Salt City Slam

Finals is here! Join us Monday, June 29th for the biggest slam of the year as our 10 highest ranked poets of the season duke it out for the title of Salt City Slam Champion, a cash prize, and this years Salt City Slam custom painted typewriter!

It’s going to be a show you don’t want to miss, and best of all, Joe Robert’s is our feature!!

Bio: Joe Roberts is a Salt Lake City poet and environmentalist. His second chapbook, IcarU.S.A., is a collection of poems of political rage for these difficult times. IcarU.S.A. is now available from Bottlecap Press. Joe’s first chapbook, Anathema, was published by Lisa Bickmore’s Moon in the Rye Press in 2024. Joe’s poems have appeared or will soon appear in Allium, Tiger Moth Review, Arlington Literary Journal, and Juste Milieu Zine. With his free time, Joe writes music reviews for SLUG Magazine and hikes the Wasatch Front with his partner, Brooke.

Bella M.K. Is your favorite Salt City poets, favorite poet, and now she’s one of favorite local singer/songwriters! Join us as we celebrate the release of her new EP, “Leave it! That’s Bunny Food!” Now streaming on all platforms!

Bio: Isabella Merritt-Kuhlmann (BELLA MK) is an up-and-coming mixed media artist based in Utah. Primarily known for her lyrical poetry and folk music, BELLA MK dives into themes of loss, heartache, and learning to find one’s self again throughout her work. Her most recent release is an EP titled, “leave it! that’s bunny food!” available on all streaming platforms.

With every piece performed, she hopes to encourage others to step into their vulnerability and voice even the quietest—or the loudest— parts of themselves, as there is no feeling too big for the microphone. You can find some of BELLA MK’s published works on Wailing and Gnashing, or on most social media platforms under the name .

Re upload: the original flyer had the incorrect date

April is National Poetry Month, so we’re bringing out the big guns with this month’s feature, Utah’s poet laureate, Lisa Bickmore!

April is National Poetry Month, so we’re bringing in the big guns! Join us in welcoming back Utah’s poet laureate, Lisa Bickmore!

We’re keeping it in house for this month’s poetry slam, but that doesn’t mean you should be any less excited for this month’s feature, Andrew Earley!

If you’ve been to our event you’ve seen Andrew. He’s the reason we exist. Andrew is the proprietor of our venue, the beehive, the founder and leader of AAMP Utah, the non profit we operate under, and he’s at every poetry slam running our sound, whether he’s competing or not. We’re so excited to celebrate him, and pay him back for all the little ways he celebrates us.

Our next slam is around the corner! February went by so fast, but we don’t mind, because it means we are days away from our next feature! Afia Chin!

Bio: Afia Chin, also known as Noverra, is a spoken word poet and multidisciplinary artist based in Salt Lake City. Her work moves through shadow, memory, and feminine power, pulling language from the places we are taught to hide. Each performance is an invitation into the unseen.

Her voice carries both velvet and venom. She speaks of survival, desire, grief, and becoming, weaving humor and honesty into moments that feel intimate and unsettling all at once. Afia does not perform to entertain. She performs to awaken.

As the founder of SoulCity Open Mic and chair of the Creative Syndicate under the Utah Black Chamber of Commerce, she creates spaces where truth is not polished but honored. When Afia takes the stage, something ancient stirs. The room listens differently. The silence leans in.

If you’ve ever been to a slam, seen our friend Holton Lee host/perform, and thought, “damn, that human is cool as hell, I could watch a whole 30 minute set of them reading poems or just generally being endearing,” then this months slam is where you want to be!

Salt City Slam is proud to hand our former Slam Master, Holton Lee, the microphone for there send off set! (Don’t worry, they aren’t going too far, be sure to support them out their latest ventured, .cured.collective ).

Holton Lee (Any/All) is an emerging poet based in Salt Lake City, and occasionally in your dreams (yes that was them, you’re welcome). Their work centers around queerness, identity, and whatever comes to mind. You can find them in cat cafes, co-running Salt Cured Collective, and talking to the local crows. They hope you enjoy their poems.

Your favorite day of December is fast approaching! December’s Salt City Slam! Escape your in-laws and trade some words with your chosen family! Then let this months featuring, grace your ears with some powerful prose!

Feature: Indigo (they/them) is an undergraduate poet at Utah State University who loves talking people into making long drives to attend poetry events. They find fulfillment in commenting on the state of the world and exploring their emotional turmoils through a connection to nature.

Instead of our open mic this month, come be a part of our first ever poetry gift exchange! Bring a hard copy of your favorite poem, one you wrote, or one someone else wrote, and gift it to someone at the mic! Then read your gifts to the audience! We’ll have a fleet of typewriters available to type up your poem day of if you’d like, so it’s best to get here a little early!

And to wet your poetry appetite, we’ve also shared one of Indigo’s poems recently published with

Highlights from last nights finalists!
1st place: Andrew .drew.xvx
2nd place: Holton .l._poetry
3rd place: Tammy

Salt City Slam is proud to Welcome Kollin Kennedy on Monday, November 24th. Come by for some kick ass poetry and everyone’s favorite literary deathmatch. Cash prize for the winners, but more importantly, GLoOoOrY!! All the made up GLORY!

Entry fee: 15$ or less
Teachers and students get in free
Doors at 7:00, Open Mic 7:25, Feat: 7:45