Events

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.

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

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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

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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

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!

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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 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.”

 

Poetry Happens: Feb – April, 2022 in-person & virtual events + calls for poems

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This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is poetry-still-happens.png

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.

In-Person Poetry Events

  • Praise Poetry Reading on Antelope Island, February 19, 2022 from 3 – 5pm outside the Antelope Island visitor center, presented by River Writing. The poem irreplaceable is a prayer for restoration, destined to become at least 1700 lines long to reflect the 1700 square mile size (minimum) of a robustly healthy Great Salt Lake. Everyone is welcome! Though the reading is free, state park fee ($17 per vehicle) for access to Antelope Island will still apply.
  • Helicon West features Amanda Luzzader, Feb 24, 2022, 7:00 pm, CacheARTS Thatcher-Young Mansion, 35 W 100 S, Logan, UT, Helicon West is free, uncensored, and open to the public. An open mic will follow featured readers. Caffe Ibis coffee will be served.
  • Reclaiming Our Humanity: with Author Mark Nepo, presented by the Jung Society of Utah, Sat., February 26, 2022, 9am – 1pm at the A. Ray Olpin Student Union, Central Campus Drive, Salt Lake City, UT. Admission $125. Beloved as a poet, teacher, and storyteller, Mark Nepo, the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awakening, has been called “one of the finest spiritual guides of our time,” “a consummate storyteller,” and “an eloquent spiritual teacher.”
  • Sarah Blackman and Jamie L. Smith Reading and Conversation – Reading Date: Thursday, March 3 | Time: 7:00pm MT | Location: Tanner Humanities Building (Room 109). Conversation Date: Friday, March 4 | Time: 12:00pm MT | Location: TBD.
  • 2022 Poetry In the Park & Redrock Creative Writing Seminar – The 11th annual Poetry In the Park (PIP) workshop is scheduled for Friday March 4th from 9 am to 3 pm in Zion National Park Nature Center. Renowned poet, Lola Haskins, will lead this workshop. See PIP for 2022 workshop details when the site is updated.
  • Redrock Writers’ 2022 Creative Writing Seminar will be held on Saturday March 5th. St. George  Community Building at 245 N  200 W. In conjunction with the Redrock Seminar, come early and experience Poetry in the Park, a day of poetry workshops and writing in Zion National Park.
  • Join Kimball Art Center in conversation with author, Paisley Rekdal, to discuss Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong, March 9, 2022 7:00 p.m. Free, in-person event.
  • The Cowboy Train presented by Heber Valley Railroad at Heber Valley Railroad, Heber City UT, featuring a round up of old-fashioned Western music and poetry, including Brayden Weese, Cowboy Poet John Conorroe, as well as a performance by the “Saloon Girls.” $20 general admission. Friday, March 11th, 2022 at 6:30pm.
  • The 12th Annual Cache Valley Cowboy Rendezvous is scheduled for March 11-13, 2022 daily at 10am, presented by Cache Valley Cowboy Rendezvous, Inc.at Cache County Event Center, Logan UT Free Cowboy Poetry & Western Music Entertainment with western vendors, youth poetry showcase, virtual daily concerts, mask contest, etc.
  • How Flowers Bloom at Alliance Theatre, 602 East 500 South, Salt Lake City, UT, March 11 – 13, admission $14. How Flowers Bloom is a play that examines how trauma weaves its way through everyday life; it colors it, informs it, but does not stop it. Combining poetry, movement, and dialogue to tell the women’s stories, the serious subject matter of the play is balanced with humor, triumph, and healing, ultimately coming to the conclusion that happiness and stability are possible for those who continue to hope for it.
  • Helicon West features the USU Bull Pen Slam Team, March 24, 2022, 7:00 pm, CacheARTS Thatcher-Young Mansion, 35 W 100 S, Logan, UT, Helicon West is free, uncensored, and open to the public. An open mic will follow featured readers. Caffe Ibis coffee will be served.
  • 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.
  • Helicon West features the USU 2022 Creative Writing Contest Winners, April 28, 2022, 7:00 pm, CacheARTS Thatcher-Young Mansion, 35 W 100 S, Logan, UT, Helicon West is free, uncensored, and open to the public. An open mic will follow featured readers. Caffe Ibis coffee will be served.

Virtual Poetry Events

  • Black, Bold & Brilliant presents the next episode in our series of conversations about Black-centric films and media by diving into the legendary conversation between James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni. Stream begins February 15, 2022 7:00 PM MST. Register for free here.
  • University of Utah’s Guest Writers Series presents a reading and conversation with poets Gabrielle Calvocoressi and Benjamin Gucciardi. Thursday, February 17 | Time: 7:00pm MT | Location: Virtual Register via Zoom here.
  • Author Meets Readers event with Reginald Dwayne Betts, hosted by Director Erika George. Presented by Tanner Humanities Center at University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, Salt Lake City UT, Tue, February 22, 2022, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM MST. Register for free here.
  • Everybody Writes Open Mic presented by The Salt Lake Community Writing Center every second and fourth Wednesday of each month, from 7-8 p.m. hosted virtually via Zoom; to access the Zoom link or get more information, please email us at cwc@slcc.edu.
  • Salt Lake Teens Write, presented by Salt Lake City Public Library at Online/Virtual Space, Online/Virtual UT, This group will meet on Zoom, Tuesdays, March 8, 15, and 22, 6–7:30pm. Aspiring writers in grades 9–12 can meet other writers and level-up their own writing. This intensive workshop will be led by the SLCC Community Writing Center. No writing experience is necessary! Apply here.
  • 2 Hours @the Table with Michelle Vainright (they,them), presented by River Writing, Friday, March 18th from 6 pm-8 pm MST via Zoom. $40 (sliding scale). Everyone is welcome to this 2 Hours at the Table to bring the week to a close with poetry, community, and listening.
  • 30 Poems in 30 Days Competition – Write 30 poems based on daily prompts throughout the month of April. Winners will have a chapbook of their original poems designed and produced by the CWC. Registration required by April 30. Recommended fee is $5, but this can be waived at registration. On April 1, 2022 at 10 a.m., the first of the 30 writing prompts will be posted on the CWC’s Facebook (@CommunityWritingCenter) and Instagram (@slcc_cwc) accounts. Each morning, a new prompt will be posted.
  • 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.
  • Utah Poetry Festival, in-person and virtual events April 2 – 16, 2022. See details below.
  • April 8-9th: Utah State Poetry Society Conference, virtual. Information here.
  • Anne Newman Sutton Weeks Poetry Series – The 2021–22 readings, followed by Q&A, are held on Zoom on Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. MT. Participants must register in advance. The debut of the 2022 issue of Westminster College’s literary magazine, ellipsis…literature and art, which features contributors and staff, will take place on Friday, April 22 at 7:00 p.m.
  • April 23rd-25th: Pre-Quill Conference (hybrid), Utah League of Writers, UMOCA, SLC. Information here.
  • April 29th, 7 PM: Utah State Youth Poetry Slam, virtual.

Utah Poetry Festival

The Utah Poetry Festival is free and open to the public. Virtual events can be watched live or streamed later via the Utah Humanities YouTube channel. In-person events will strictly follow CDC-recommended protocol for Covid-19. All virtual events will be closed captioned by AI Media. Registration will open in February. View the schedule to register. Festival attendees must register for each event they wish to attend.

SATURDAY, APRIL 2nd

1-2 PM Red Butte Poetry Walk and Workshop. Write poems in Red Butte Garden with Utah Poet Laureate, Paisley Rekdal. A poetry workshop for teens on up: writing prompts provided. Free, in-person and outside. Register with Red Butte Gardens.

4-5:15 PM Celebration of Chapbooks. An in-person reading to celebrate new and recent chapbooks by Robert Baldwin, Aaron Cance, Melissa Salguero, Lisa Roullard, Susan Sample, Natalie Taylor, Candace Thomas, and Sunni Brown Wilkinson. The King’s English patio. Masks required for entry into the store.

Ongoing virtual event: Make your own chapbook! A virtual tutorial on chapbook-making by Michelle Macfarlane available on the Utah Humanities YouTube Channel starting April 2nd.

FRIDAY, APRIL 15

7-8 PM MST Headline Reading with Jay Hopler, Kimberly Johnson and Nan Seymour. Hosted by Paisley Rekdal – A headline reading to celebrate new and recent books by Utah poets Jay Hopler, Kimberly Johnson and Nan Seymour.

SATURDAY, APRIL 16

ROUNDTABLE: 9:30-10:15 AM MST

Poetry Out Loud vs Poetry Slam: A Teacher’s Roundtable

In this panel for high school teachers, organizers will discuss what divides and unites the Utah High School Poetry Slam Initiative and Poetry Out Loud. We will discuss strategies for bolstering the strengths of both programs and bringing together these communities for the benefit of all students. With Jean Tokuda Irwin, Amanda Hurd and Sally Wilde. Moderated by Willy Palomo.

CRAFT TALK 1: 10:30-11:15 AM MST

Artist Books and Re-Thinking the Page

What happens when poets combine image with text, or treat the poem (and book) as a visual and conceptual object, not just a literary one? From poetic experiments with time and collage to radical documentary or “uncreative writing” projects, this craft discussion around book arts and writing will make you re-think the material possibilities of the page. With Kathryn Cowles, Nathan Hawke and Craig Dworkin. Moderated by Paisley Rekdal.

CRAFT TALK 2: 11:30-12:15 PM MST

Line and Stanza

Poetic structure both excites and vexes poets at every stage of development, presenting the glorious challenge of working out how the logic of the poem’s sentences will interact with the competing logic of its structure.  This session features four poets who offer perspectives on the kinds of questions poets ask as they balance the demands of form (even in so-called “free verse”) against the story the poem unfolds.  With Michael Lavers, John Talbot, Meg Day. Moderated by Kimberly Johnson. *This panel will have an ASL interpreter.

CRAFT TALK 3: 2-2:45 PM MST

Multi-Modal Poems

Poets increasingly work in multi-modal forms, combining text not only with image but sound, video, animation, mapping technologies and more. In this panel, we’ll explore the many ways that poetry has begun to merge with other forms of digital, visual and sonic technologies, expanding our ideas of what a poem is. With Ben Gunsberg, Danielle Susi, Laura Stott, Alex Caldiero. Moderated by Lisa Bickmore.

CRAFT TALK 4: 3-3:45 PM MST

Organizing a Poetry Manuscript with Jason Olsen, Lance Larsen, Cindy King. Moderated by Jennifer Tonge. 

APRIL 16th, 7-8 PM MST Headline Reading with Danielle Dubrasky, Nancy Takacs, and John Belk. Hosted by Paisley Rekdal – A headline reading to celebrate new and recent books by Utah poets Danielle Dubrasky, Nancy Takacs, and John Belk.

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)

Prompts & Resources

MORE POETRY PROMPTS

If you have an event or announcement related to poetry in Utah, please contact us here and we will include it in our next edition.

Rock Canyon Poets reading at the Utah Arts Festival, Aug. 27 @ 7:20pm!

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Rock Canyon Poets are proud to announce they will be reading poetry for the fifth time at the Big Mouth Stage on Friday, August 27, 2021 from 7:20 – 8:00 p.m. as literary artists for the Utah Arts Festival. You can read about our 2015 performance in this Daily Herald Article: Newly formed Rock Canyon Poets perform at Utah Arts Fest.

Arts Fest: Big Mouth Stage, Aug. 27 at 7:20pm

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 Friday, August 27 – Sunday, August 29, 2021 12 noon to 11pm, on Library and Washington Squares in downtown Salt Lake City (200 East 400 South, Salt Lake City, Utah 84111).

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.