Celebrate volume 7 of SHIFT, MTSU Write’s literary magazine—or share some writing of your own with Poetry in the Boro at the Dapper Owl on Sunday evening, March 23, 2025. Doors open at 5:30 PM. We’ll hear SHIFT contributors read their work beginning at 6:00–we’ll share their names soon. Open mic will follow.
Drip coffee and light nibbles will be available at no charge. However, we hope that you’ll order from Dapper Owl’s tasty menu to help make this a winning collaboration for all of us! Their menu includes coffee, tea, beer, cider, chips, and baked goods.
About the open mic
We welcome any genre for this special open mic: poetry, prose, song, comedy, a play excerpt, oral storytelling, spoken word, whatever. Reading work by another writer is fine, too. Sign up for the open mic on site. Please limit your work to 4 minutes or less.
We always ask that readers be prepared to keep their pieces “PG-13” depending on our venue and audience, which sometimes includes younger people.
The Dapper Owl coffee pub is located at 2412 East Main St. just past its intersection with Rutherford Blvd., on the east side of the MTSU campus. Overflow parking is on the Arnold Lane side of the building – pull in perpendicular to the building to allow more cars to fit (careful of the AC unit!) or park on the side of road down Arnold Lane (please don’t block any driveways).
Challenge words / theme
The theme of SHIFT volume 7 is bending, blurring, and breaking genres, so consider sharing work that somehow responds to that theme! Also, here are our challenge words, chosen by our community at our last gathering. If you like, write a new piece to share that includes one, some, or ALL of these words:
remember | enclose | spark-plug | betray | fluorescence | sever | grace | opaque | pickle | ragamuffin
About the presenting partners
SHIFT is a publication of MTSU Write that publishes poetry and prose by writers from across the nation and beyond. Follow the journal on Instagram.
MTSU Write is a community-facing program that offers one-on-one, from-home mentorships to writers of all experience levels. The program also offers an annual conference, Saturday workshops, virtual writing groups, and more. Learn more at mtsu.edu/write/
Poetry in the Boro is a monthly featured reading and open mic series that brings poetry to the community and offers a welcoming environment place for all of our community’s creative, unique voices. poetryintheboro.org
For more local lit news
Check out the monthly Rutherford Arts Alliance lit-news blog by our team member Taffeta Chime!
Your donations are appreciated
ADMISSION IS FREE. A DONATION of $5 is appreciated to help us offset our costs. You can donate using PayPal at paypal.me/poetryintheboro. We also accept donations on site.
Poetry in the Boro thanks MTSU Write and the Rutherford Arts Alliance for their on-going partnerships and support.