The Space Between Solitude and the Stage with Urbanpoet

Urbanpoet is a Phoenix-based poet and host who loves both her solitude and her time on stage, using poetry as her deepest form of expression to explore self-awareness, community, and creative growth.

—-

There’s an undeniable authority in the way Urbanpoet holds a room. Whether she’s performing poetry, hosting an open mic, or mentoring emerging writers, her presence carries intention. Through her ongoing work with I Am Root Co and her Poetry Hype series across Phoenix, she continues to explore what it means to grow as an artist while learning about herself more deeply along the way.

Poetry sits at the foundation of her creative life. She writes, performs, and hosts with equal devotion, weaving community through every stage and mic she touches. Her series Mood, which takes place every First Friday at Chic Artistry, welcomes all art forms and invites people to share freely. Every Third Friday, she hosts Poets Corner at the Coronado venue, an event created especially for poets to perform their work. Both nights give people a place to show up as they are, speak their truth, and be seen.

Hosting has become one of her favorite creative expressions. Before each performance, she grounds herself through visualization, checking in with her energy and mind before stepping to the mic. “The first time on stage always feels like the first time,” she says. “I ask myself what energy I’m stepping up there with.”

She approaches every stage with focus and respect, understanding that presence is a two-way exchange. When the audience drifts, she sees it as an invitation to ground deeper and reclaim their attention.

As a performer, her poetry doesn’t always pull directly from her own life, but her creative process mirrors the way she’s learning to live with confidence, compassion, and honesty. That same energy carries into her work with special needs children, where patience and empathy are constant reminders of what it means to lead with presence. Both on stage and off, she’s learning to listen, connect, and meet people exactly where they are.

Her earliest memories of writing trace back to elementary school, when she filled the pages of a purple composition book with short stories and poems. In high school, she wrote for a class audience and remembers her family recognizing her work. Those early moments affirmed what she now knows… writing fosters connection. She notes that with poetry, she can express herself however she wants without limits, it feels like pure freedom to her.

When asked why she never turned her words into music, she explains that poetry allows for more fluidity. Music has structure and rhythm and the words need to fit a pocket in time, but poetry gives her space to breathe. When asked what poetry is to her, she confidently states expression. In her expression, poems are often written to someone who might need the reminder. “I write to people,” she says. “Sometimes politically, sometimes personally. I’m always speaking to someone who needs to hear it.”

Solitude has become one of the most defining parts of Urbanpoet’s journey. This stillness allowed her to meet herself without distraction. In the quiet, she learned to listen to her body, trust her intuition, and notice when her energy was no longer in alignment.

Her idea of success has evolved through this process. It no longer lives in recognition (although that is nice) but in showing up for her art consistently, creating space to express rather than contain. Standing on stage each month feels like a way to honor her own promise to keep going.

Through solitude, discipline, and performance, Urbanpoet continues to explore what it means to evolve while staying true to her creative truth.

Each performance offers something new. Urbanpoet continues to write, experiment, and test the edges of what her voice can do. Her current pieces, “Growth Spurt” and “No Limit”, mark different points along that exploration. Before performing them publicly, she often shares her work with her mom, who has become her most trusted listener and sounding board. Her mom hears each new piece before anyone else, grounding her in the reminder that poetry’s power isn’t found in perfection but in honesty and the courage to let truth take its own shape.

Urbanpoet’s growth as an artist has been deeply shaped by the people and spaces that surround her. She credits her mother for nurturing her creativity from the beginning, from gifting her first computer and copy machine to offering the same support and enthusiasm today. She also honors the I Am Root collective, led by Dom Root, whose mentorship and platform allowed her to grow. She carries deep gratitude for those who have opened doors and spoken her name in rooms she hadn’t yet reached. That kind of belief fuels her desire to return the energy and to show up for others the way people have shown up for her.

Presence sits at the heart of her vision for community. She notes everyone has obligations and busy lives, but she believes presence is what keeps art alive. Showing up for one another whether it be in performance spaces, in friendship, in creativity is how the culture stays grounded and growing.

When asked how she’s a lifelong learner, she offers a poetic answer with a smile, “I am my lifelong lesson”. She discusses how self is life’s greatest teacher, always inviting us to learn, unlearn, and begin again. Working alongside kids with special needs reminds her how much there is to feel, how much there always is to relearn. Through her poetry, written and spoken, she delivers that truth. Growth is the art form, and we are all still in practice.

If you want to experience Urbanpoet’s work, you can find her hosting Mood at Chic Artistry every First Friday (artists open mic) or Poets Corner (open mic strictly for poets) at the Coronado venue every Third Friday. Follow @urbanpoetsnaps_ and @poetry.hype.