WATCH: How poetry brought Phoenix's queer community together

When thems. (with a period) showed up in 2022, the mission was simple: put on some art events that would bring together some unknown talent, gather people who wear cool outfits, and maybe—just maybe—build a community around Phoenix's notoriously undervalued queer art scene.

One of their first ideas was a poetry night: a throwback to cafe culture of the 60's and something that many of us had thought was going to be a bad hangover from the 90's.

But to the surprise probably of many gays in Phoenix, the "Fruity Poetry Night" has gone from filling a corner of a midtown photography studio to themed nights with standing room only, making it the hit scene in Central Arizona.

Thems. has proven—probably more-so than other groups—that there's a market need for queer events that don't involve bars and still make it feel like you're not a teenager being forced to go to a poetry night at the Coffee Plantation in Tempe because there's nothing else to do.

Fruity is the brain child of thems. founder Francisco Diaz, who runs Cisco Sews, and former co-founder Eric Cadette, a local poet.

LOOKOUT sat down with Diaz and Cadette in 2023 shortly after they launched to understand why they started the group, and how thems.'s beginning was meager, if only to do something out of the box:

Both Diaz and Cadette moved to Phoenix at various times from different (read: larger or more eclectic) places, and found the lack of queer culture—or really any culture—in Phoenix a downer. And for a city that boasts the fifth largest population with a significant number being young and queer (we're ranked 13th in the nation), art was something they agreed could build bridges.

Since then, Cadette has stepped away from the group. He posted a cryptic message on his own Instagram earlier this year that's since been removed claiming he was forced out of thems., but no one has been able to confirm on record the reason for his leaving. One person close to organizers within the art collective said that the split was because of growing pains, and there were differences in how thems. should expand.

But the poetry night—as stale as it was fresh—was exactly what Phoenix's queer scene needed, apparently, and is the group's tentpole production.

From its first night in the corner of Afternoons Studio on 7th Avenue and Thomas Road, with slightly more than a dozen or so people facing the corner, to a year later having to turn people away and forced people to watch poets perform from outside the studio's window on 7th Avenue. Now, the event has taken over the larger halls of the Phoenix Art Museum and the Ice House in Downtown.

The collective has only grown from there, bringing on help from Afternoons Studio to host events more often, making the space colloquially become known as "the space" to go for new queer photography exhibits, lessons, markets, or other events. They even hosted a sapphic book fair during Phoenix Pride.

Now, the collective includes volunteers who manage their own verticals such as photography and writing, with hopes to expand into other art.

There have been a few ideas that haven't stuck, such as a "Last Sunday" market that was hosted at The Churchill but has since withered away. Though, that appears to have been swapped out with an annual "Fruity Market" that is a mash-up of an art market, a dance party, and an interactive art experience. But a few other art ideas have continued, such as floral bouquet arrangement classes, writing labs, and photography lessons.

Check out their website to see what's being put on next.