On Poetry, Protest, and Possibility

For anyone who might be interested, a brief look into what I "do" for a living:

April was National Poetry Month, and the first thing I did was facilitate a virtual workshop via Button Poetry on what it means for poets and other artists to “meet the moment.” Obviously, there is not just one answer to that question; it’s a big, complex, dynamic conversation. But I do think there are threads to pull, examples to explore, and guiding stars to follow. If you missed it, but you’d like to see the slides/class notes, find them here.

That conversation also kind of frames what I did for the rest of the month—a string of performances, keynotes, and presentations: at a Unitarian Universalist church near Milwaukee (something I’d love to do more of; please get in touch if you’re connected to a congregation), at UW-Eau Claire (on building a culture of consent), at SUNY-Ulster (for the Ellen Robbins Poetry Forum), at the University of Wyoming (a keynote on narrative organizing for the Shepard Symposium) and up in Silver Bay, MN (to teach poetry at the high school for a week).

Between those gigs, I hosted a bout of the Be Heard MN Youth Poetry Slam series at the Guthrie, hosted two bouts of the Midwest Poetry Mashup at Open Book, taught a youth poetry masterclass for Be Heard semifinalists, and performed at the book release event for Shannon TL Kearns’ new book, No One Taught Me How to Be a Man. Finally, I just performed last night as part of Cole Sarar’s SciFi reading series at the Bryant Lake Bowl, exploring science fiction as a doorway into thinking about the world we want to build and how we might work together to build it.

I share all that not to brag about how busy and important I am; I share it because there is a thread running through all those events beyond my own involvement in them. All over this country, in this time of enormous crisis and uncertainty, people are doing vital work. As I wrote for Racket earlier this month:

Poetry itself isn’t the answer to [this crisis]. But spaces in which people can stand up on a stage and affirm their identities, celebrate their communities, and speak truth to power are absolutely going to be part of the answer. When the dominant culture actively discourages creativity and community, it is on us to keep building and supporting spaces that cultivate them. When the people in power want us to be quiet, it is the most straightforward form of rebellion to refuse.

In poetry spaces, arts spaces, and a thousand other collective/community formations, people are pushing back against despair, sometimes in actively, traditionally political ways, and other times just via building relationships and showing up for one another. Both matter. In that spirit, here's a zine on cultivating poetry clubs, open mics, and writing circles; and here's a zine exploring organizing more broadly, for people looking to step into that work.

As always, if you'd like to bring me to YOUR school, conference, festival, church, reading series, lecture series, or whatever... honestly, I'm taking a month or two off; I'm tired. But I am definitely booking for the Fall; contact me here.

In Case You Missed It

A few recent updates:

• As I mentioned above, I wrote a piece for Racket with the intentionally provocative title Slam Poetry Is Good, Actually. Just wanted to both address the stereotypes and affirm what is fun, healthy, and potentially transformative about spoken word spaces.
• Some powerful work from other voices in my ongoing "recommended reading" project.
• Three new videos! For the anniversary of my book release, I shot some informal, at-home performances of three pieces that hadn't yet been captured, along with some notes and reflection on my process. Here's one, and find all three here.

Up Next

I am trying to take some time to focus on a couple of bigger projects; that being said, I'd ask local/MN friends to mark your calendars for one big summer performance: Wednesday, July 23 at Silverwood Park (6:30pm, free, all ages, outdoors!) Very excited to share a SECRET RIVERS set with you. More details as the date approaches.

Beyond that, thanks again for reading. Find me on bluesky or IG.