HYBRID PROGRAM — in-person at the Emily Dickinson Museum and streaming live for online registrants
To read at the Open Mic, enter our lottery here:
Part of the 2026 Tell It Slant Poetry Festival! To attend the Open Mic, register for the Festival here:
Bring your poems to Emily Dickinson’s garden! Readers will have 5 minutes each to make us feel “physically as if the top of [our] head[s] were taken off!” (Emily Dickinson to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, 16 August 1870). Open mic sign-ups are handled in advance via a Google Form, and selected readers will be notified. The last day to sign up will be September 13. All readers must be available to read in-person.
About the featured poet
Joaquín Zihuatanejo was the Inaugural Dallas Poet Laureate and won a Laureate Fellow Prize of $50,000 from the Academy of American Poets in honor of the outstanding work he did as poet laureate. A two-time World Poetry Slam Champion, Joaquín received his MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts. His work has been featured on NBC, HBO, and NPR. Joaquín’s work has been published in Prairie Schooner, American Poets, and online at Poets.org.
jzthepoet.com
Support The Tell It Slant Poetry Festival
The Tell It Slant Poetry Festival is sustained by the Emily Dickinson Fund, which provides critical, unrestricted support for the Museum’s day-to-day operations. Your generous donation helps us offer immersive poetry programs to a global audience and preserve the historic Dickinson legacy in Amherst. As the Fund supplies 36% of our annual budget, your tax-deductible contribution is essential to our mission. Join us in inspiring learners of all ages by making an immediate impact today.