Palabra @ The Cheech is a series that celebrates the wonderful tradition of floricanto, poesía, and the spoken word. Join us for this new open mic poetry series co-hosted by Donato Martinez, featuring poets Meliza Bañales, Carlos Ornales, and Antoine Victorin. Doors open at 6pm.

Schedule of Events
6PM: Sign-Ups begin
7PM: Featured Poets
8PM: Open Mic

Hosted By

Donato Martinez was born in in small pueblo, Garcia de la Cadena, Zacatecas, Mexico and immigrated into USA at six years old. He teaches English composition, Literature, and Creative Writing at Santa Ana College. He has also taught classes in Chicano Studies. He has also been a co-coordinator of the Puente Program for 25 years and has presented workshop sessions at both the regional and state level. He has also spoken at many motivational and educational conferences. He hosts and curates many artistic events that feature poetry and music at his campus or in the community. He is also a poet and writes about his barrio upbringing, his community, his culture, and his Chicano identity. He has a self-published collection with three other Inland Empire poets, Tacos de Lengua. His full length collection of poetry, Touch the Sky, was published in 2023 by El Martillo Press. He loves the outdoors and is inspired by music and books and other artistic expressions, and his children, Gabriel and Abigail. He was recently recognized as the Distinguished Faculty of the Year at Santa Ana College in 2024. Instagram @donatomartinez1

Meliza Bañales aka Missy Fuego is the author of six books, a Lambda Literary Finalist, and a Slam Champion. She has written for the Washington Square Review, On Our Backs Magazine, Razorcake, Ladybox, and Encyclopedia Brittanica. Along with being the 2024 Los Angeles Erotica Slam Champion, they are also on the West Hollywood Slam Team who are the Chill List Slam Team Champions. They are a 2024 Tin House Fellow in Young Adult Fiction and a 2024 Los Angeles LGBTQIA Center Summer Resident. They live, write, and cause radical trouble in their hometown of Los Angeles. Instgram- @missyfuego  

Antoine Victorin is a son, uncle, brother, veteran, and free soul on a journey within. Coming from humble beginnings, Victorin recognizes the struggles we all face and wants to cultivate a community of love, kindness and compassion. Instagram- @antoinevee

Carlos Ornelas is a Mexican American Poet and the author of 2 poetry collections. He has been published in The San Diego Poetry Annual, Voices of Compton, the Myriad, and several anthologies and has been instrumental in the development of the CLI school of poetry. He has been recognised by the Los Angeles Library Commission as “one of the top rhythmic poets in L.A.” and he is dedicated to the advancement of the written arts and continues his work helping writers and poets find their poetic voice and becoming published authors. He recently published Villian’s Vernacular, a collection of poetry, with Riots of Roses Publishing. Instagram– @carlosornelaspoetry