Our Team
Abby Bland
Program Director, Slam Host
Abby Bland (she/her) has been a multi-time finalist on the Kansas City Slam stage and was a competing member of the 2018 national team, the 2019 regional team, and represented Kansas City at the 2020 Woman of the World Poetry Slam. Her work has appeared in Ghost City Review, What Are Birds? and elsewhere. Her debut chapbook The Odds Against a Starry Cosmos was published in 2020 with Perennial Press. Her work focuses on exploring topics like intimacy and vulnerability. Recently she is most interested in how we interact with the stories that built us. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter @applestoabby.
Second Wednesdays
Asia Raine
Open Mic Host
Asia Raine (she/her) is a regular host and 4-time KCPS champion who daylights as a barista. She competed in the National Poetry Slam with the Kansas City team in 2018, the Rustbelt poetry festival in 2019, and was a semi-finalist in the 2019 Texas Grand Slam. Her latest endeavors include being published by Orange Blush Zine, competing in WOWPS 2020, and acquiring more plants than she can take care of.
AP
Open Mic Host
AP (she/her) started poeting in 2011 at the young age of 13. She quickly fell in love with slam and joined her high school Louder Than A Bomb team. They went on to win regionals and compete in Brave New Voices in 2017. After graduation, she became Assistant Coach to her Alma-Mater team, leading them all the way to BNV semis in 2018. She has placed as a semifinalist at Texas Grand Slam Poetry Festival 2018, 22nd in the Individual World Poetry Slam 2019, and a finalist at Woman of the World Poetry Slam 2020. Her work has been featured on Write About Now and Button Poetry.When she’s not writing or performing, you can usually find her watching horror movies or cooking up something spicy. You can gain her trust by feeding her smores.
Third Wednesdays
Fourth Wednesdays
Rylan Scott Keeling
Open Mic Host, Facebook Manager
Rylan Scott Keeling (they/them) is a regular host of the Poetic Underground Open Mic and a mutli-time finalist on the Kansas City Slam stage. They competed as part of the 2019 Rustbelt Regional team. They can be found online @wryebreadpoet, but make no promises of regular content, as well as on OkCupid. Their current creative endeavors include a starring role in a Dungeons & Dragons gameplay podcast called LARK: Fallen Gods, frequent karaoke nights, and swimming upstream against the powerful river that is writers' block, to varying degrees of success.
Melissa Ferrer
Open Mic Host
Rye Lanae Boothe
Open Mic Host
Rye Lanae Boothe is a poet, director, and multidisciplinary artist. Her childhood was spent performing in musicals. While attending a ministry school in California, she studied acting, dance, and spoken word poetry. She has hosted for Poetic Underground KC and Paradox KC. She delights in creative relationships, some of her favorite collaborations being her work with Archipelago Fold: a performance collective, Unravel (2017, 2019) as director and co-producer, and Glitter Trash (2018) as co-producer, writer, and performer with Madison Mae Parker. Her poetry chapbook "I Have a Crush on Everyone and Everyone has a Crush on Me" debuted in 2019. She believes in making art to heal herself and heal the world. You can find her on Instagram at @eye.rye and @rye.lanae.boothe.
Evris Oake
Open Mic Host, Twitter Manager
Evris Oake (They/Them/Theirs) is a poet based in Kansas City. Agender, queer, and always in their head, Evris writes in the hopes of sparking connections and conversations that may lead to even more creation. They have a secret nerdy side, and love all things gaming and D&D. Of course, they couldn't write any bio without mentioning their love of Taylor Swift. Follow on Instagram and Twitter @slayandgay.