Phoenix & Dragon Bookstore Open Mic Night
A brick house with a sharply sloping driveway is what one first sees upon approaching Phoenix & Dragon Bookstore. Located in Sandy Springs, the bookstore is on Roswell Road in Decatur. There are a variety of shops along Roswell, with a healthy stream of pedestrians and a continuous flow of cars along the street.
At the door to Phoenix & Dragon, a sign kindly asks to not let the cats out. Quickly entering is advised, and once inside, the heady aroma of incense suffuses the olfactory senses. Candles line glass shelves, and trinkets and amulets hang in display cases throughout the several rooms of the brick house that is much bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside.
Phoenix & Dragon poetry open mic happens every third Friday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Visitors should note that their website has not been updated as of July 2025. On their site, it is stated that from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., family friendly material should be read for kids in attendance. From 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., more adult oriented topics can be performed. C.J., the host that night, explained that a child used to frequent the open mics, and the bookstore was catering to her presence.
Perhaps they leave the notification on the site in hopes that children will attend once again, but the information did create confusion. The open mic started around 7:15 p.m. with five adults in attendance, but around 8 p.m., another four people showed up expecting the adult portion of the night to begin then. Though a little distracting as they entered, it was eventually taken in stride, and the poetry open mic flowed on unabated.
Phoenix & Dragon Bookstore has a fascinating round robin reading of poetry where a participant reads a poem, followed by the next person, then the next, and so on. CJ would call the names off of the sign-in sheet, and the reading keeps going until the evening is over. Since the night started off with four readers, and an additional reader arrived later making five altogether, it really turned out to be a marathon event. If you attend, be advised to bring a fair number of poems. Even if you don’t think they are all quite there yet, the group was very encouraging to everything presented. You’ll have a lot of time to share, and you’ll even get oratory tips, which is great for the more shy individuals who tend to speak too quietly or too quickly in front of an audience.
Phoenix & Dragon open mic is an exhaustive sharing of poetry, a practice session to see how the audience reacts to your poetry and how it sounds when read out loud. It is an encouraging experience meant to make you a better speaker and a sharper poet. It is highly recommended for novice and experienced readers alike. The Friday event ended with almost every chair taken, which shows the interest in spoken word that people of Atlanta share.
Their next open mic session is August 15th, the second Friday of the month. Currently, it is also one of the free open mic events in Atlanta. It promises to be another great time that everyone can enjoy. If you attend, call ahead and check the time to see if they are still going to begin with a family friendly session at 7 p.m. or if they will just go straight into the adult session.
