Name: San Jose Poetry Slam feat Protected Poet
Start: 2026-05-17T19:00:00-07:00
End: 2026-05-17T22:00:00-07:00
Location: WheelHouse of Willow Glen

San Jose Poetry Slam feat Protected Poet

Wheelhouse and Poetry Center San Jose Present San Jose Poetry Slam live and in person feat Protected Poet
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Come join us live and in person at Wheelhouse
Located at 1173 Lincoln Ave in the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose
Sunday, May 17th
Sign ups start at 6:30 pm
Sign up list will be open from 6:30-7pm. at 7 the list will close and we will do the random draw.
Slam starts at 7
Come early and grab dinner. Wheelhouse owns the Round Table Pizza next door, and you can bring your pizza into the slam.
Parking is free in Willow Glen and most of the parking lots are behind the businesses
Your host and Emcee will be Scorpiana Xlent
Cash prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.
Admission is $5-10 sliding scale fee. (no one is turned away for lack of funds
If you have never been to a Poetry Slam before, a poetry slam is a competition, imagine spoken word poetry as an Olympic sport.
The rules are simple:1) Poets must use their own poems. 2) poet must use only one poem per round. 3) no musical accompaniment. 4)no props. 5) there is a time limit of 3 minutes and 10 seconds. going over that will result in a time penalty. Violation of rules 1 through 4 will result in disqualification.
This is a two-round slam, poets with the highest scores will move up to round two.
Sign ups to compete must be done in person.
If you're not competing, we could use judges.
Our feature will be Protected Poet:
Julian Blackmon, known to the world as Protected Poet, was born in Marion, Indiana, and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. A dynamic force in both music and spoken word, he is a Gold-certified recording artist, international spoken-word poet, actor, published author, and a commanding voice of purpose, healing, and truth.
His journey in poetry is marked by a defining early victory—on May 14, 2023, he won his very first poetry slam at the San Jose Slam, on a night headlined by Brandon Leaks. That moment ignited a trajectory that would quickly establish him as a force in the spoken-word world.
Protected Poet has built a powerful presence on stages across the globe. In 2024, he gained national recognition joining the Berkeley Slam Team and competing in the National Bigfoot Poetry Festival in Portland, earning 2nd place. He is also a Berkeley Slam Grand Slam Champion, further solidifying his dominance within the Bay Area poetry scene. He was invited to perform in the 2024 ILL List Invitationals at the Modesto Theatre and has been featured twice in the Modesto View newspaper. That same year, he toured 8 states and 23 cities, followed by an even greater run in 2025—17 states, 44 cities, and an international performance in the Bahamas. In 2025, he was crowned the Fort Worth, Texas Harambee Festival Poetry Grand Slam Champion and winner. That same year, he was nominated for Best Poet of the Year at the Spoken Word Awards Show in Chicago, where he also took the stage as a featured performer. A 5-time Grand Slam Champion, his performances are known for their electrifying energy, emotional depth, and unforgettable delivery—where every line lands like a gem.
Expanding his artistry beyond poetry, Protected Poet is also making his mark as an actor. In 2026, he is currently performing in the hit musical stage play Back in the Day’s in Las Vegas, directed by Eugene Parker—who is widely known for his role as Mr. Keys on the Bet hit Tyler Perry’s Sistas.
As an author, he has published the book Peace of Me, with a new release titled A Walking Lighthouse set to be released soon. He is also preparing to release a new poetry album under the same title, continuing to expand his voice across multiple creative platforms.
He is currently touring the Bay Area ahead of his 2026 national book tour, continuing to build momentum across stages, cities, and audiences worldwide.
A Little Bit About the Slam
Established in 1998, the San José Poetry Slam was one of the first continuous competitive poetry events in the Bay Area. It has been a foundation and home for spoken word and performance poetry, loaded with a collection of regional and national championships to boot. San José has a widely respected name for spoken word thanks to the quality work and notable poets that have come up through the ranks, all thanks to the poetry slam community. Our slam has hosted many acclaimed featured guests from around the world, and it has brought home both national and international trophies.
Poetry Center San José promotes and supports the literary arts in San José. Over the past four decades, PCSJ has brought hundreds of exceptional writers from around the country to read from their works and, in many cases, to conduct workshops for local writers. PCSJ is a nonprofit organization established in 1978. Its base of operations is in the charming turn-of-the-century Victorian home where the renown poet Edwin Markham once lived, now located in San José History Park. Poetry Center San José is a member supported organization and is funded, in part, by grants from Applied Materials Foundation, the City of San José's Office of Cultural Affairs, Knight Foundation, Poets & Writers, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, SVCREATES, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara and the California Arts Council and also supported in part by a SVCreates National Endowment for the Arts American Rescue Plan grant. We also thank Brandenburg Family Foundation and Anne & Mark's Art Party for their generous giving.