Poetry

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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.

A cropped version of the album cover for Olivia Rodrigo’s You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love featuring just a shoe and some hair, plus the text “pop music & poetry: a few discussion questions and writing prompts inspired by Olivia Rodrigo’s You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love”

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?

Continue reading “pop music & poetry: Olivia Rodrigo’s “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love””

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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.

Continue reading “Secret Rivers: SPRING IS COMING (new music + virtual release show)”

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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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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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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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I don’t have time/energy right now to share very much commentary; hopefully people are aware of the news here in Minnesota. Our No Kings rally went forward, and even with authorities telling people not to gather, thousands of people showed up. I shared a poem.

Actually wrote and memorized it last week, but because it ended up being about grief, how we carry it, and what we might do with it, it felt appropriate to share today too. Full text below, for the folks who have been asking for it.

ALSO: please check out the latest post in my FREE email newsletter: What’s next? Things to do after a big march

a photo of KTM/Guante performing at the No Kings St. Paul protest, wearing a shirt that says "believe trans kids"
Continue reading ““no kings, all bricks””

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Here’s the latest entry in my FREE newsletter. Please consider subscribing, since it’s a way artists can reach people without social media algorithms getting in the way. I know a handful of folks subscribe directly to my wordpress here, which is also appreciated. Thanks!

a collage of images featuring KTM performing, plus a bystander intervention banner, plus the Matthew Shepard Memorial bench.
a little collage of the past month; top right photo by Tish Jones

I mention the three new videos in the post, but here are some direct links:

All three of these poems are in my book, Not a Lot of Reasons to Sing, But Enough.

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a photo of a zine (small paper booklet) with the words "Let Every Word Be A Wrench In Their Machine: Writing Prompts: a collection of writing prompts for poets, emcees, songwriters, and other creative communicators"

Find even more activist-oriented writing prompts here.

Another new zine, another ongoing work-in-progress. I’m sharing some of my favorite writing prompts: for poets of course, but also for songwriters, emcees, and writers of all kinds.

It’s probably clear that my list favors political, movement-oriented, and activist-leaning prompts. There’s a reason for that: things are bad right now. They were bad last year, and every year before that too, but we should also be clear-eyed about the immense amount of work and struggle in front of right now. As always, art isn’t the only thing we need. As always, we do need art. Writing can help frame issues, shift narratives, and just bring people together. It won’t just happen inevitably, though; let these prompts be invitations for us all to be proactive and intentional.

Only other thing I’ll share here is that I also tend to favor “non-traditional” writing prompts. I like prompts that don’t point the way to a single poem or song, but rather to an impulse, a way of approaching our writing. These are prompts someone could use more than once, and write completely different pieces every time.

Here’s a link to a PDF for anyone who wants to print, cut, and fold the zine version (some directions here).

AND HERE’S THE FULL TEXT OF THE ZINE, PLUS SOME ADDITIONAL LINKS:

Continue reading “Let Every Word Be A Wrench In Their Machine: Writing Prompts”