Jesse Parent tied for 1st place is the first Southwest Region Poetry Slam.

Two poets from Arizona and Utah battled to a tie in the debut of the Southwest Regional Poetry Slam on Saturday night at The Duke.

Jeremiah Blue of Mesa and Jesse Parent of Salt Lake City finished in a dead heat among 14 poets and opted to split the prize money for first and second places rather than fight to the death.

Maricopa’s Laura Ochs Oliveri made it to the final round. Other Maricopans competing were Matteo Valdez and AJ. Themes ranged from the highly personal to the politically charged.

Rounding out the three-round slam were Phoenix poets Logan Caldwell, Sonora Mystique Reyes, Megan Condeno Atencia and Joy Young, Ashley M. Vargas of Las Vegas, Nevada, and R.J. Walker, Meghan McGinnis, Debbie Higham Wood and Kate Wilson of Salt Lake City.

Raquel Hendrickson
Raquel Hendrickson
https://www.inmaricopa.com
Raquel, a.k.a. Rocky, is a sixth-generation Arizonan who spent her formative years in the Missouri Ozarks. After attending Temple University in Philadelphia, she earned a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and has been in the newspaper business since 1990. She has been a sports editor, general-assignment reporter, business editor, arts & entertainment editor, education reporter, government reporter and managing editor. After 16 years in the Verde Valley-Sedona, she moved to Maricopa in 2014. She loves the outdoors, the arts, great books and all kinds of animals.
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