BY KAREN BOSSICK
Kyle Tran Myhre, also known as Guante, is a poet and activist who explores the relationship between narrative, power and resistance in his work.
He has performed at the United Nations, won a Grammy for Best Dance/Electronic Album of 2024, been a member of two National Poetry Slam championship teams and visited countless colleges using storytelling as a way to talk about men’s roles in ending gender violence and challenging narratives related to racism.
Now, The Advocates are bringing this Minnesota native to the Wood River Valley this coming week as part of Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
“Every April we raise awareness about the prevalence and impact of sexual violence,” said Monica Reyna, The Advocates’ violence prevention coordinator. “We encourage everyone to take action by believing survivors, challenging harmful myths, and practicing consent.
“This year we are cultivating deeper engagement with the issue of sexual violence, one that is based in both empathy and agency,” she added. “Author, activist, and poet, Kyle Tran Myrhe uses poems and songs as entry points into critical thinking and conversation on topics of masculinity, consent, and power. His community performance and workshops weave joy and possibility into the hard work of social change.”
Myhre, who completed his Masters studies at the University of Minnesota with a focus on spoken word, critical pedagogy and social justice education, will take part in three events while here:
Poetry. Protest. Possibility. will take place at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 6, at the Liberty Theatre in Hailey. It is free but you may RSVP at https://www.theadvocatesorg.org/event-details/guante/form. The event will explore how the spoken word and storytelling can be used in building a culture of consent. Questions? Contact Darrel Harris via darrel@theadvocatesorg.org.
A workshop for community partners titled “Beyond the Buzzwords” is scheduled between 1 and 2:30 p.m. Friday, April 5, at Hailey Town Center West. The workshop will explore why people sometimes use words like “equity” and “intersectionality” in a way that makes them hard to grasp, said Reyna. It will also explore how to make those concepts concrete and clear using real stories and experiences.
Creativity. Community. Change., a workshop for local youth on the power of creating art and writing for social change, will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday, April 7, at Hailey Town Center West.
Myhre said in a TED Talk that he uses poems to open up dialog.
“I feel uncertain sometimes in a world full of violence and injustice and suppression, what are we supposed to do?” he says. “How quick we are to present individual solutions to collective problems?”
Myhre said that art can be a powerful entry point into activism, which he defined as people working together to form mass movements to shift culture. Poetry, he said, has taught him that artists can take abstract concepts and make them concrete for people.
“I try to find ways to make abstract things concrete,” he added. “I can’t quote statistics on climate change but I do remember an episode of ‘Planet Earth’ where a polar bear becomes hungry and dies.”
Once you have a concrete image, zoom in on it, Myhre said: “You don’t write a poem about war. You write about the first time you step into your brother’s empty bedroom.”
Similarly, you don’t try to tackle saving the environment in one fell swoop. You enroll in classes that may set you on the path to a career about changing the environment.
The common thread, Myhre added, is friends who drag you to a meeting dealing with an issue that concerns you. You find that organization doing something about it and you show up. Or, you support them with donations. Or you support someone running for office that shares those values.
“Art illuminates the conversation about personal and collective.”