Guante

poet, MC, activist; www.guante.info

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I basically decide to make a zine when I’ve had so many conversations about a topic that a shortcut would be useful. Not that the conversations aren’t fun; I just want to make sure people can share these resources/ideas beyond the conversation. The newest zine in my library is maybe a little more niche than the others—it’s a collection of resources for people who are looking to start some kind of creative-writing based group: like a high school poetry club, a writing circle, etc.

As always, there’s no one way to do that, and not everything in this zine is going to apply to every person in every situation. But my hope is that there’s something useful in there, at least as a starting point.

One brief note: This is a traditional, 8-page, “z-fold” zine. If you want to print/cut/fold some yourself, here’s a PDF (note that it’s formatted for 11×17 paper). I have a different 8-page zine that’s all about getting involved in spoken word for people who are new to it. I have also, however, combined the two 8-page zines into a single 12-page zine (cutting some of the overlapping content), that I will have with me at shows/events for the foreseeable future. If you’re a teacher, event organizer, etc. who might be interested in a bulk order, feel free to get in touch using my booking form.

As always, here’s the full text of the zine:

Continue reading “All the Threads Between Us: The Power of Poetry Clubs, Writing Circles, Open Mics, and Other Collective Efforts (Zine)”

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Some upcoming opportunities, food-for-thought, and resources:

1. First, to contextualize everything else here, a few thoughts on what it means to recognize National Poetry Month during a genocide. What are the role(s) of poets in times of crisis? What are some concrete, specific things we can do, in the spaces we move through, with the audiences we have access to? A few tactics and resources in the link (it goes to a nine-slide IG carousel). Related:

2. Second: A few local appearances, online opportunities, and more coming up. So much of my work is on-the-road, at schools, colleges, and what basically amounts to “private” events. But these are ones that are more open. Details below:

a promo graphic for "midwest poetry mash-up: finals hosted by kyle tran myhre aka guante; get your tickets today: tinyurl.com/MashUp2024; April 19-20 at Strike Theater in MPLS.
a promo image for the unfold writing series: 2024 guest host: guante (kyle tran myhre) workshop: anthemic writing: monday, april 29, 7-9pm cdt. become a member: bit.ly/unfoldwriting
promo image for "out loud at the library" w/ sun yung shin, kyle tran myhre, kashimana ahua and desdamona: "free creative workshops led by artists throughout may; wednesdays from 6-7pm at the george latimer central library
Continue reading “National Poetry Month 2024 Links”

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A collage of poem titles: What I Will by Suheir Hammad, If I Must Die by Refaat Alareer, Picking up Rocks by Rasha Abdulhadi, What is Home? by Mosab Abu Toha, Naturalized by Hala Alyan, Mismarked by Tariq Luthun, Don't Step on My Feet Again by Basman Aldirawi (via the book, Light in Gaza), Birthright by George Abraham, Antizionist Abecedarian by Sam Sax, Red Sea by Aurora Levins Morales

Kind of a National Poetry Month post. I’ve written about this before, so I’ll keep it short: it times of great crisis, I think poets have more to offer than poems. We should still write the poems, of course, but we can also “be mobilizers. We can be movement-builders. We can use our networks to spread information” and on and on. One way this plays out in our everyday work, for me at least, is the practice of kicking off events and performances by bringing someone else’s voice into the space.

I’ve done this here-and-there through my whole career, but it’s felt like a real necessity over the last five months. If I have 20-60 minutes of stage time at an event, I’m not really interested in just jumping into my own material. I want to acknowledge context. I want to acknowledge that the audience’s hearts might be in two places at once. Opening a show with a poem from a Palestinian poet is a small thing, a tiny thing, but I think it matters. A big part of my own pedagogical approach has been the idea that poems are excuses—they have value on their own, of course, but beyond that, they are footholds, opportunities for us to look at something we weren’t already looking at, to think deeply about something that would otherwise be ignored. If we’re not doing that as a bare minimum, what are we doing?

This post is just a list of links—both to short poems I’ve been returning to, over and over recently, and some articles/interviews on how poetry can be used in this moment. I use that word, used, intentionally. It’s not just about what we can say via poetry; it’s about what the process of writing and sharing poems can help build. Hope these can be useful:

A FEW POEMS

A note on the selections: Any time I make a topic-based list, the list is not exhaustive. This one does not feature every great Palestinian poet, or every poet who has written about war and peace (indeed, the ones listed here are not all by Palestinian poets, and they are not all from the last five months). The list is, very specifically, a small sampling of poems on this topic that have been useful to me in my work as a performer, educator, and facilitator. I’m less interested in the “best” poems, and more interested in poems that can be generative, that can lead to good conversations, and questions—poems that can open doors. There are so many others, and I’d encourage all of us to make these kinds of lists and share them.

A FEW OTHER LINKS

Click through for even more examples:

an IG post with the text "art for palestine challenge: for artists and art makers of all kinds to keep attention on palestine and help amplify palestinian voices! (1) write, illustrate, sing, play music, recite a poem about something you saw in the news or on a video about Palestine. You can also choose to amplify Palestinian voices by creating art based on their exact words. Make sure to give them credit and cite your source! (2) Post your creation and tag #ArtForPalestineChallenge
An IG post with the text “Share your art on and offline! Plaster your city! Ga*za is calling all creatives: use your art to tell the world the truth. With increasing censorship, your role as an artist is more important than ever. Tag @palestinianvoiestoday in your art & we will share.

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a photo of three zines, side by side, titled "the call for a free palestine is a call for freedom everywhere"
click image for an Instagram-friendly version to share.

New zine: Collecting some of the writing that has been useful or meaningful to me over the past three months. I’ve already shared some of my own thoughts; this zine is about signal-boosting voices that I think we should all be listening to in this moment. Below, you can read the zine itself, and find links to all of the sources/articles quoted.

The cover is a design by Natalie Hinahara, which is part of this fantastic folder of “Palestine Art for Protests.”

PRINT YOUR OWN: HERE is a link to the PDF, in case anyone out there wants to share (just makes sure to print on 11×17 paper; here is my favorite “foldy zine” tutorial for how to cut and fold them).

As always, reading, learning, and critical dialogue are first steps, not final steps. Let’s learn, of course, but let’s also find ways to take action.

Continue reading “Zine: Recommended Reading on Gaza and the Struggle for Justice in Palestine”

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A few highlights from 2023, for people who are interested in my work but may have missed something here or there. It was a bit of a “between-projects” year for me (though I did mark the one-year anniversary of my book by making a section available to read online here), on top of the fact that self-promo has been the furthest thing from my mind over the last three months, but here are some links.

a photo of KTM projected onto a big screen at the Lollapalooza festival.
Text: "five notes for artists and musicians who want to speak out about Palestine but aren't sure how"
a photo (by Aaron Vincent Facundo) of KTM speaking at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
Continue reading “In Case You Missed It: 2023 Recap (and 2024 Booking)”

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As people with platforms, especially here in the U.S., we have a chance to share more than thoughts and prayers.

11/18/23 Update: Editing this post to be a hub for a few things I’ve been sharing:

And here’s an update (2/8/24): a video version of the Racket piece:

A photo of attendees of a march, facing away from the camera. Multiple Palestinian flags are visible; in the foreground, a Palestinian flag and a “land back” flag fly from the same pole. Over the photo, text: “FIVE NOTES FOR ARTISTS AND MUSICIANS WHO WANT TO SPEAK OUT ABOUT PALESTINE BUT AREN’T SURE HOW: by Kyle Tran Myhre; read the full piece at bit.ly/SpeakOutRacket

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Just wanted to share a few good links and a specific thought about how they’re all connected. For more background (especially if you’re looking for more foundational info/context about Gaza), you can also check out the bundle of links I’ve shared on my “recommended reading” page.

NDN Collective’s solidarity statement featuring the text “cease fire: settler colonialism is at the root of the violence in Gaza” + “read our full statement at ndncollective.org” + an image of a silhouette holding up a Palestinian flag.
Jewish Voice for Peace’s solidarity statement featuring the text “JVP Statement: the root of violence is oppression” + “10/7/2023”
The Audre Lorde Project’s solidarity statement featuring the text “free Palestine: ALP stands with the people of Palestine and with all colonized & oppressed peoples fighting for liberation around the world” + an image of a Palestinian flag with brown fists raised.

The focus of this post is solidarity statements. Check out this guide from Building Movement Project that talks about what they are, why they matter, and questions/variables to consider when writing one.

That being said, it’s always important to first acknowledge and center statements (and specific calls to action) from groups representing, and/or connected to, the people most directly affected by an issue. In this case, that might mean looking to orgs like US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Students for Justice in Palestine, American Muslims for Palestine, Palestinian Youth Movement, Palestinian Feminist Collective, etc.—not necessarily as absolute authorities, since no one group speaks for all of the Palestinian people, but as crucial starting points. What news are they sharing? What are their calls to action?

As of this writing, those calls to action might include contacting elected reps to support a ceasefire and the opening of humanitarian aid corridors, attending a local march or protest to show solidarity and gain media attention, and doing more in-depth political education and narrative-shifting work in your community. Another call to action, especially for those of us connected to organizations, might be to write a solidarity statement. A few examples:

Continue reading “Gaza, Media Literacy, and What We Can Learn from Solidarity Statements”

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New music! 10 emcees, singers, poets, DJs & producers from 3 states RUNNING AMOK.

I’m excited to share this new project, helmed by production duo Scum & Villainy (two longtime friends and collaborators, SEE MORE PERSPECTIVE and Rube); I’m featured on six of the seventeen tracks, and it was so much fun to just share some verses (and a poem) and see how they ended up contributing to the actual songs.

The whole album is beautiful, in that it’s intentionally chaotic. The soundscapes, the multiple voices, the concepts—it all adds up to something that reminds me of my own entry point into Hip Hop: deeply collaborative, off-kilter, against-the-grain music from acts like Goodie Mob, Wu-Tang, De La Soul, and beyond. Not that this actually sounds anything like those groups, haha; it’s more about the spirit of it.

Get it on Bandcamp, and/or stream it wherever you listen to music.

A few personal highlights:

  • From track 3: We pledge allegiance to no nation, only the land underneath it / The reason, the culture that we breathe in / No banners, borders, or binaries to believe in…
  • From track 6: Now I’m full hearts, new mission before me / Future’s so bright we’re forced to share a photosensitivity warning…
  • From track 12: They put the pedal to the metal and were gone, runnin’ free / But me, I’d rather meddle in some petals like a honey bee / And stay rooted and in tune with the hive / That scum and villainy vibe, that criminal life / of rhythm and rhyme when powers that be want want us to shut up / We use the power of bees, like buzz buzz buzz / Best line I ever wrote / won’t be taking questions, the comment section’s closed…
  • Also, tracks 4 and 9 feature reworked versions of poems from my book.
Ladies and gentlemen, friends of ALL genders: Welcome to the year of no surrender - guante
press any button to begin as long as it’s not skip Let’s clip through every wall, every border Our allegiance is to the bugs not the bosses Player one take no losses, and give no quarter - guante
this is a love song, a death rattle, a battle cry this is the ugly truth instead of a beautiful lie this is the point of the performance: they want us to forget it but fire is the language we were born with - guante

Thanks to everyone checking it out. More new music on the way…

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Survival is not a fortress; it is a garden.

This past July, I got to open up for Rudy Francisco here in Minneapolis at Icehouse, and used it as an opportunity to formally “debut” a poem I’ve been working on for months, probably my favorite new thing that I’ve written since my book came out. As always, I like the share a few notes on the process, as well as the full text below.

Continue reading “When It Really Is Just the Wind, and Not a Furious Vexation”