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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.

Here is an MP3 audio file, if you prefer to listen, podcast-style (right-click and “save link as”)

Music by SEE MORE PERSPECTIVE.

This video is also a fundraiser: If this is valuable to you, we’re asking people to consider supporting CTUL (Centro De Trabajadores Unidos En La Lucha)’s emergency & rapid response fund.

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.

ADDITIONAL LINKS

Continue reading “Poetry Against ICE (full performance and panel discussion)”

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(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.
  • My kind of “home base” for a lot of links and resources right now is at resources for creative troublemakers.

I’ve also done a few interviews to share what we talked about at the event:

what can artists do? post-event notes, slides, and resources

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.

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Find even more resources for creative troublemakers here.

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!

As the situation here in MN develops; a few local voices:

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.

a square image with the text "poetry playlist: immigration, movement, and a future without borders

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***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:

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.”

Continue reading ““Discourse” + a call for more anti-ICE art”

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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.

a photo of KTM/Guante speaking into a microphone with the text "workshop offerings for activist gorups"
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)

Continue reading “Workshop Offerings for Activist Groups”

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(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.
Continue reading “Whistle Zine Resources – Twin Cities”

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a collage of endorsement images: TakeAction MN for Fateh, Davis, and Hampton; TCDSA for Fateh, MPLS for the Many for Fateh #1, Davis #2 and Hampton #3
via TakeAction MN, TCDSA, and MPLS for the Many

In times of crisis and fascism in politics at the national level, it becomes more and more important to engage with politics at the local level. Even for people cynical about electoral politics in general, it should be clear that local government is, at the very least, one piece of the puzzle when it comes to defending our communities and showing up for one another.

Here in Minneapolis, we have a big election coming up this November, and early voting is already open. For any friends or followers who are just tuning in, a few resources:

Continue reading “Election 2025 Minneapolis: Resources for Those Just Tuning In Now”

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As a teaching artist, I’ve facilitated countless workshops, classes, and conversations on the topic of what art and artists have to offer in times of crisis. What can it mean to “meet the moment?” What kind of work can a poem do, and what can’t it do? For those of us who already consider ourselves creative writers, what kinds of tools and tactics are most effective when it comes to speaking out about the causes that matter to us? And for those of us who don’t think of ourselves as artists, what can we learn from how artists approach these issues?

I do not believe there are easy answers, but in my experience, there is immense value in grappling with these kinds of guiding questions. Meeting the Moment: Political Poetry and the Anthemic Impulse is an asynchronous workshop experience where I share everything I’ve learned from these conversations: examples, frameworks, writing prompts, tactics, resources, and more.

Because I don’t believe that art is ever going to be enough to get us to the world that we want to live in. But I also do not see us getting to that world without it—without some kind of cultural strategy, without narrative work, without artists.

a photo of KTM performing, plus a green vine emerging from his back.
Continue reading “Meeting the Moment: Political Poetry and the Anthemic Impulse (New Workshop!)”

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This is the third in my series of conversations with artist friends where we get to dig a little bit deeper into our own work, reflect on our journeys, and hopefully share something useful. Find the first two here and here.

Official Bio: Shannon TL Kearns is a transgender man who believes in the transformative power of story. As an ordained priest, a playwright, a theologian, and a writer all of his work revolves around making meaning through story.

I recently got to join Shannon for the release of his new book, “No One Taught Me How to Be a Man: What a Trans Man’s Experience Reveals about Masculinity,” and it was such a fantastic and fascinating read that I thought it might be interesting to have this conversation.

Continue reading “In Conversation: Kyle Tran Myhre & Shannon TL Kearns”