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Words & Music with Kiana Balacich · The Bridges and Beacons Podcast

• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, hello, hello, and welcome.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: So excited to have you.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: It is April 2022.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: And for all of you who don't know, April is Poetry Month.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I can't think of anybody better than my friend Kiana to have on to celebrate Poetry Month.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: So good morning and welcome, Kiana.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Happy Poetry Month, Kelly.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: Happy Poetry Month.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Is that what you're doing in April?
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's perfect.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's absolutely perfect.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: We had had a date scheduled earlier and had to reschedule it.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I think everything always happens the way it's supposed to.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I just want to introduce you and tell people a little bit about you.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, I I can read her delightful bio and I will.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: But Kiana is one of the people I've met in the past couple years.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: We connected into this poetry family who um who just really rallied around each other.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: We did some open mics virtually.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Interestingly enough, neither of us prior to the pandemic had done open nights in public.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: So virtual was like our first deep dive.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: So we had that in common.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: And we both sort of had an interesting and different approach to poetry that was really refreshing and exciting to see somebody else sort of taking it a different way and uh super fun.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: So Kiana is an educator, writer, and musician.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: She hosts the poetry show Words and Music on Instagram Live and the Heal and Help Poetry Fundraiser with myself and Vinia Versus.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Kiana's work has been featured in the Poets Against Poverty Anthology 2 2021 and Eve Poetry Magazine 2020.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Her work was also recently published in YT Mag's February issue.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I just have to say, so all of that is very exciting and wonderful.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: But I think underlying all of that is this very strong theme of you giving back, giving with wholehearted generosity, um, and taking your art and your healing art and putting it out into the world with the intention of not just healing yourself, which of course we both know poetry can do for you, but for healing others.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm just saying thank you on behalf of all the people who are benefiting, whether it's your students, your audience on Instagram, or just um people who benefit from the projects you're involved in.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much, Kenny.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: That is so generous of you.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my God, thank you.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: That really resonated with me, Kelly.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and I think we get into all of this, you know, with this strong desire to express ourselves creatively, to kind of process things that have happened, you know.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Both of us feel the same way about poetry being such a healing element.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe you could start by speaking to that.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: How has poetry been and music been healing for you?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, sure.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this is something that you and I had both connected on when we first started talking about how we write and why we write.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for me, I was always singing growing up.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: It was a natural, normal thing, like breathing.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um so music was always something that was really normal to me and felt like home.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh growing up, I went through some pretty serious um depression experiences.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: And in those experiences uh throughout middle school, high school, um, I kind of felt like an emotional overwhelm.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: And that kind of turned into like a defense mechanism, like a circuit breaker, you feel too much, and then click, everything shuts off.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: So I kind of had a lot of going through the motions, autopilot, numbness.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but music was always something that reached through that numbness and I could feel it.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: And it reminded me of you know what it felt like to to feel the the blood in my veins and and laugh at something and and really mean it and and feel that love and that joy and wonder.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: So music was something that really uh it kept me going.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: It kept me in touch with who I wanted to be when I was really struggling with just everyday things growing up.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: And then as I started to heal from that and recover from that, uh poetry was something that in 2020 I found on Instagram and I was really receptive to so many of the lyrics, so many of the poems, and it helped me to reflect.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they helped me touch upon things that were kind of subconscious, and I was able to bring those subconscious things to the conscious, and that helped further promote my healing.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: And then there were poems that brought me straight up joy, and I really appreciated that.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I was thinking to myself, hey, I've received so much light from these poems on Instagram, these lovely poets.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I write, I play music, maybe I could give back by posting original work, and by posting original work, it has led me to like my favorite people.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like you were here now, and imagine, right?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like when we both went to Kanicki and Laura's show, we were like surrounded by so many artists um who were really shining their authentic light.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: And when I heard you sing in between your poetry lyrics, and you were singing that refrain, like I am her and she is me, it was like glowing.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: You were glowing from the screen, and a few days before I was on the phone with Kanikki Jakarta, and she gave me advice, and she was like, Hiana, you play music, you write, um, you sound like a team player.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: I encourage you to start collaborating.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: So when I heard you singing, you and I both brought music to the show, and that was something unique.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: So when I sent you that Zoom message about collaborating, um my intention was that we would write a poem together.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: I love that what blossomed from that was the heel and help poetry fundraiser.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: That was awesome.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I agree.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I same thing, I was sort of like, ooh, you know, I think what's so important to me coming out of all of this is that it takes such a small act of building a group and collecting people together to give them a place and a space to be themselves and share their unique voice.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you're right.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think uh Laura and Kanicki created that space and they they just had this beautiful way of creating a framework where everybody felt like it was okay to share the poetry that was coming from their soul, that it wasn't supposed to look one way or sound one way.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we've met just the most inspirational people, inclusive, of course, of Laura and Kanicki.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, I I think it's so interesting because I just saw in you a very similar um desire to give back and to do good, and that doing good didn't have to look like what everybody else has done.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I felt sort of inspired for us to do something to give back that wasn't um we weren't benefiting financially in any way.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like curious like, could we do a fundraiser where 100% of the proceeds are going to an organization and we the way that we get people to participate is just by giving back.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: It was like a beautiful experience to see everyone come together from different parts of the United States, different continents to either share their work or support someone who was sharing their work.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: There were so many people who came because they knew one of the artists and they wanted to be there to support them.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: And it was so cool to hear so many diverse voices.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: And the Covenant House does amazing work, quite pretty, Cara.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: She does amazing work.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: And like those are groups that I admire for standing up, seeing and eat in the world, standing up and and working to make that positive change.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: That like I'm humbled to be part of that by using our art, right, Kelly, to bring everyone together with the goal of supporting the work that they do.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's been a really cool experience.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I agree.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: It was such a special way to celebrate in a time where people were feeling so down.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I think there's almost this resiliency that if you've been through tough things, if you've been through either capital T trauma or lower T trauma, that when you've come to the other side, you lose a little bit of that fear that you have when you've never experienced anything really hard.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like the idea of something hard, we saw a possibility.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: We saw opportunity and ran with it.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: And it was so special from like beginning to end.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: The the whole experience, the gathering of artists, um, the actual performances, and then just knowing what it was that our work and our volunteering went to felt so good.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna shift gears a little bit.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Kiana's got a guitar in her hands if you're catching this in the audio.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't want to go much further into the episode without getting some original work from you.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Kelly.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and this is a poem called We Let Go.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: And it has a photography component.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: So if anyone listening um enjoys photography of the autumn season and what that looks like among the trees and leaves, and same goes for winter.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: I did a photography project as the music video for this piece to really capture um how life happens in seasons.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: So from August through January, uh 2021 into 2022, I um brought my you know phone everywhere as most people do.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I always had that very mindful intention that if I could catch something that shows the change of seasons, I'm gonna take out my camera and practice mindfulness and really record that footage with the intention of building um a visual component for this musical poem called We Let Go.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: Is this a coincidence or a sign of new things to come?
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: Thoughts sweep my mind like an autumn breeze.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: Do the branches feel nostalgia when they lose their leaves?
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: Does the tree expect new life when its roots freeze?
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: How can something change yet still remain the same?
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: Matter is never destroyed, it just gets rearranged.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: The only thing constant in this life is change.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: So we let go of what we don't need, so we can have more energy to grow.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes we look empty, and other people they don't know the reason, but maybe we're preparing for the next season.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, that was amazing.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: You all just got to see what it is that makes Kiana so special.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's the combination of things.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: I just love it.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: The change of season, and uh I'm just basking in that snaps for that.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: That was incredible.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I appreciate your generous feedback.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, you know I'm a huge fan.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: So if people are listening and they haven't yet explored writing poetry, like how did it start for you?
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: How did you start to put together verses?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: How did you figure out that you could also be playing the guitar and you have your own really cool style?
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: I have always been writing like short stories, fiction growing up, and my sister and I, who you met at the wellness convention, we grew up writing short stories, which I think are best described as like soap operas with a hit of magical realism.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a genre.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: We've been writing those since wow, we were young, like high school, and then the characters really just grew with us, and we have notebooks and notebooks that uh we converted into Microsoft Word and then Google Docs, so it's a whole saga, and it's like our own kind of like young and the restless, which has gone on for years, and like you know, the characters have their own family trees, and it's been it's been a space where our creativity um has really grown.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: And she's a creative, I'm a creative, um, we both express that creativity in unique ways, but but where me and my sister Christy both converge is through writing of fiction.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, then for me, I go into the poetry realm with music in mind, and I've written a poem back in like 2007, and uh my teacher in high school entered into a poetry contest, and I had no intention of winning.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: I just kind of wrote the poem because it was the homework assignment, and it ended up winning, and it was an anonymous contest, and I was so surprised um that that my words resonated with so many people because because as a teenager, um experiencing depression and PTSD, like expressing myself authentically was something that my defect my defense mechanisms were just like nope, don't do that.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: Just just talk about the basic things, you know, just talk about what's on TV and active listen, but don't give too much away about yourself.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um so when I wrote the poem and I knew it was anonymous, I was like, I'm gonna go all in.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I wrote this this poem about the kind of the experience of when you have to put someone in the friend zone.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: That resonated with a lot of people, and and it was like a popularity vote.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: So the the poem won.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I was so proud of the poem for like going out there and and and speaking its truth.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, okay, poetry is pretty cool.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: I always grew up listening to songs and singing.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um I would write my own songs, um, but poem without the music.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: I was surprised that I did it in an effective way, that it reached people.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: So throughout college, I studied um literature.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's in my first, my bachelor's degree is in.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I was writing all throughout college, studying modern lit, studying contemporary lit, romantic lit.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: And um I was really inspired by how so many poets use their work for social justice, for expressions of trauma, giving voice to what's healing, and they all have such different styles.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I love Maya Angelou, I love Gwendolyn Brooks, um Jack Kerouac for the really unique ways of expression and also expression that's very straightforward and it's it's very everyday language.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I mean, say S.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: Elliot is great, but I don't always want to read through all the footnotes.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I prefer the poets that have a very straightforward, easy to digest style.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I think when I was studying Lit, I was really um learning, learning and thinking about what I could apply to my work.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um so when I got to you know 2020, we were in the pandemic.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: I was I joined Instagram the funniest way because in 2019 I went to a Broadway show and I saw the bands visit, and I love how they really showed how music can bring people together.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um that was one of the themes.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: Very different people coming from very different spaces and places and points of view, and then um through bizarre circumstances, end up in the same spot, and music, lo and behold, is the the common denominator that brings it together.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: I love the show.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um one of the main songs is Omar Sharif, and it's a piano jam, and it's kind of like a ballad, a very dramatic ballad.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: I loved it so much that I transposed it on my ukulele, and it was a very fun project.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: It was very difficult um to transpose all of those chords, um, which are a lot of them have really heavy bass notes and they're very dramatic, but I had a lot of fun transposing that into like the little bright ukulele.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I saw the show was phenomenal.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I staged door and met the cast, and I mentioned that you know I played the song on ukulele, the song means a lot to me.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: I love that the theme of the show is bringing people together, and um Etai Benson, who played poppy in the show, he asked me to share it on Instagram so he could hear the song.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Yeah, sure, thank you for listening.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: And on the commute home, I was like, I don't have an Instagram, like I need to like do this.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I opened the Instagram and Kelly, it was the most like basic post.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like I didn't know how to put like a cover image, so I just like took a picture of my ukulele and came that the cover image, and I posted the song.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, he listened to it, he showed it to the cast, and it was they really enjoyed hearing um, you know, Omar Shrif, the the trap that they practice and they perform like you know, five, six times a week.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and they dug it, and I was like, okay, I have this Instagram, what's going on on Instagram?
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I stumbled into poetry because I heard that's where poetry was happening.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because in my bachelor's degree, we had a like a Socratic seminar on is poetry dead?
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: And we met poet laureate Billy Collins and we got to interview him, and he told us, you know what?
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Poetry is never gonna be dead.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because when it hits with someone, they really hold on to it and they treasure it and they celebrate it.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: And if that's a small group of people, if it never gets as big as reality TV or TikTok, you know, that's fine.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, as long as there are people who really treasure it in their hearts.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: And he was like, Brooklyn is now the center of poetry and social media is the center of poetry.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, well, I I live in New York City and Instagram, dabbled, and I was like, wow, there's so much cool stuff on here.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: And then that's when I started sharing my work.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: And to answer your question about how I merged the poetry and the music.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, when I started writing, I was attending the open mics with Kimmy Miller and Kimithia Laura.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: And Kim said something really powerful one day, and she was like, Don't ever look at the person who goes before you, like in the set, and compare yourself.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: Don't ever look at the person who goes after you in the set and compare yourself.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: You have to develop your own voice and then bring that because nobody wants to see a copy of like two people.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: You're just gonna end up as like a cute imitation of someone else.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um when I was writing, I was thinking of music.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like I was writing the poem, but I would I would hear the opportunity for music there, and I was like, Well, nobody else does this.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, Well, Kimby Miller did say, you know, don't look at the other people.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: So one day I wrote a poem and I wrote it in my backyard, and I was like, I really like this.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's kind of scary because it's I've never heard it done before and I've never done it before.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but the scariness of it, I think, Kelly, is like what you said.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: When we see like an opportunity for something, um, we kind of translate that fear into excitement to like go do it and and go bring this idea to fruition.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I went to the packed up my guitar and went to the park and I shot my first music video.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I I put the blooper reel on Instagram also, because I think that was a creative process.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there was like a family of ducks walking by just as I was recording, and I was doing my very dramatic poem, and they just started quacking and I started laughing.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: And it was really fun.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: And and I ever since I've emerged from from my experiences with long term depression, I've become like acutely aware, Kelly, of like what makes me feel alive.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: And is it this conversation with you, um, writing, going out, and shooting.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: A music video that that makes me so happy to be alive, and that's why I keep doing it and and I keep sharing it.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I was talking with Zayn Tomich, um the musician and poet from Canada, and we both um agreed that writing and performing is so uh gratifying, and then when we hear the responses to our work, it's like overwhelming in the best way.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like I got a message the other day um about a recent song, and and they're a good friend of mine, I've never met them in person, but we definitely give each other feedback often on our work on Instagram, and she told me she was like, I've been feeling down lately, but but this piece really put some light in my day.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so glad I listened to it.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: And like that meant so much to me.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: Because if my work went out there and it brought light to someone, a little bit of hope, a little bit of a smile, um, that's that's really paid forward what I've received.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: So it was it was really overwhelming in the best way to hear those kinds of words come back.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and to go back to what you were saying about Kimby Miller, who is a poet laureate, um, and we just so happened to know like a couple poet laureates um down from the Virginia area, which is crazy.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I I think what's so incredible to me is that you know, we just sort of stumbled onto this group of poets, um, mostly down in the DMV who were hosting the open mic.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I felt so pulled into the community.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: And even though they were like, oh, you're from New Jersey, okay, Keanu, you're from New York, okay, join us, you know, and that encouragement to have a unique voice and like the the gorgeousness of feedback from people who for whom poetry is like both their work and their passion, you know, um, was just so affirming.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know about you, but it made me feel so much more willing to be brave and put myself out there even more and to try things not that I would think people would be really into, but to just try and see what happens, like follow the mystery.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I love that.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: Follow the mystery.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I could so relate to that.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: I I recently did a piece um where I played the piano and I hooked up my my keyboard to one of my um special effects pedals for my guitar, and I use this tremolo effect, so it has this kind of like um like really special stutter where the volume is modulated, and I did that on We Let Go.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: The original is on the piano, um, and that's why I made the guitar version because the guitar version I could bring to like a Zoom open mic, I could bring to a podcast and share it.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: The original I wrote on the keyboard, and I hardwired my uh special effects pedal, and I ran the recording through my recording software, and I recorded various layers of piano, and I was following the Mr.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: Kelly, like I was thinking life happens in seasons, there's so much movement.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_01: You think of a tree and and it goes through so many changes, but it's still a tree, but it goes through so many changes, and that's something that I wanted to really embrace in this in this work visually with the the photos and the video footage of the changes of like what it looks like in New York City when the trees are changing, um lyrically, as I was talking about letting go of what we don't need anymore, so that we can conserve our energy for what for what might grow from us next.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: And then when it came to the auditory component, I was thinking how can I put the most movement possible?
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you you hold a whole note on the piano and it kind of and then it drops off.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, How could I put more movement into that?
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: So when I I used the tremolo pedal, I was following the mystery, and it was great.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_01: It it gave more of uh a modulated volume where it was kind of like a waver, you know, not like a vibrato where the tone is changing.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: It was just the volume was changing from kind of like you hear it, you kind of don't, you hear it, you kind of don't.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_01: And it it gave much more movement to the piece.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: And those following the misraid wanted to see what would happen.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: Totally.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so do you have another piece prepared that you could share with us?
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: Sure, yeah, I would love to.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this is a piece, this is a piece that I wrote um in Sin's Misfits.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: So Cynical Insomniac is a wonderful poet, and she is someone who has been like a mentor to me, as she's been running these workshops called Sin's Misfits, and she helps us develop our skills, uh, she helps us think fast.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: We have to think on our feet when we're writing, because she runs it in a way that we share a poem, and then she is very intently taking notes about our poems, and her goal is to pick like the most engaging lines um or phrases, and then she assigns them to us as writing prompts.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: So we come into the the room like knowing, okay, we're gonna share, but then we also have to think on our toes and and use this prompt um that we've never heard before, and we have like 20 minutes to write something authentic, and like the work that's come out of there has been really cool, and like I'm so glad I started attending.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_01: I go there every chance I can, it's on Sundays.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um Pretty Provocative Poet is there, David, Caroline Creative Corner, um Mickey from the UK, and it's been like a really cool experience.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so hang on, I'm there's some feedback.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just gonna mute this.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, go ahead.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: You can you can grab that.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I think um you if you haven't already figured out the place to go to check out Kiana is Instagram.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: I want to go back and I want to see like your first videos that you posted.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: I just I'm just interested to see what that looked like back in the beginning and the progression.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: I know I think we're all like figuring out the digital world and uh adjusting as we can.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: My first one um was my first post was the Gigulele cover of the Broadway song.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then if you move forward, there's some lyrical pieces that are just text poems.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then there's the one that I shot at the park.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's called the Fog Poem, and that was that was a very cool experience.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um this is a piece that I like to share.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: I recently wrote it in January, Addison's Misfits.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the prompt was to write about a nightlight, so I took it in the direction of a very dramatic breakup.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I said uh Holland, this feedback, I'm sorry.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: No worries.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: It gives us a little bit more of a setup.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: All right, take it away.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: This is nightlight.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry if I projected on you like a movie screen and my fears covered you with all the terrible things I've seen.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's not an excuse, but I've been so used to living in the dark that when you and I felt our first spark, I I thought I smelled fire when your back was turned.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I I ran away for fear of being burned again.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's easier to leave someone when I'm less invested.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you, it's a method that I've tried and I've tested.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_01: But with you, all my defense mechanisms don't work.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: I thought I'd feel better once I let you go, but now it just hurts.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm writing this to say I know things didn't go the way I expected.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: You met my doubts with honesty, and your authenticity overwhelms me.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's like you were too good to believe, like a gift that I wasn't ready to receive.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: See, for so long, my trust issues felt like a solution to all my fearful illusions.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: But the farther I run from you, I just feel colder.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe I'm getting smart as I get older.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: But being alone tonight doesn't seem right when you're still somewhere on the same planet.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I wish I could call you and tell you, but damn it, I already deleted your number.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_01: Now I feel like I'm a storm, but without lightning.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just thunder, and I retrace my steps to your door, and my eyes don't want to rain anymore, but droplets still fall from the dark night sky.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I knock on your door like thunder.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I wonder if you'll even believe me if I told you.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm sorry, I thought you were a fire.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: I had to fight.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: And no, I shouldn't have extinguished the one thing I never knew.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: I wished I could feel.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, but now I know that our love was real, and ever since we fell apart, I've been surrounded by the dark night.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_01: I couldn't even see myself anymore.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why I'm back here at your door.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: You were never a fire I had to fight.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_01: You were my nightlight.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, you were never a fire I needed to fight.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: I that's like the miracle that happens with the creative brain and the the imagery that you're conjuring up and the the subtleness and ugh, I just love it.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: It really sort of stuns me to not to know what to say because I'm just like basking in the amazing lyrics, and you know, if you're not a poetry person, poetry can look like anything.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I I took a poetry class in college, and I think it was the worst thing I've ever done for my poetry because I felt so beaten down by the feedback.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think I was open to it, and I don't think I was into the way that the professor wanted to edit my work, and it should be like this XYZ, and I didn't feel like that fit right, but I was like, oh, I gotta comply, I gotta do right by the class, I gotta, you know, get the right scores on the test.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: And it just made me feel like, ugh, if this is poetry, I don't really want to do it.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: I agree.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's like when there's a a prescribed formula for the form of a poem, um, and it's prescribed from an external source like a professor.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it it may not be the most efficient um container for your work.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like I I hear that.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_01: I really hear that.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: I like the uncontained poetry.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: I like take it out of the container and see what happens.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um I mean, we've heard some incredible poets share their work in ways that like like I said, you know, Kiana's poems sort of stunned me to silence.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like I needed a minute to process, and like it takes you to a place you didn't know you were gonna go.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, sort of like watching or reading like a a story that it really there's some beautiful storytelling that's happening in your poems, and you're like, I want to know more.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: So then what happened?
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: What happened next?
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: Did the light go back on?
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: Did it not go back on?
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate how that resonated with you.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_01: They do that to me too when I'm writing.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm I'm along for the ride.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like the word, it's kind of like a Rubik's Cube for me.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like the words just kind of combine, recombine.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: The ideas and the images combine and scatter about and recombine.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm amazed with what happens sometimes when you plug one idea into an image and like the lights come on.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's it's a super fun process.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I have to go back to what you said about the mystery.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's like you're following the mystery, like, I just want to see what happens.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, obviously, you took a lot of literature classes, that was your thing.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: So you're definitely a well-read person.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: So you've probably been that like, it's two o'clock in the morning.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: I need to stop reading this book, but I'm just like, I need to know what happens on the next page.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_00: So that's amazing.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we're enjoying your poetry so much.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: Any chance you can share one more with us?
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I would love to.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: There's just a little feedback.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_01: I apologize.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's okay.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_00: This is this is real life.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_00: This is like, you know, if you you write poetry the way poets sometimes do, it's on scraps of paper, it's on your computer.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_00: I've tried my best to keep everything somewhat organized, but you get sort of overwhelmed at a point with how many different places.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, my my funny thing is I I like to write in the shower.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I have aquanotes.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: I should be reaching out to them.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they can endorse me because I use them so frequently.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: But like sometimes that's just where I get like creative inspiration and I want to write.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes it's on your computer and you gotta go find it.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, definitely.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this one I have memorized.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: So this one is uh stunt double.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's also Edison's Misfits.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Rohan, an amazing performing uh performance poet from the UK, was there and he wrote a piece.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um and the line from Cynical that I was assigned from Rohan's piece was um a face that used to be mine.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I wrote this piece in the workshop, and and I cried after I performed it.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and it was kind of tears of release and joy and and like gratitude for the community.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um double.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_01: I heard a song today that took me back to the way things used to be.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: Back when my own worst enemy was me.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_01: Those dance party anthems were made for a joy that I couldn't even fathom.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yet I moved my feet to the hypnotic beat and I pose for photos with all my friends.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_01: But oh no, wait, those kids that weren't even my real friends, they didn't know half my struggles.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_01: Back then I was my own stunt double doing backflips between my sadness and who the world wanted me to be.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_01: Always happy and always carefree.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_01: So when I look at photos from that time, I see a face that used to be mine with a gleaming smile, but all the while I just wanted to be real and I wanted to say how I'd really feel.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_01: Fast forward 10 years ahead.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_01: Now I know the meaning of a friend, and I'm blessed with friends who write sad lyrics and songs because we know it's alright.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we just feel like everything is wrong, and we know we never have to fake how we feel, we keep it real, and that is how we heal.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, that's amazing.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: The the idea of being a stunt devil, like I just have this this picture in my head of like doing backflips to prove that you're okay because you feel like people can't can't relate to you, or it's not okay to be not okay.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think so many people can relate to that.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, putting on that mask, you know, being the face that people expect you to be versus the face that you really are, and looking around and being like, these people don't even know me.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, oh that's gorgeous.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can imagine how that could render you a little sad and happy and you know.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was feeling both those emotions because when I wrote that that conclusion stanza about like now I know the meaning of a friend, uh, and and I have friends who write the sad lyrics and songs.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know it's alright.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we feel like everything is wrong.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, I've taken the the journey through therapy and it helped me to uh decide more mindfully which friends I choose to surround myself and tell either one of them.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I I choose to surround myself with people who who do, they keep it real.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_01: And and when we keep it real, we do support each other.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I have friends who are just they're they don't write, they don't write poetry.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I'm so blessed that they're in my life.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then I have friends who who like you do write poetry.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_01: And and whether we are both geographically close that we can see each other outside of the screen, like we are, or we have people like you know, cynical, um, you know, people like vanilla that we don't really see each other outside, but we do give each other really genuine feedback, and we do write authentically and we listen with like kindness and we listen um and and we have joy for each other when when we see success for each other.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like my Poet Connection fan on Poet Connection on Instagram or show and some of us, like Shaw, the founder, we have met, she has come up to New York with her family, and we had like a really great afternoon together um near Central Park.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but some of us have never met, but we're always so supportive and happy for each other when something gets published or someone has a really great live show, and and when we do write the same lyrics and songs, like we listen with empathy.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_01: So being there for each other through the ups and downs, through the lens and the expression of poetry and music, it's a community that that I'm so grateful for.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_01: So that I really wanted to um do that tribute to the community and what it's done for me and what it's done for so many writers um in in the poem Stump Double.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, that's so true.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I I think it's really such a special community where that vulnerability and belonging are so vital as part of how we all function.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: That there's this acceptance and willingness to be vulnerable, but there's this rise up from the people with whom you're being vulnerable for you to feel like you belong, and it's okay to have the emotions that you're having, you know?
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think that was one of the things that was so attractive to me.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that first time being brave to be like, okay, I'm gonna go to a virtual open mic and I'm gonna share my poetry, which I haven't really shared with anyone recently.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um and, you know, you have all those feelings of what if it's not good enough?
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_00: What if what if people are critical of it?
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then the opposite happens, and I'm sure it was your experience too, that people were clapping, they were, you know, one of the things that you do when you're on a virtual um open mic is in the chat is people say something and there's a line that just hits you, you type it in the chat, you know, and when you see like five people type the line that you said, like it's so it's so validating and so exciting, you know.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: And some of these lines, I don't know where they come from.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_00: I, you know, it sometimes it just falls in, like and I I call it downloads, it just downloads and then yeah, it just downloads.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_00: I I have a poem that I wrote about like being in the shower and just like being assaulted with different poems coming through, poems about poems.
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_00: I I talked with Larry DeFrank about that.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's fun to write poems about poems, but um, you know, you never know where they're coming from.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_00: But the fact that you can explore and be brave with it, and then people cheer you on, that kind of vulnerability and belonging, I think, is so needed.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_00: I know I needed it, and and having that, and then having friends and being able to follow their journey and support their projects, and like that to me is one of the best things to come out of you know, quarantine and pandemic during a time that was so difficult for so many people, like to have the silver lining, and I think that's what you were really speaking to in that poem, like you.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: You you can now have like real joy.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_00: What you thought was joy bouncing around the club.
• 46:05
  unknown: Yeah.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and you were like, but the but at the same time your heart is broken inside and you can't tell people how you feel, versus like life is bittersweet.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_00: There are wonderful moments and there are sad moments, but if you can be what it is in that moment, yeah.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_01: I agree.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_01: Just you have to feel it and then you could be free from it.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_00: So and and I know you feel the same way that I do, that writing poetry um has become such a healing mechanism.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and the cool thing about it is it's doing it with a community.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_01: Amen, sister.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_00: So as we say that, how do people join your community?
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_00: How do people find you and you know, catch your your poems and um the work that you do on words and music?
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, words and music, we go live on Mondays and usually at 7:30 p.m.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_01: EST.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_01: We have a guest on, they talk about their book, we read poems.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_01: I read poems from hashtag poconnection that are submitted to us, and the guests will talk about their book, their writing journey.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_01: And if anyone listening is interested in being on the show, like let me know.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_01: You can send us a message at Po Connection on Instagram.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_01: You can send me a message on Instagram.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_01: My account where I post all my work is KMusic1318.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we love to have you on the show and hear about your writing journey, Kelly.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_01: We'd love to have you on the show.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_00: I can't say no to that.
• 47:46
  unknown: Yeah.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, we do that and it's really great.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_01: Po Connection also has lots of prompts throughout the month.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_01: They do other lives, they do open mics.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Shaw's hosts the open mics.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_01: We have different live readers for different kinds of shows.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then over on my account on KMusic1318, um, that's where I post my musical poems.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_01: In my stories, I'm always celebrating my writer friends who have a new piece out, and that really resonates with me with me.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, hey, check this out.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and I also have a blog that I just opened, and it's where I express like the story behind the poem and and what it's like to you know work through these different ideas.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_01: So it's cool because Instagram gives you a certain amount of space to write the caption.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um so in in the blog, I I could really go into the experience of writing with more detail.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_01: And that is there's a link in my bio.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I recently opened a YouTube channel uh where I post chill out music, it's instrumental jams, like guitar, piano.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_01: I love to listen to instrumental music when I'm working.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_01: We mentioned I'm an educator.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so when I'm working on uh various lesson plans and stuff on my computer, I love instrumental music.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, hey, I listen to a lot of instrumental, I'd like to contribute.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I I write instrumental music, like chill out jams, and I post them.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's also uh LinkedIn bio.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_01: So the Instagram is like the hub.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then from the hub, you can go to the other various branches of of what's going on.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's so awesome.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna have to check out the chill out music.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll throw all the links and the ways to connect with Kiana.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_00: I know we're all gonna be giving you lots of love for your original first ukulele video there.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_00: I know that's what I'm doing right after this episode wraps.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_00: I want to go check that out.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but uh you'd be doing me a favor if you follow, like, and share the work that Kiana is doing.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um we didn't even get into the fact that both of us, uh, I'm an occupational therapist, I work with kids with special needs of the middle school age, and so does Kiana.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_00: So we definitely have that in common.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_00: We're both definitely science brains, love all of that.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe next time you come on, we could dive into some fun scientific facts and such.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like, matter is never destroyed, it just gets rearranged the next time we can go the science route.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to- Oh my god! I was totally thinking that too as you're saying that.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh, she is exploring this from every angle, and it is so much fun.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_00: This is what excites me.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um I love it.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_00: I I love it, I love you.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so appreciative of you coming on today.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, if you all really enjoyed Kiana, like I said, go over to her Instagram, check out what she's doing, um, check out words and music.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's just such a great way to connect with these poets, um, many of whom have been through some difficult times and are also doing such tremendous work in the world.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_00: No small drop of kindness is too small.
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody deserves it.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_00: I wore my be kind shirt.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_00: Be kind! Be kind.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_00: If you can be anything, be kind.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_00: But um, when I think of kindness, I think of you, Keanu, because uh, you know, your heart is big and out there, and I so appreciate your friendship and sisterhood and poetry and healing and helping.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_00: And you all stay tuned.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_00: We're working on something, we're not gonna share anything, but we're working on something big for the heal and help for uh version three.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_00: So uh when we're ready, what's that?
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_00: Go ahead.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_01: I we hope that when we do talk about it and we do launch it, we hope that we will see you all there.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, absolutely.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much, Kiana, and I look forward to chatting with you again.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_00: And thanks, everybody.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, stay curious.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_00: Bye now.