Volume Seven: Chapter Eight - Our Conversation with Dasha Kelly

Volume Seven: Chapter Eight - Our Conversation with Dasha Kelly

In Volume Seven: Chapter Eight of the Program, we welcome Milwaukee, Wisconsin-born and based Writer, Poet, Storyteller, Author, Performance Poet, Teaching Artist, and Creative Change Agent Dasha Kelly. A former Milwaukee Poet Laureate and Wisconsin's first Black Poet Laureate, Dasha has spent decades building community through the power of story, imagination, and creative expression. During our conversation, Dasha reflects on her early years as a self-described curious kid, arts-and-crafts enthusiast, and natural storyteller. We discuss the role her mother played in encouraging her creative pursuits, her early interest in fiction writing, and how a fascination with psychology and human behavior ultimately intersected with her lifelong love of storytelling. Dasha shares her journey into poetry, including her initial resistance to the form before eventually embracing it as a powerful vehicle for exploration and connection. We talk about her creative process, how she determines whether an idea belongs in poetry, fiction, or nonfiction, and the ways those forms often overlap in her work. We also examine the evolution of Milwaukee's literary community through Dasha's eyes, comparing her reflections from the early 2000s to the thriving creative culture she helped cultivate over the years. She speaks candidly about community building, connection, and the profound impact of bringing together people from different backgrounds through shared artistic experiences. Contact Dasha: Website: dashakelly.com [https://dashakh.com/]          Instagram: @dasha_kelly [https://www.instagram.com/dasha_kelly/]   Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:  Porsha O. – Trigger Instagram: @porshaolayiwola [https://www.instagram.com/porshaolayiwola/]          Website: porshaolayiwola.com [https://www.porshaolayiwola.com/]  Barbara Fant – Medicine Instagram: @iambarbarafant [https://www.instagram.com/iambarbarafant/]          Website: barbarafant.com [https://www.porshaolayiwola.com/] Black Chakra –I Spit Fire Instagram: @blackchakra88 [https://www.instagram.com/blackchakra88]  Ariana Brown – Supremacy Instagram: @arianathepoet [https://www.instagram.com/arianathepoet/]         Website: arianabrown.com [https://www.arianabrown.com/]  Javon Johnson – Shotgun Instagram: @javonism [https://www.instagram.com/javonism/] Support the show [https://cash.app/$ethicallyimmoral]

Volume Seven: Chapter Seven - Our Conversation with Jennifer LoveGrove

In Volume Seven: Chapter Seven of the podcast, we welcome Dunnville, Ontario-born and Toronto-based Writer, Author, and Poet Jennifer LoveGrove. Jennifer is the author of four full-length poetry collections and the novel Watch How We Walk, which was long-listed for the Giller Prize. Her poetry collection Beautiful Children with Pet Foxes was long-listed for the Raymond Souster Award, and her newest collection, The Tinder Sonnets, is available now via Bookhug Press.  In our conversation, we discuss Jennifer's creative history—from childhood creativity and growing up with a typewriter and lamp-chair writing setup, to the lasting influence of religion and the sense of outsiderhood that shaped both her worldview and artistic voice. We discuss her movement between fiction and poetry, whether those creative instincts originate from the same creative space, and the realities of maintaining a writing practice beyond romantic ideas of inspiration.  Jennifer speaks candidly about discipline, resistance, self-doubt, and the emotional terrain of writing—why first drafts can feel exhausting, what revision gives back, and whether satisfaction comes from the act of writing itself or from seeing something new brought into existence.  We also spend time discussing The Tinder Sonnets—a collection based on Jennifer’s experiences navigating dating apps and modern relationships in middle age. Our conversation touches on vulnerability, confession, female desire, misogyny in contemporary dating culture, and the expectations society places on women as they age. Jennifer reflects on writing openly about intimacy and emotional complexity, what it means to transform personal experience into poetry, and whether the collection brought clarity, confrontation, or simply another way of living alongside difficult truths Contact Jennifer: Purchase The Tinder Sonnets: bookhugpress.ca [https://bookhugpress.ca/shop/author/jennifer-lovegrove/the-tinder-sonnets-by-jennifer-lovegrove/]          Instagram: @jenlg52 [https://www.instagram.com/jenlg52/]    Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:  Prentice Powell – True Love Instagram: @prenticepowell1906 [https://www.instagram.com/prenticepowell1906/]          Website: prenticepowell.com [https://prenticepowell.com/] Asia Samson – Enough Instagram: @theasiaproject [https://www.instagram.com/theasiaproject/]         Website: theasiaproject.com [https://www.theasiaproject.com/]  Alysia Harris – Death Poem Instagram: @poppyinthewheat [https://www.instagram.com/poppyinthewheat/]          Website: alysiaharris.com [https://alysiaharris.com/] Kyla Janee Lacey – I Pulled Out A Knife On Him Instagram: @ [https://www.instagram.com/stevenwillispoetry/]kylajlacey         Website: thatswritekyla.com [https://www.thatswritekyla.com/]  Emi Mahmoud – Window Games Instagram: @emibatuta [https://www.instagram.com/emibattuta/]         Website: emi-mahmoud.com [https://emi-mahmoud.com/]  Support the show [https://cash.app/$ethicallyimmoral]

Volume Seven: Chapter Six - Our Conversation With Steven Seidenberg

In Volume Seven: Chapter Six of The Program, we welcomed Boston-based Photographer, Poet, Writer, Philosopher, and Visual Artist, Steven Seidenberg.  We discuss Steven’s newest poetry collection, Coda, his ongoing photographic work, including his exhibition at the John and Geraldine Lilley Museum of Art and the forthcoming photographic project Kanazawa Vacancy. In our conversation, Steven reflects on what it means to see his work displayed publicly and discusses his fascination with photographing empty landscapes, abandoned structures, and unstable environments—images that ask viewers not simply to look, but to reconsider what they’ve been seeing all along.  We discuss Steven’s early creative and intellectual history. He talks about his youthful attraction to poetry and philosophy, describing a compulsive literary obsession that shaped his identity and ultimately led him to leave high school before finding his academic footing at Simon’s Rock and later Bard College. We discuss the influence of reading on writing, the role philosophical literature played in his development, and how his interest in photography emerged alongside his early writing life, including memories of developing black-and-white photographs in his uncle’s darkroom.  Our conversation also explores family influences, Steven’s path through philosophy and academia, and his eventual transition away from teaching and copy editing toward a full-time creative life. Along the way, we unpack his remarkably patient artistic process, with projects often taking a decade or more to complete.  This was a thoughtful and reflective conversation about observation, artistic patience, intellectual curiosity, and the lifelong pursuit of meaning through multiple creative forms.  Contact Steven: Website: stevenseidenberg.com [https://www.stevenseidenberg.com/]          Instagram: @steven.seidenberg [https://www.instagram.com/steven.seidenberg/]    Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:  Brittany Barker – The Classroom Before the Revolution Instagram: @iambrittanybarker [https://www.instagram.com/iambrittanybarker/]  Joshua Bennett – 16 Bars For Kendrick Lamar Instagram: @sirjoshuabennett [https://www.instagram.com/sirjoshbennett/]          Website: drjoshuabennett.com [https://www.drjoshuabennett.com/] Gina Loring – Freedom To Learn Instagram: @ginastarlight [https://www.instagram.com/ginastarlight/]          Website: ginaloring.com [https://ginaloring.com/]  Steven Willis – Instead Of A Suicide Note, I Wrote This Instagram: @stevenwillispoetry [https://www.instagram.com/stevenwillispoetry/]         Website: stevenwillispoetry.com [https://www.stevenwillispoetry.com/] Alexis Green – He Used To Send Me Flowers Instagram: @poetalexisgreen [https://www.instagram.com/poetalexisgreen/]          Website: poetalexsisgreen.com [https://www.poetalexisgreen.com/] Support the show [https://cash.app/$ethicallyimmoral]

Volume Seven: Chapter Five - Our Conversation with Brenda Cardanes

In Volume Seven: Chapter Five, Brenda Cárdenas joins the Program for a wide-ranging conversation about creativity, language, culture, visual art, and the experiences that shaped her voice as a writer and poet. A Milwaukee, Wisconsin born and based educator, essayist, and author, Brenda earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, her teaching certification from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, and her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan. She is the author of the award-winning poetry collection Trace, which received the 2024 Society of Midland Authors Poetry Award and was the Silver Award winner of the 2023 Foreword INDIES Poetry Awards. She is also the author of three chapbooks, served as Milwaukee Poet Laureate from 2010–2012, and in 2025 was named Wisconsin Poet Laureate.  Throughout the conversation, Brenda reflects on growing up surrounded by creativity in many forms—from family members who painted, crafted furniture, made saddles, and told stories—to discovering poetry as the medium that allowed her to fully explore culture, memory, and identity. We discuss her early love of visual art, arts and crafts with her aunt, and the impact storytelling had on her imagination as a child. Brenda also talks about beginning to write stories around the age of eight, being encouraged by teachers early on, and eventually discovering poetry in high school through an American Authors course.  Our conversation explores the importance of representation in literature and how discovering Latin poetry and bilingual writing during undergrad changed her understanding of what poetry could do. Brenda speaks candidly about how encountering poets who reflected her own culture and experiences gave her permission to more openly write about identity, language, and heritage.  The conversation also touches on what it is like sharing life with fellow poet and former Milwaukee Poet Laureate Roberto Harrison, the ways visual art continues to influence her writing process, and what it meant to receive the call informing her that she had been selected as Wisconsin’s Poet Laureate in 2025. Contact Brenda: Website: brendacardenas.net [https://www.brendacardenas.net]          Instagram: @brenda.cardenas.754 [https://www.instagram.com/brenda.cardenas.754/]      Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:  Ephraim Nehemiah – Inheritance of a Broken Home Instagram: @ephariamnehemiah [https://www.instagram.com/ephraimnehemiah/]  Khalil Saadiq – Somebody's Watching Me Instagram: @khalil_saadiq  [https://www.instagram.com/khalil_saadiq/] Alexandria Bennett – Color Blind Instagram: @caffeinatedliving [https://www.instagram.com/caffeinatedliving/]  Denice Frohman – Accents Instagram: @denicefrohman [https://www.instagram.com/denicefrohman/]          Website: denicefrohman.com [https://www.denicefrohman.com/]  Lionheart – Pretty Hurts Instagram: @lionheartfelt [https://www.instagram.com/lionheartfelt/]          Website: lionheartfeltonline.com  [https://www.lionheartfeltonline.com] Support the show [https://cash.app/$ethicallyimmoral]

Volume Seven: Chapter Four - Our Conversation with Leah V

In Volume Seven: Chapter Three of the program, we welcome Bronx-born, New York City-based Writer, Performance Poet, Curator, and star of the one-woman show "The Long Way Home", Leah V.  In our conversation, we trace her creative history—from writing poetry at seven, to studying musical theater, to finding her footing in New York’s spoken word scene.  We touch on her recent marriage and what it’s like balancing something deeply personal with a public life rooted in performance. We revisit "Virtual Voices", the virtual open mic space that introduced me to her work back in 2020, and her "partner in Creative crime" and co-host JRose. We spend time on a pivotal chapter—losing her father, the silence that followed, and what brought her back to writing during COVID. That return to the page becomes a turning point, not just creatively, but personally.  At the center of the conversation is her one-woman show, The Long Way Home: A Spoken Word Journey—a piece built around her late father’s poems and journal entries. We talk about what it means to carry someone’s voice forward, what she discovered about him in the process, and how grief evolves when you’re forced to sit with it, shape it, and share it.  We also get into the New York poetry community, the importance of creative spaces, her experience performing at the Apollo Theater, and how she thinks about the stage—as a place of discovery or revelation. Contact Leah V: Website: leahvspeaks.com [https://www.leahvspeaks.com/]          Instagram: @leahvspeaks [https://www.instagram.com/leahvspeaks/]      Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:  Just Ace – What If I Was Him Instagram: @iam_justace [https://www.instagram.com/iam_justace/]  Arantza Garcia – Recipe Book Instagram: @arantza.cgf [https://www.instagram.com/arantza.cgf/]  Kennie Sings – Like A Lady Instagram: @kennie_sings [https://www.instagram.com/kennie_sings/]  Leah V – 3am Leah V - Yours Instagram: @leahvspeaks [https://www.instagram.com/leahvspeaks/]          Website: leahvspeaks.com [https://www.leahvspeaks.com/] Support the show [https://cash.app/$ethicallyimmoral]