Breadcrumbs,” one of the poems in this anthology, Stacy Julin writes, “A blue umbrella / from my aunt’s favorite drink, / a smooth purple rock / from the dirt / up the canyon. / My painted heart locket on a silver chain, / scattered through drawers, / boxes of our house.” To me, those lines are like a metaphor for this whole book. It isn’t just a box full of 49 poems. It’s more like a home—with a poem in a drawer here, a poem like a switched-on lamp over there, a hurt poem talking to her friend on the phone, another poem cooking in the kitchen, a poem that smells like tangerines, a poem in place of the TV news, poems turning and falling from November limbs or coloring the Wasatch Mountains out the window, all coming together like a note on the table to remind us what to remember. —Rob Carney, author of The Book of Drought

This well-sequenced volume carries us down a river of bright sensation: the poems are streaked with visual beauty, sensual grasp, tricky faith and saving disillusion. Violence and shelter. Along the way: birth, un-birth; naming, renaming. Intimate artifacts of death. Fallen peaches, wayward seedlings, and you’ll never stop seeing tangerines. Settle into your favorite reading place and savor the seventh Orogeny. Twice and again. Gorgeous. —Karin Anderson, author of What Falls Away and (forthcoming 2025) Things I Didn’t Do

Rock Canyon Poets boasts diverse membership, ranging from 19 to 70+ years in age with many backgrounds–including literary journal founders, editors, ex-military, business professionals, a playwright, and a periodontist.  Individually, they have received several awards and been published in magazines, anthologies, journals, chapbooks, and full-length books of poetry. Rock Canyon Poets offer poetry with the tactile clarity of tin-can messages through fuzzy strings to the ears of an audience. These poems are tumbleweeds in semi-truck grills. They get stuck in your teeth, build bridges of spun sugar, and make it possible to mount a camel without a sturdy ladder.

Co-founded by Bonnie Shiffler-Olsen and Trish Hopkinson in 2015, Rock Canyon Poets was established to develop camaraderie among Utah Valley poets, provide consistent workshopping and reading opportunities, and promote the disciplined study of writing poetry as a serious art form. Members meet twice a month at Pioneer Book in historic downtown Provo. The group sponsors poetry readings and an open mic on the 2nd Tuesday of every month. Membership is by invitation or portfolio submission only.

For more information, contact the Rock Canyon Poets, rockcanyonpoets@gmail.com.

Rock Canyon Poets reading at the Utah Arts Festival, June 20 @ 3pm!

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Rock Canyon Poets are proud to announce they will be reading poetry for the sixth time at The Round stage on Friday, June 20, 2025 from 3:00 – 8:45 p.m. as literary artists for the Utah Arts Festival.

Rock Canyon Poets boasts diverse membership, ranging from 19 to 70+ years in age with many backgrounds–including literary journal founders, editors, ex-military, business professionals, a playwright, and a periodontist.  Individually, they have received several awards and been published in magazines, anthologies, journals, chapbooks, and full-length books of poetry. Rock Canyon Poets offer poetry with the tactile clarity of tin-can messages through fuzzy strings to the ears of an audience. These poems are tumbleweeds in semi-truck grills. They get stuck in your teeth, build bridges of spun sugar, and make it possible to mount a camel without a sturdy ladder.

The Utah Arts Festival takes place Thursday, June 19 – Sunday, June 22, 2025 12 noon to 11pm, on Library and Washington Squares in downtown Salt Lake City (200 East 400 South, Salt Lake City, Utah 84111).

The Rock Canyon Poets are proud to release a special 10th anniversary edition of Orogeny, the seventh collection of poems by living poets in Utah, Colorado, and original out-of-state members. Learn more in our interview with RadioACTive on KRCL 90.9 FM, including anthology editor Trish Hopkinson, graphic designer Austin Beckstrom, and Marianne Hales. Hear about the first ten years of Rock Canyon Poets and the poets also shared poems included in the anthology. (The interview starts at 17 minutes into the show.)

Orogeny is the seventh printed anthology by Rock Canyon Poets members and is currently available for pre-order, with print copies available to ship this spring. Cost is $10 plus shipping.

Click here to order

Co-founded by Bonnie Shiffler-Olsen and Trish Hopkinson in 2015, Rock Canyon Poets was established to develop camaraderie among Utah Valley poets, provide consistent workshopping and reading opportunities, and promote the disciplined study of writing poetry as a serious art form. Members meet twice a month at Pioneer Book in historic downtown Provo. The group sponsors poetry readings and an open mic on the 2nd Tuesday of every month. Membership is by invitation or portfolio submission only.

For more information, contact the Rock Canyon Poets, rockcanyonpoets@gmail.com.

Orogeny book release party & open mic, Mar. 17 at The Social in Provo, 7pm

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Join Rock Canyon Poets and Speak for Yourself Open Mic for the Orogeny book release party on Monday, March 17, 2025 at 7pm at The Social, 65 N University Ave Downstairs Suite 2, Provo, UT.

The Rock Canyon Poets are proud to release a special 10th anniversary edition of Orogeny, the seventh collection of poems by living poets in Utah, Colorado, and original out-of-state members. Learn more in our interview with RadioACTive on KRCL 90.9 FM here:
Click below to listen to an interview with Rock Canyon Poets, including anthology editor Trish Hopkinson, graphic designer Austin Beckstrom, and Marianne Hales. Hear about the first ten years of Rock Canyon Poets and the poets also shared poems included in the anthology. (The interview starts at 17 minutes into the show.)

Orogeny is the seventh printed anthology by Rock Canyon Poets members and is currently available for pre-order, with print copies available to ship this spring. Cost is $10 plus shipping. 

Click here to pre-order

Editor’s Forward

I am honored to present you with our special 10th anniversary edition of Orogeny, Volume 7. In the last ten years, Rock Canyon Poets have produced exceptional work, performed at several events, met monthly to encourage and inspire each other, welcomed new members, and mourned the loss of beloved members Darin Whittaker and Colin Douglas. Our members continue to amaze me with their kindness towards each other and their commitment to the literary arts. The themes in this edition reflect not only the diversity of our members, but their experiences, beliefs, and their unwavering empathy for the human condition. It is a privilege to witness the words of these poets. 

—Trish Hopkinson, Co-founder/Editor, Rock Canyon Poets

You can sample previously published poems included in the anthology below:

Praise for Orogeny: Volume 7

In “Conjure,” by Felice Austin, one of the beautiful poems in this powerful new anthology, the speaker of the poem remembers “Always turning to / the match strike sucking sound of fire coming alive / by swallowing the dark.” In the resultant light, what do we see, what do we feel? Only everything: the precise naming of things, the shift of memory and feeling, the terrible losses, the evidence of love, the taking back of the premises on which we have built our lives, and building them anew. A book like this is a way to conjure, to spell things fresh. Open its covers and listen to its many voices.

—Lisa Bickmore, Utah Poet Laureate and author of Ephemerist

Arising in a particularly salty part of the Great American Desert, The Rock Canyon Poets look into the fundamental landscape to question accepted homogeneities, and find them crumbling rapidly. These poems observe and examine evolving scenes of love, family, and community in the crucible that is twenty-first century Utah, USA, and sees the world reimagined. The fact that this group of writers has lasted long enough to collaborate on a 7th anthology is a testament to the power of small diverse groups of humans who come together with the common urge – to write – and thus, find ways to move through the modern wilderness with increasing grace. Picking up the frayed pieces of their lives these poets collectively decide that, as one of the prime movers of the group, Trish Hopkinson, says, “When the garden grows poison, make pie.”

—Danny Rosen, Lithic Press

In “Breadcrumbs,” one of the poems in this anthology, Stacy Julin writes, “A blue umbrella / from my aunt’s favorite drink, / a smooth purple rock / from the dirt / up the canyon. / My painted heart locket on a silver chain, / scattered through drawers, / boxes of our house.” To me, those lines are like a metaphor for this whole book. It isn’t just a box full of 49 poems. It’s more like a home—with a poem in a drawer here, a poem like a switched-on lamp over there, a hurt poem talking to her friend on the phone, another poem cooking in the kitchen, a poem that smells like tangerines, a poem in place of the TV news, poems turning and falling from November limbs or coloring the Wasatch Mountains out the window, all coming together like a note on the table to remind us what to remember.

—Rob Carney, author of The Book of Drought

This well-sequenced volume carries us down a river of bright sensation: the poems are streaked with visual beauty, sensual grasp, tricky faith and saving disillusion. Violence and shelter. Along the way: birth, un-birth; naming, renaming. Intimate artifacts of death. Fallen peaches, wayward seedlings, and you’ll never stop seeing tangerines. Settle into your favorite reading place and savor the seventh Orogeny. Twice and again. Gorgeous.

—Karin Anderson, author of What Falls Away and (forthcoming 2025) Things I Didn’t Do 

About Rock Canyon Poets

Rock Canyon Poets is a regional poetry group boasting a diverse membership, ranging from 18 to 70+ years in age with many backgrounds–including literary journal founders, editors, ex-military, business professionals, a playwright, and a periodontist. Individually, they have received several awards and been published in magazines, anthologies, journals, chapbooks, and full-length books of poetry. Rock Canyon Poets offer poetry with the tactile clarity of tin-can messages through fuzzy strings to the ears of an audience. These poems are tumbleweeds in semi-truck grills. They get stuck in your teeth, build bridges of spun sugar, and make it possible to mount a camel without a sturdy ladder.

Co-founded by Bonnie Shiffler-Olsen and Trish Hopkinson in January, 2015, Rock Canyon Poets was established to develop camaraderie among Utah Valley poets, provide consistent workshopping and reading opportunities, and promote the disciplined study of writing poetry as a serious art form. In recent years, the group has expanded to include western Colorado poets, as well as original, out-of-state member poets. Members meet twice a month virtually to inspire each other and workshop poems. Membership is by invitation or portfolio submission only.

For more information, contact the Rock Canyon Poets, rockcanyonpoets@gmail.com.

Rock Canyon Poets featured on KRCL for the new Orogeny anthology!

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Click below to listen to an interview with Rock Canyon Poets, including anthology editor Trish Hopkinson, graphic designer Austin Beckstrom, and Marianne Hales. Hear about the first ten years of Rock Canyon Poets and the poets also shared poems included in the anthology. (The interview starts at 17 minutes into the show.)

10th Anniversary Orogeny anthology now available for pre-order!

The Rock Canyon Poets are proud to release a special 10th anniversary edition of Orogeny, the seventh collection of poems by living poets in Utah, Colorado, and original out-of-state members. Tune into RadioACTive on KRCL 90.9 FM at 6pm, Monday February 3 at 6pm for an interview with Rock Canyon Poets, including anthology editor Trish Hopkinson, graphic designer Austin Beckstrom, and Marianne Hales. Hear about the first ten years of Rock Canyon Poets and the poets will also share poems included in the anthology. Live stream here.

Orogeny is the seventh printed anthology by Rock Canyon Poets members and is currently available for pre-order, with print copies available to ship this spring. Cost is $10 plus shipping. 

Click here to pre-order

Editor’s Forward

I am honored to present you with our special 10th anniversary edition of Orogeny, Volume 7. In the last ten years, Rock Canyon Poets have produced exceptional work, performed at several events, met monthly to encourage and inspire each other, welcomed new members, and mourned the loss of beloved members Darin Whittaker and Colin Douglas. Our members continue to amaze me with their kindness towards each other and their commitment to the literary arts. The themes in this edition reflect not only the diversity of our members, but their experiences, beliefs, and their unwavering empathy for the human condition. It is a privilege to witness the words of these poets. 

—Trish Hopkinson, Co-founder/Editor, Rock Canyon Poets

You can sample previously published poems included in the anthology below:

Praise for Orogeny: Volume 7

In “Conjure,” by Felice Austin, one of the beautiful poems in this powerful new anthology, the speaker of the poem remembers “Always turning to / the match strike sucking sound of fire coming alive / by swallowing the dark.” In the resultant light, what do we see, what do we feel? Only everything: the precise naming of things, the shift of memory and feeling, the terrible losses, the evidence of love, the taking back of the premises on which we have built our lives, and building them anew. A book like this is a way to conjure, to spell things fresh. Open its covers and listen to its many voices.

—Lisa Bickmore, Utah Poet Laureate and author of Ephemerist

Arising in a particularly salty part of the Great American Desert, The Rock Canyon Poets look into the fundamental landscape to question accepted homogeneities, and find them crumbling rapidly. These poems observe and examine evolving scenes of love, family, and community in the crucible that is twenty-first century Utah, USA, and sees the world reimagined. The fact that this group of writers has lasted long enough to collaborate on a 7th anthology is a testament to the power of small diverse groups of humans who come together with the common urge – to write – and thus, find ways to move through the modern wilderness with increasing grace. Picking up the frayed pieces of their lives these poets collectively decide that, as one of the prime movers of the group, Trish Hopkinson, says, “When the garden grows poison, make pie.”

—Danny Rosen, Lithic Press

In “Breadcrumbs,” one of the poems in this anthology, Stacy Julin writes, “A blue umbrella / from my aunt’s favorite drink, / a smooth purple rock / from the dirt / up the canyon. / My painted heart locket on a silver chain, / scattered through drawers, / boxes of our house.” To me, those lines are like a metaphor for this whole book. It isn’t just a box full of 49 poems. It’s more like a home—with a poem in a drawer here, a poem like a switched-on lamp over there, a hurt poem talking to her friend on the phone, another poem cooking in the kitchen, a poem that smells like tangerines, a poem in place of the TV news, poems turning and falling from November limbs or coloring the Wasatch Mountains out the window, all coming together like a note on the table to remind us what to remember.

—Rob Carney, author of The Book of Drought

This well-sequenced volume carries us down a river of bright sensation: the poems are streaked with visual beauty, sensual grasp, tricky faith and saving disillusion. Violence and shelter. Along the way: birth, un-birth; naming, renaming. Intimate artifacts of death. Fallen peaches, wayward seedlings, and you’ll never stop seeing tangerines. Settle into your favorite reading place and savor the seventh Orogeny. Twice and again. Gorgeous.

—Karin Anderson, author of What Falls Away and (forthcoming 2025) Things I Didn’t Do 

About Rock Canyon Poets

Rock Canyon Poets is a regional poetry group boasting a diverse membership, ranging from 18 to 70+ years in age with many backgrounds–including literary journal founders, editors, ex-military, business professionals, a playwright, and a periodontist. Individually, they have received several awards and been published in magazines, anthologies, journals, chapbooks, and full-length books of poetry. Rock Canyon Poets offer poetry with the tactile clarity of tin-can messages through fuzzy strings to the ears of an audience. These poems are tumbleweeds in semi-truck grills. They get stuck in your teeth, build bridges of spun sugar, and make it possible to mount a camel without a sturdy ladder.

Co-founded by Bonnie Shiffler-Olsen and Trish Hopkinson in January, 2015, Rock Canyon Poets was established to develop camaraderie among Utah Valley poets, provide consistent workshopping and reading opportunities, and promote the disciplined study of writing poetry as a serious art form. In recent years, the group has expanded to include western Colorado poets, as well as original, out-of-state member poets. Members meet twice a month virtually to inspire each other and workshop poems. Membership is by invitation or portfolio submission only.

For more information, contact the Rock Canyon Poets, rockcanyonpoets@gmail.com.

10th Anniversary Orogeny anthology now available for pre-order!

/ trishhopkinsonpoet / 1 Comment

The Rock Canyon Poets are proud to release a special 10th anniversary edition of Orogeny, the seventh collection of poems by living poets in Utah, Colorado, and original out-of-state members. Tune into RadioACTive on KRCL 90.9 FM at 6pm, Monday February 3 at 6pm for an interview with Rock Canyon Poets, including anthology editor Trish Hopkinson, graphic designer Austin Beckstrom, and Marianne Hales. Hear about the first ten years of Rock Canyon Poets and the poets will also share poems included in the anthology. Live stream here.

Orogeny is the seventh printed anthology by Rock Canyon Poets members and is currently available for pre-order, with print copies available to ship this spring. Cost is $10 plus shipping. 

Click here to pre-order

Editor’s Forward

I am honored to present you with our special 10th anniversary edition of Orogeny, Volume 7. In the last ten years, Rock Canyon Poets have produced exceptional work, performed at several events, met monthly to encourage and inspire each other, welcomed new members, and mourned the loss of beloved members Darin Whittaker and Colin Douglas. Our members continue to amaze me with their kindness towards each other and their commitment to the literary arts. The themes in this edition reflect not only the diversity of our members, but their experiences, beliefs, and their unwavering empathy for the human condition. It is a privilege to witness the words of these poets. 

—Trish Hopkinson, Co-founder/Editor, Rock Canyon Poets

You can sample previously published poems included in the anthology below:

Praise for Orogeny: Volume 7

In “Conjure,” by Felice Austin, one of the beautiful poems in this powerful new anthology, the speaker of the poem remembers “Always turning to / the match strike sucking sound of fire coming alive / by swallowing the dark.” In the resultant light, what do we see, what do we feel? Only everything: the precise naming of things, the shift of memory and feeling, the terrible losses, the evidence of love, the taking back of the premises on which we have built our lives, and building them anew. A book like this is a way to conjure, to spell things fresh. Open its covers and listen to its many voices.

—Lisa Bickmore, Utah Poet Laureate and author of Ephemerist

Arising in a particularly salty part of the Great American Desert, The Rock Canyon Poets look into the fundamental landscape to question accepted homogeneities, and find them crumbling rapidly. These poems observe and examine evolving scenes of love, family, and community in the crucible that is twenty-first century Utah, USA, and sees the world reimagined. The fact that this group of writers has lasted long enough to collaborate on a 7th anthology is a testament to the power of small diverse groups of humans who come together with the common urge – to write – and thus, find ways to move through the modern wilderness with increasing grace. Picking up the frayed pieces of their lives these poets collectively decide that, as one of the prime movers of the group, Trish Hopkinson, says, “When the garden grows poison, make pie.”

—Danny Rosen, Lithic Press

In “Breadcrumbs,” one of the poems in this anthology, Stacy Julin writes, “A blue umbrella / from my aunt’s favorite drink, / a smooth purple rock / from the dirt / up the canyon. / My painted heart locket on a silver chain, / scattered through drawers, / boxes of our house.” To me, those lines are like a metaphor for this whole book. It isn’t just a box full of 49 poems. It’s more like a home—with a poem in a drawer here, a poem like a switched-on lamp over there, a hurt poem talking to her friend on the phone, another poem cooking in the kitchen, a poem that smells like tangerines, a poem in place of the TV news, poems turning and falling from November limbs or coloring the Wasatch Mountains out the window, all coming together like a note on the table to remind us what to remember.

—Rob Carney, author of The Book of Drought

This well-sequenced volume carries us down a river of bright sensation: the poems are streaked with visual beauty, sensual grasp, tricky faith and saving disillusion. Violence and shelter. Along the way: birth, un-birth; naming, renaming. Intimate artifacts of death. Fallen peaches, wayward seedlings, and you’ll never stop seeing tangerines. Settle into your favorite reading place and savor the seventh Orogeny. Twice and again. Gorgeous.

—Karin Anderson, author of What Falls Away and (forthcoming 2025) Things I Didn’t Do 

About Rock Canyon Poets

Rock Canyon Poets is a regional poetry group boasting a diverse membership, ranging from 18 to 70+ years in age with many backgrounds–including literary journal founders, editors, ex-military, business professionals, a playwright, and a periodontist. Individually, they have received several awards and been published in magazines, anthologies, journals, chapbooks, and full-length books of poetry. Rock Canyon Poets offer poetry with the tactile clarity of tin-can messages through fuzzy strings to the ears of an audience. These poems are tumbleweeds in semi-truck grills. They get stuck in your teeth, build bridges of spun sugar, and make it possible to mount a camel without a sturdy ladder.

Co-founded by Bonnie Shiffler-Olsen and Trish Hopkinson in January, 2015, Rock Canyon Poets was established to develop camaraderie among Utah Valley poets, provide consistent workshopping and reading opportunities, and promote the disciplined study of writing poetry as a serious art form. In recent years, the group has expanded to include western Colorado poets, as well as original, out-of-state member poets. Members meet twice a month virtually to inspire each other and workshop poems. Membership is by invitation or portfolio submission only.

For more information, contact the Rock Canyon Poets, rockcanyonpoets@gmail.com.

Poetry Happens: In-person & virtual events + calls for poems

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Welcome to the Utah-focused list of Poetry STILL Happens, brought to you by Rock Canyon Poets. We’re now keeping a running list that will be updated regularly to help you get a dose of poetry by attending both in-person and online events, prompts and resources for writing your own poems, and submission calls.

Tune in on KRCL RadioActive for Poetry STILL Happens streaming recordings available on their website and Facebook, as well as the Rock Canyon Poets website and Facebook. Follow both to make sure not to miss a thing! The new features will include announcements and a reading from a Utah poet.

If you have an event or announcement related to poetry in Utah, please contact us here.

In-Person On-going Poetry Events

  • Speak for Yourself open mic has gone hybrid, every Thursday of the month via Zoom or in-person the 3rd Thursday of every month at Enliten Bakery attached to Gurus in downtown Provo.
  • Live Open Mic Night for Poets and Writers, presented by The Book Bungalow at The Book Bungalow, Saint George UT, held every fourth Tuesday of each month at 7:30 pm.

In-Person Upcoming Poetry Events

Virtual Poetry Events

  • Speak for Yourself open mic has gone hybrid, every Thursday of the month via Zoom or in-person the 3rd Thursday of every month at Enliten Bakery attached to Gurus in downtown Provo.

Read/Listen/Watch Poems Based in Utah

  • Mapping Literary Utah Spotlight includes a great selection of Utah poet performances from the Bite-Size Poetry series created by former poet laureate Katharine Coles, including local favorites Rob Carney, Star Coulbrooke, Nancy Takacs and more!

Read/Listen/Watch Poems Nationally

Calls for Poems (Utah-based)

Poetry Prompts

  • Fifty Two Poetry – includes 52 poetry prompts. “Write a poem a week. Start now. Keep going.”
  • Poets & Writers puts out regular prompts for poetry as well as fiction and nonfiction on their Writing Prompts page. You can also subscribe to their e-newsletter and receive them right in your inbox weekly.
  • Ploughshares shared their favorite writing prompts of all-time in this article posted in December. Lots of great prompts in this list, including one I hope to take advantage of: “Write a dialog between your eyes and feet,” from Anastacia Tolbert.
  • 500 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing from The Learning Network. “The categorized list below touches on everything from sports to travel, education, gender roles, video games, fashion, family, pop culture, social media and more, and, like all our Student Opinion questions, each links to a related Times article and includes a series of follow-up questions. What’s more, all these questions are still open for comment by any student 13 or older.”

Poetry Happens: In-person & virtual events + calls for poems

/ trishhopkinsonpoet / Leave a comment

Welcome to the Utah-focused list of Poetry STILL Happens, brought to you by Rock Canyon Poets. We’re now keeping a running list that will be updated regularly to help you get a dose of poetry by attending both in-person and online events, prompts and resources for writing your own poems, and submission calls.

Tune in on KRCL RadioActive for Poetry STILL Happens streaming recordings available on their website and Facebook, as well as the Rock Canyon Poets website and Facebook. Follow both to make sure not to miss a thing! The new features will include announcements and a reading from a Utah poet.

If you have an event or announcement related to poetry in Utah, please contact us here.

In-Person On-going Poetry Events

In-Person Upcoming Poetry Events

Virtual Poetry Events

  • Speak for Yourself open mic has gone hybrid, every Thursday of the month via Zoom or in-person the 3rd Thursday of every month at Enliten Bakery attached to Gurus in downtown Provo.

Read/Listen/Watch Poems Based in Utah

  • Mapping Literary Utah Spotlight includes a great selection of Utah poet performances from the Bite-Size Poetry series created by former poet laureate Katharine Coles, including local favorites Rob Carney, Star Coulbrooke, Nancy Takacs and more!

Read/Listen/Watch Poems Nationally

Calls for Poems (Utah-based)

Poetry Prompts

  • Fifty Two Poetry – includes 52 poetry prompts. “Write a poem a week. Start now. Keep going.”
  • Poets & Writers puts out regular prompts for poetry as well as fiction and nonfiction on their Writing Prompts page. You can also subscribe to their e-newsletter and receive them right in your inbox weekly.
  • Ploughshares shared their favorite writing prompts of all-time in this article posted in December. Lots of great prompts in this list, including one I hope to take advantage of: “Write a dialog between your eyes and feet,” from Anastacia Tolbert.
  • 500 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing from The Learning Network. “The categorized list below touches on everything from sports to travel, education, gender roles, video games, fashion, family, pop culture, social media and more, and, like all our Student Opinion questions, each links to a related Times article and includes a series of follow-up questions. What’s more, all these questions are still open for comment by any student 13 or older.”

Poetry Happens: In-person & virtual events + calls for poems & Utah Arts Fest picks!

/ trishhopkinsonpoet / 1 Comment

Welcome to the Utah-focused list of Poetry STILL Happens, brought to you by Rock Canyon Poets. We’re now keeping a running list that will be updated regularly to help you get a dose of poetry by attending both in-person and online events, prompts and resources for writing your own poems, and submission calls.

Tune in on KRCL RadioActive for new Poetry STILL Happens mini-features, played throughout the month and featured on their web site and Facebook, as well as the Rock Canyon Poets web site and Facebook. Follow both to make sure not to miss a thing! The new features will include announcements and a reading from a Utah poet.

If you have an event or announcement related to poetry in Utah, please contact us here.

Utah Arts Festival – Wasatch IronPen Literary Competition

15th Wasatch IronPen Writing Marathon, in which artists of the written word face off in a 24-hour writing competition! Adult and Youth writers of all experience levels can participate in one of three genres (Fiction, Non-fiction or Poetry) or can take on the IronPen Ultra and write in all three!

Writers of all experience levels can register for the marathon at the SLCC Community Writing Center (located at Library Square, Suite 8) or register online. Participants must register by Friday, June 24th, at 6:00 p.m. Registration for the IronPen is $10 for one genre (Fiction, Non-fiction, or Poetry) or $15 for the IronPen Ultra (all three genres).

After receiving the prompt on Friday, June 24th at 6:00 p.m., writers will have exactly 24 hours to write. Submissions are due Saturday, June 25th at 6:00 p.m. Visit CWC website or call 801-957-2192 for more details.

Utah Arts Festival (6/23 – 6/26) – Poetry Picks

Other In-Person Poetry Events

  • Garden Poetry Walk – Red Butte Garden from April 1 – May 31, celebrates this unique literary art by hosting the poems written by our eleven local poetry contest winners in stand-up display boxes placed throughout the Garden. Look for them along your path. We feature other seasonal poems throughout the year. Info on this year’s contest below.
  • Katharine Coles | (Solve for) X poetry reading at The King’s English Bookshop, Thursday, June 2, 2022 – 5:30pm to 7:00pm
  • S’more Poetry is a new poetry slam event the first Friday of every month at 7pm at 213 S 1200 E in Provo in the backyard. Bring a chair or blanket to sit on and you can sign up to perform via Instagram or Facebook.
  • Speak for Yourself open mic has gone hybrid, every Thursday of the month via Zoom or in-person the 3rd Thursday of every month at Enliten Bakery attached to Gurus in downtown Provo.
  • Helicon West is free, uncensored, and open to the public. This summer, Helicon West is pleased to announce all open mic nights on May 26th, June 23rd, and July 28th. 
  • Juneteenth Festival, June 18, 4–9 pm, Library’s Viridian Event Center, Poetry Slam at 6:30 pm
  • Live Open Mic Night for Poets and Writers, presented by The Book Bungalow at The Book Bungalow, Saint George UT, held every fourth Tuesday of each month at 7:30 pm
  • Kanab Writers Conference – July 28 – 30, 2022, Kanab Center, 20 North 100 East Kanab, Kanab, UT 84741
  • Poesía castellana | Spanish Poetry Share, July 11 @ 10:00 am – August 8 @ 5:00 pm at the Park City Library. Calling all Spanish-speaking poets! Add your original Spanish language poetry to our community display. Or, take home a ready-made quote of bilingual poetry to enjoy with friends and loved ones. Poetas de habla hispana: agregue su poesía original en castellano a nuestra exhibición comunitaria. O llévese una cita de poesía bilingüe para compartir entre amigos y seres queridos.
  • Andrea Gibson at Metro Music Hall, Tuesday, November 1, 2022, 7:00PM MDT – Andrea Gibson is an American poet and activist from Calais, Maine, who has lived in Boulder, Colorado since 1999. Their poetry focuses on gender norms, politics, social reform, and the struggles LGBTQ people face in today’s society.

Virtual Poetry Events

  • Speak for Yourself open mic has gone hybrid, every Thursday of the month via Zoom or in-person the 3rd Thursday of every month at Enliten Bakery attached to Gurus in downtown Provo.

Read/Listen/Watch Poems Based in Utah

  • Mapping Literary Utah Spotlight includes a great selection of Utah poet performances from the Bite-Size Poetry series created by former poet laureate Katharine Coles, including local favorites Rob Carney, Star Coulbrooke, Nancy Takacs and more!

Read/Listen/Watch Poems Nationally

Calls for Poems (Utah-based)

Poetry Prompts

  • Fifty Two Poetry – includes 52 poetry prompts. “Write a poem a week. Start now. Keep going.”
  • Poets & Writers puts out regular prompts for poetry as well as fiction and nonfiction on their Writing Prompts page. You can also subscribe to their e-newsletter and receive them right in your inbox weekly.
  • Ploughshares shared their favorite writing prompts of all-time in this article posted in December. Lots of great prompts in this list, including one I hope to take advantage of: “Write a dialog between your eyes and feet,” from Anastacia Tolbert.
  • 500 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing from The Learning Network. “The categorized list below touches on everything from sports to travel, education, gender roles, video games, fashion, family, pop culture, social media and more, and, like all our Student Opinion questions, each links to a related Times article and includes a series of follow-up questions. What’s more, all these questions are still open for comment by any student 13 or older.”