Every two weeks or so at The Rebel Lounge, a hodgepodge group of poets file, one by one, onto the shabby, bright stage. This is the Ghost Poetry Show, a local poetry slam where slam poets, new and old, compete before a friendly audience. The group was started by a few local poets as venues began to reopen their doors after the pandemic. Their hope was to help revive Phoenix's literary scene, and revive it they did. In addition to the consistent, well-attended shows at The Rebel Lounge in midtown and sometimes elsewhere in the Valley, Ghost Poetry has created a thriving community of slam poets in Phoenix. The stage at a Ghost show is open to both newbies and seasoned poets, making the slam both engaging and decidedly welcome. Poets spill secrets, crack jokes, stumble a little. The passion and melodrama that's characteristic of slam poetry resounds in the small venue. And at the end of it all, the crowd chooses a winner — whose title will hold at least until the next slam comes around.