San Jose Poetry Slam feat Esperanza Cabrales
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Wheelhouse and Poetry Center San Jose Present San Jose Poetry Slam live and in person feat Esperanza Cabrales
Come join us live and in person at Wheelhouse
Located at 1173 Lincoln Ave in the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose
Sunday, June 21st
Sign ups start at 6:30 pm
Sign up list will be open from 6:30-7pm. at 7 the list will close and we will do the random draw.
Slam starts at 7
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
Your host and Emcee will be Scorpiana Xlent
Cash prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.
Admission is $5-10 sliding scale fee. (no one is turned away for lack of funds
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. Violation of rules 1 through 4 will result in disqualification.
This is a two-round slam, poets with the highest scores will move up to round two.
Sign ups to compete must be done in person.
If you're not competing, we could use judges.
Our feature will be Esperanza Cabrales:
Esperanza Cabrales (they/them) is a queer, trans nonbinary Xicanx spoken word and multimedia artist based in unceded Muwekma Ohlone lands, AKA Oakland, CA. They're an organizer for the Berkeley Poetry Slam, a workshop facilitator, events organizer, polyglot, jewelry maker, and THE certified Gemini summer baby.
Esperanza had the honor of being in the Queer Cultural Center's Creating Queer Communities 2024 artist cohort, with their poetry featured at the 2024 Fall National Queer Arts Festival. Their poem, ‘A Non-Controversial Poem’, was published in La Raiz Magazine's 2025 edition. Their zines include: “Lessons From My Cousin’s Garden” and “A Ghazal for Gaza/Where Does It Hurt?”, the latter of which was created in collaboration with Artists Against Apartheid and features collaged art from the Palestinian youth art exhibit "A Child's View from Gaza". Esperanza is on instagram as @nepantlainoakland and substack as @dreamingeyeswideopen.
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.
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.
Come join us live and in person at Wheelhouse
Located at 1173 Lincoln Ave in the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose
Sunday, June 21st
Sign ups start at 6:30 pm
Sign up list will be open from 6:30-7pm. at 7 the list will close and we will do the random draw.
Slam starts at 7
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
Your host and Emcee will be Scorpiana Xlent
Cash prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.
Admission is $5-10 sliding scale fee. (no one is turned away for lack of funds
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. Violation of rules 1 through 4 will result in disqualification.
This is a two-round slam, poets with the highest scores will move up to round two.
Sign ups to compete must be done in person.
If you're not competing, we could use judges.
Our feature will be Esperanza Cabrales:
Esperanza Cabrales (they/them) is a queer, trans nonbinary Xicanx spoken word and multimedia artist based in unceded Muwekma Ohlone lands, AKA Oakland, CA. They're an organizer for the Berkeley Poetry Slam, a workshop facilitator, events organizer, polyglot, jewelry maker, and THE certified Gemini summer baby.
Esperanza had the honor of being in the Queer Cultural Center's Creating Queer Communities 2024 artist cohort, with their poetry featured at the 2024 Fall National Queer Arts Festival. Their poem, ‘A Non-Controversial Poem’, was published in La Raiz Magazine's 2025 edition. Their zines include: “Lessons From My Cousin’s Garden” and “A Ghazal for Gaza/Where Does It Hurt?”, the latter of which was created in collaboration with Artists Against Apartheid and features collaged art from the Palestinian youth art exhibit "A Child's View from Gaza". Esperanza is on instagram as @nepantlainoakland and substack as @dreamingeyeswideopen.
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.
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.
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Where is it happening?
WheelHouse of Willow Glen, 1173 Lincoln Ave,San Jose, California, United States
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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Host or PublisherThe San Jose Poetry Slam
