Garret Potter is a two time Ann Arbor Poetry Slam Champion and author of Without Reservation, New Book, and HIDE AND SEEK: A Poet’s Memoir, as well as the albums Context and Other Nights Echo. Coming from nine states and Japan, his work has been printed by the city of Portland, Oregon in concrete at public light-rail stations and has also appeared in The Promethean, Christianity Today, Groundcover News, Indiefeed, and the documentary film One Nation Under God. You can find Garret at the library, garden, kitchen, thrift shop, and hardware store learning from people who know how things work. He lives with his son in Michigan where he serves as Slam-master for the Ann Arbor Poetry Slam.
Garret has represented Michigan at the 2014 & 2015 National Poetry Slam competitions as well as the 2013 Individual World Poetry Slam. He has won slams in Portland, Oakland, Detroit, Little Rock, Spokane, Springfield, and Grand Rapids.
With over 600 performances in well over 200 venues, he has entertained and educated more than twenty schools, Universities and colleges, the Victoria Spoken Word Festival, Ann Arbor Book Fest, Cornerstone, The Seattle Round, the ReSource Arts Conference, the Midwest Literary Walk, and tour stops across North America.
Upon first hearing Garret perform, Marc Smith, the founder and originator of the Poetry Slam movement, called him “one of my favorites.” The 2013 World Slam Champion Xero Skidmore says Garret produces, “great writing…SERIOUS talent.”
In 2012, Eberhardt Press printed his debut full-length release, Hide And Seek: A Poet’s Memoir, of which the first edition sold out in three months and the second edition the following year.
Monica Storss of Storss Publicity says, “His aesthetic is humanistic, accessible, lively, and at times life-affirming…a miracle.”
He has performed at events with Noam Chomsky, Marc Smith, Danez Smith, Anis Mojgani, Phil Kaye, and musical performers Listener, Josh Garrels, and Kelli Schaefer, as well as artist James O. Barr (creator of The Crow).
“I love his work, as well as his presentation of it live…He is the only person I’ve seen literally taken down, wrestled to the ground by a listener who was quite overcome with joy and emotion by his poetry.” -recording artist Seth Martin