Marcus Turner aka Black Phoenix a Lynchburg, Virginia native who migrated to Simpsonville South Carolina found his voice through poetry. Black Phoenix embodies humbleness but when on stage is a fiery phoenix. He is a multi-talented musician and brilliant writer. He began his journey by attending open mics throughout the upstate of South Carolina and competed in many slams. Through honing his craft and tapping into his pain from relationships and family he began to be a force to be reckoned. Black Phoenix was a member of the Upstate SC Poetry Slam Team-Tell It! (2012) and a member of the Upstate SC Poetry Slam Team-Say What (2011&2013), and tied for 9th place of over 130 poets in the 2015 Southernfried poetry slam competition. Also, Black Phoenix was the 2012, 2015, 2018, and 2019 Upstate SC Haiku Slam Champion as well as being the 2015, 2016, 2018 Southernfried haiku slam champion, Southernfried Regional, and National Nerd Slam champion and is the current Slam Master for the SayWhat!? Poetry slam team in Greenville, SC