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In the greater Phoenix area, there is no shortage of poets ready to get their words off their chest. However, Jessica Standifird of the Rorschach Poets Collective noticed that downtown and the East Valley had the lion's share of spoken-word events. So she did something about it.

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More About

• Jessica Standifird
• Neil Gearns
• Glendale Community College
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media

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To remedy the West Valley drought, Standifird, along with fellow wordsmith Shawnte Orion, established the Free Association Poetry Open Mic, and the monthly shindig has seen poetry performances from all walks of life and all experience levels since its inaugural edition last April. Explains Strandifird, “The initial ideas were to mingle the academic and community poets and to offer features with different styles to highlight how much the Valley has to offer in poetry.”

The showcase rolls on with performance-poetry veterans Neil Gearns and Cat Klotsche anchoring the evening in the Student Union (Room 104E) at Glendale Community College.