Note: I could imagine a world in which this is an ongoing series, but we’ll see. For now, I just threw this together as an IG post during a free moment, and this post is a transcription for people who prefer to read it here rather than there.
I know a lot of teachers and teaching artists who like to incorporate pop music into their poetry units. And this album has SO MUCH going on that makes it perfect for that kind of work. And not just creative writing—I could imagine some of these questions/prompts being relevant in health classes, healthy relationships workshops, etc. Here are a few notes, discussion questions, and writing prompts.
What makes a lyric feel real?
At least part of it, for me, is the use of images:
pressed up in the bathroom line
heart made of wax / melting in the sun
hop the fence in the park
everything feels moldy like the fruit that’s in my fridge
We sometimes think people can only relate to our writing if we keep it vague, so they can map their experience onto ours. But I think it’s actually the opposite: A song that is just about “love” or “loss” in grand, abstract terms will usually not feel as real as a song that zooms in using these kinds of images, memories, scenes.
The smallest moments on an album can make its biggest ideas come to life. What others stick out to you?
It’s always nice to be able to offer programming in my own city, and especially after the last few months, my hope is that these two offerings can be useful. They’re also free! Here are the sign-up links, and I’ll share some more info below.
NOTE/UPDATE: “QUIET AND LOUD” IS AT CAPACITY, BUT THERE ARE STILL OPEN SEATS IN THE OTHER WORKSHOP.
SATURDAYS, MAY 2, 9, 16: 1-4pm: Creative life can sometimes privilege people with a lot of social energy, those who thrive under the pressure of deadlines, workshopping, and networking. And those people are lovely! But sometimes, the rest of us can feel left out. This series is built for those who aren’t usually the loudest voice in the room, but still have a lot to say. Over three sessions, we will do some of the traditional poetry workshop activities (exploring examples, sharing tools and tactics, responding to writing prompts, etc), but it will be set up intentionally to be more relaxed, “opt-in,” and low pressure, allowing for multiple ways to participate (or not!) beyond live discussion. Register – Free!
SUNDAY, MAY 24; 1-5pm: Whether or not we believe that our writing can change the world, there are deep, powerful connections between artists and movement-builders, historically. This interactive workshop will highlight what powers these connections, as well as what specific tactics artists (especially poets and writers) might use to most effectively advocate for our values. What kind of work can writing do, and what can’t it do? What are some favorite examples of writing that “meets the moment?” What makes those examples powerful? Over four hours, we’ll have space to explore those questions, respond to some writing prompts, and add a few tools to our creative toolboxes. Register – Free!
AND A READING: A special preview of the upcoming “Witness: Poems to Address the Past, Present, and Future of Policing.”
ABOUT THE NEW CITY CENTER FOR HEALING JUSTICE AND THE GRAPEVINE COLLECTIVE
The building: A historic church known for its activist bent – now, a community center, an incubator space, a collaborative ecosystem, a site of spiritual inspiration and dreams for a liberated future.
Our community: This space is run by and for the people: we are an intergenerational, multi-racial, cross-class, queer and accessible community that is rooted in struggles for dignity and justice in South Minneapolis.
Our vision: We believe in a world that has the inborn ability to heal itself. We cultivate community healing by practicing solidarity, wholeness, and presence, which lead to justice, abundance, and a resilient future.
Kyle Tran Myhre is a poet and activist based in MPLS. He’s contributed to a Grammy-winning album, performed at the United Nations, been a member of two National Poetry Slam championship teams, and visited countless colleges, conferences, and festivals, using spoken word and storytelling as doorways into critical dialogue. Find his poems, music, zines, and more at http://www.guante.info.
RELATED NOTES
As always, if you’re interested in this kind of thing but don’t live here, and/or just can’t make it to these specific workshops, I also offer an asynchronous workshop series here.
SECRET RIVERS is me on vocals, and SEE MORE PERSPECTIVE on both vocals and production. We’ve both been around forever, but this duo project is something new. Beyond that, we both live in the Twin Cities. Spring Is Coming is our first release as a duo, and it is very much about where we live, and about this moment: a season of occupation and brutality, but also a season of resistance and solidarity.
This release is also a fundraiser, with all proceeds going to the Neighbors Helping Neighbors Twin Cities ICE Relief Fund. Listen and/or download here:
My own writing has been the furthest thing from my mind these past few months, but spite and stubbornness can work as fuel as much as anything else. A couple quick notes on my contributions to this project:
Worthy of the Stone: We wrote this song in the Fall of 2025 over an instrumental track from the TV show Andor (the beat that plays when Mon Mothma spins around in circles). We liked the song too much for it to be a mixtape-style throwaway track, so SMP remixed it with an original beat. You can still find us performing the original version here, though.
One Does Not Simply Walk Into Minnesota actually started out as a remix of a very old Guante & Big Cats song, A Pragmatist’s Guide to Revolution. While re-recording the vocals, though, I decided to rewrite a few lines, which turned into rewriting basically the whole song. This one better reflects where I am right now.
Let Your Heart Be a Whistle is something I wrote back in December of 2025. The audio is pulled from a live performance at an UNIDOS fundraiser at the Loft Literary Center here in MPLS.
Book us for your mutual aid fundraiser, benefit show, or other event – contact me here.
In early February 2026, I invited Minnesota poets Ollie Schminkey, Isha Camara, and SEE MORE PERSPECTIVE to this asynchronous panel discussion and performance, sharing poems related to the ongoing federal occupation of Minnesota, as well as some insight into what makes political poems “work.” Here is the FULL VIDEO, with some additional notes below.
The idea behind this event was (1) an excuse to keep sharing that CTUL fundraiser; (2) a cool poetry event people could watch on their own time, from home (especially when so many are minimizing trips outside; we want to be in community with you too); and (3) a kind of counterpoint to my last big virtual event, where we focused on what artists can do beyond our art. That’s still an important conversation, but I wanted to also make time to dive into the art too, especially since I’m in community with so many poets, songwriters, and other creative people.
This conversation is about sharing—aside from some great poems—specific tools and tactics for other people who do creative communication work. I got to “talk shop” with three artists I respect, and I think we uncovered some really valuable insights about what works when we choose to speak out.
I totally understand if this video doesn’t get a ton of views or find a mass audience; it is two hours long, after all. But my hope is that it can be useful to YOU. Watch it in chunks over your lunchbreaks, or listen to the audio during a long drive, or even just read the “short version” aka this bank of pullquotes.
(Post-event update, 1/13/26): Wow – what an event. We had 1200 people register, and a really affirming—and practical—conversation. THANK YOU to everyone who stopped by.
HERE are the full notes & slides in a Proton document. Plus a few related links:
Proton sometimes has issues on certain browsers, so HERE are the notes as a PDF, as a backup.
HERE is a piece I wrote for Racket synthesizing our event notes into something more like an essay.
A summary of the event’s big-picture takeaways over on IG.
A great conversation with Morgan at the “Art is the New Wall Street” podcast in this video:
Are We Going To Do This Again?
There was a lot of interest in another session, and of course people who couldn’t make it. Our hope is that the notes are robust enough where you get all the content there, but we also know it’s not just about content; it’s also about community. For now, we’ll see. We live in Minneapolis, and you all know there’s a lot going on here. But if other people want to hold similar discussions, there definitely seems to be some hunger for them.
Bringing this Discussion into Other Spaces
All that being said: sometimes, organizational collaboration can be a good excuse to bring the content into another space. So if you want to bring this workshop to your organization, school, or other community space, get in touch here.
We wanted to do this first installment completely independent of any org collaborators so we could experiment with the content/format, but most of my actual work is in partnership with groups, whether in-person or virtual. Thanks.
A difficult title: I started simply wanting to collect “anti-ICE” poems, but obviously that kind of negative focus potentially limits the collection in terms of tone and substance. So this is something a little more broad. AS WITH ANY LIST, this is absolutely incomplete; it’s just a handful of poems (with a particular emphasis on spoken word and performance videos) that I’ve come across in my work and that I’d consider using in education/advocacy settings.
Same idea with my lists on Palestine poems, consent poems, whiteness poems, and various other lists here – these lists are “snapshots” of a much larger range of work that engage with an issue in a compelling way. If nothing else, I’m just setting up this page for myself, so I can have a quick reference when I want to find these poems. But if they can be useful to you too, even better!
Once again, I’ll just reiterate that this list is woefully incomplete, just a snapshot of the incredible work being done right now by poets, writers, and other culture workers. Let’s keep adding to this list, both in a literal sense and a figurative one.
***Edit (Feb 17, 2026): there’s a video of me performing this poem at a Monarca fundraiser here. The audio pulled from that performance is also one of the tracks on our fundraiser EP, Spring Is Coming.
New poem, plus a few related links:
The MSPWhistles linktree, with all kinds of (MN-specific) info and resources for showing up for our communities.
A few links here sharing some more background on the whistle tactic for anyone just hearing about it now.
Full text of the new poem is below. Thanks for reading. It goes without saying that poetry is not enough in this moment. But I would push us all (myself included) to take up space IN poetry/art spaces, bring these conversations anywhere they aren’t already happening, and continue trying to shape/shift the narrative. In this context of this call for more anti-ICE poetry, music, visual art, and beyond, the key line in this poem is probably “the call is not to say something perfect; it is to make noise.”
Some people will find this post because they already know me; others may be coming to this post directly from social media. If you’re the latter, here’s my bio, and the basic pitch:
I’ve spent twenty years facilitating workshops – while people might assume that means “teaching poetry classes,” creative writing has really always been just a fraction of what I do. A lot of my facilitation work in non-creative writing spaces has happened organically, via relationships, but I thought I’d set up a page here to make some of my offerings explicit.
photo by adam bubolz
I would love to bring any of these to your local Indivisible chapter, or DSA chapter, or neighborhood group, or church group, or student org, or informal collective, or any other progressive activist formation. Not because I’m some amazing expert or authority (I’m not!), but because these kinds of workshops can be powerful opportunities to both build practical skills and forge relationships.
The following workshops can be in-person or virtual. Get in touch!
(And of course, while this post highlights these specific offerings, you can find info on all of my other work—school residencies, performances, keynotes, etc.—at that same booking link)
(2026 update) I’m leaving this post up, but it should be noted that it’s from October 2025, and the situation here in MN has shifted quite a bit since then. A few updates:
For people specifically looking for whistle-related resources, check out MSPwhistles.
For people looking for more information about what “the work” looks like in MN right now (ways to show up, calls-to-action, etc.) check out the first section of my resource hub here.
You must be logged in to post a comment.