
The Copper Courier's poetry open mic night at Cha Cha's Tea Lounge in downtown Phoenix
Knowing there’s hidden talent among us is what inspired The Copper Courier to launch our first-ever poetry contest.
Once, when I was really young, I wrote a little rhyme complaining about the bathrooms in my elementary school. I was frustrated by the constant problems of stall doors not locking and toilets not flushing, and for some reason, that emotion came out of me in stanzas.
And thus began my love of poetry.
When I was attending ASU back in 2014, I submitted my poems for consideration for publication in campus magazines. I got published, and had the nerve-wracking opportunity to read my work out loud in front of a room full of students and professors.
That’s why it’s so exciting for me to intermingle my love of poetry with my work at The Copper Courier, where I’ve been since 2020. One of my favorite things to do is to interview artists, lifting up the work of amazing local poets and others like them.
And then last August, when the host of the poetry open mic at Cha Cha’s Tea Lounge in downtown Phoenix announced he was moving away, I jumped at the chance to take over and continue the event. Now, we host a wonderful community of poets of all levels every last Wednesday of the month from 7 to 9 p.m.
The more stories I’ve written about local artists, the more I think about all of the people who write in their spare time and have yet to share their work publicly.
I remember the first time I saw my name in the byline. It made me feel like a “real writer,” and I was so excited to know that my poetry now lived somewhere outside of just my journal.
Knowing there’s hidden talent among us is what inspired The Copper Courier to launch our first-ever poetry contest. The winner will be offered a featured reader spot at our May 31 open mic, and the top three entries will be published on our social media channels so all of our readers get to hear their work.
What we’re looking for is creativity, uniqueness, lyricism, memorable imagery, heartfelt emotions, depth—all of the things that make a poem moving and unforgettable. But they don’t have to be completely serious—humor goes a long way for memorability!
There are so many poems I’ve heard at our open mic that have stuck with me, from a touching piece about what reproductive rights meant to a mother and an inspirational one about saying “I love you” more freely, all the way to a set of hilarious haikus about Edgar Allan Poe. We love hearing it all!
So if you have any work you’re willing to share with us, we’d be more than happy to read it. Submit your poem—either as a written piece or a video that lasts under a minute—using the Google form below. Good luck!
Looking for the latest Arizona news? Sign up for our FREE daily newsletter.
Support Our Cause
Thank you for taking the time to read our work. Before you go, we hope you'll consider supporting our values-driven journalism, which has always strived to make clear what's really at stake for Arizonans and our future.
Since day one, our goal here at The Copper Courier has always been to empower people across the state with fact-based news and information. We believe that when people are armed with knowledge about what's happening in their local, state, and federal governments—including who is working on their behalf and who is actively trying to block efforts aimed at improving the daily lives of Arizona families—they will be inspired to become civically engaged.


He said what? 10 things to know about RFK Jr.
The Kennedy family has long been considered “Democratic royalty.” But Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.—son of Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated while...

Here’s everything you need to know about this month’s Mercury retrograde
Does everything in your life feel a little more chaotic than usual? Or do you feel like misunderstandings are cropping up more frequently than they...

Arizona expects to be back at the center of election attacks. Its officials are going on offense
Republican Richer and Democrat Fontes are taking more aggressive steps than ever to rebuild trust with voters, knock down disinformation, and...

George Santos’ former treasurer running attack ads in Arizona with Dem-sounding PAC name
An unregistered, Republican-run political action committee from Texas with a deceptively Democratic name and ties to disgraced US Rep. George Santos...