The Molcajete Poets are opening a new poetry space rooted in community, creativity, and care. Our vision is to cultivate poets through intentional workshops and open mic gatherings where every voice is valued.We invite poets of all backgrounds and identities to share space with us. Whether you’re just beginning or have been writing for years. This is a space to grow, to be heard, and to build together. Join us for our first open mic as we set the tone for a safe, welcoming, and intentional environment through our words. Come listen, come share, come be part of something we’re creating together.
Participating poets include;;
Yenia Jimenez is a Mother, Poet and Educator. She is born & rased in occupied Ohlone Ramayatush Land. She is a mother, community advocate, and a self published author with two collections of poetry and prose. “Visualize what you read” and “An Ode to Resilience” Yenia believes that BIPOC stories are highly underrepresented in literature and need to be elevated. She hopes to continue to inspire people and most importantly as an educator to continue to inspire youth through teaching poetry, song writing workshops with an emphasis on the history of Jazz, Blues and its connection to the African Diaspora.
Gaia.te, also known as "Gaia the Empress," is a 27-year-old bisexual priestess and artist, born in Brooklyn and raised in Frisco. Her vibrance surges from NYC to San Francisco and beyond. Grounded by her Afro-Latina roots, she champions the earth's energies channeling them through a unique blend of poetry, hip-hop, techno, and Neo-Soul. Over the past decade, her community involvement through workshops, performances, and art exemplifies her unwavering commitment to bettering the world. As an MC who channels the universal spirit for all to see, she is unconditionally... Gaia.te
Téo Arias is a non-binary Chicane poet born and raised in Watsonville, California. Their writing unfolds at the intersections of their identity—it lies in the way their gender queerness and decolonial ideology braid together with lived trauma.Téo believes that poetry is an act of resistance and applies that not only in their writing but also in their work with students in poetry workshops.
Esperanza Cabrales (they/them) is a queer, trans nonbinary Xicanx spoken word artist currently based in unceded Muwekma Ohlone land. They're an organizer for the Berkeley Poetry Slam, workshop facilitator, certified Gemini summer baby, events organizer, polyglot, jewelry designer, and multi-media artist. Their poetry is deeply entwined with their queerness, sense of community, curiosity, and intersectionality.
Gabriel Cortez is a poet, educator, and organizer based in the Bay Area, California. His work has appeared in Poem-A-Day by The Academy of American Poets, The New York Times, The Rumpus, The Breakbeat Poets Anthology Volume 4, and elsewhere. A VONA, Poetry Incubator, and #BARS workshop alum, he has received awards from the Gerbode Foundation, the Rainin Foundation, the National Performance Network, the University of California, Palette Poetry, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. He is pursuing his MFA in Creative Writing at St. Mary’s College of California
J.Yuru Zhou / 周玉茹 (they, she) is a poet, writer, researcher, and artist rooting in San Francisco. She enjoys theorizing at the club, ambling in-and-out of the panopticon, and reveling in summery autumns in California. Her poems and essays have been exhibited in shows at Gray Area and Southern Exposure; looped at Asian Art Museum; performed at Litquake (Yerba Buena Gardens, Noisebridge), Berkeley Poetry Festival (Berkeley Ballet Theatre), the Pride Poets Hotline (ONE Gallery, Los Angeles Public Library); published by Inverse Magazine and the Los Angeles Times.
René Espejo is a queer, first-generation, Afro-Indo Caribbean visual artist, poet, performer, curator, and aspiring fantasy novelist… A longtime San Francisco resident, they are a self-taught Art-Witch whose various creative mediums inform one another. René work blends witchcraft, queer identity, and Caribbean culture to share hidden stories that exist within their inner world.
Bryan Chávez Castro is a Salvadoran poet now local to Northern California. He was 2026 Rooted and Written Fellow at The Writers Grotto and the Theresa Hak Kyung Cha Fellow at UC Berkeley where he studied comparative literature. His poems have appeared in Huizache, Acentos Review, and Tierra Narrative's "Title Card #1."
Pápí Grande (He/Him/Prince) is an Oakland-raised spoken word artist, educator, and published author known for his dynamic stage presence and emotionally resonant storytelling. His work explores identity, community, and personal evolution, creating powerful connections with audiences and students alike.He is the author of Theme of Identity.
Darius Simpson is a New Afrikan writer, educator, farmer, and skilled living room dancer from Akron, Ohio. Much like the means of production, he believes poetry must be used for the positive social, political, and economic development of the majority of society. He is the recipient of fellowships from Poetry Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and others. His book, Never Catch Me, is out now and available at buttonpoetry.com. Darius believes in the dissolution of empire and the total liberation of Africans and all oppressed people by any means available. Free The People! Free The Land!
Marvin Flores