Craig Kite is a New York City–based singer-songwriter and poet whose performances put words at the center. With a catalog shaped across countless open mics and intimate stages, his songs carry the quiet intensity of confessions and poems set to melody. Drawing on the lyric-driven traditions of Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan, Craig is building toward his debut solo studio release, while publishing his first poetry collection, Sad City, and recording with his indie rock band, Pinko. Read more here.
KMD: Your new book, Sad City, just launched from BlazeVOX Books. What are three things you’d like readers to know before they delve into the work itself?
CK: While the title, Sad City, connotes the real pain inherent in the poems, the tone of the collection is intended to be much more comical, like dark comedy, if you will. As the poet, Cole Swenson, put it in her review of the book, “There’s a lot of pain and sadness here, very smart pain and sadness recorded by an activist and inveterate supporter of the challenged. There’s much affection and humor mixed in with the wry, tongue-in-cheek irony, and an overall playful bounce keeps it lively.“
I think it would be helpful for the readers to know the context in which Sad City was written. In 2022, I went through many life changes very quickly and ended up homeless in NYC in the winter, in need of surgeries for injuries I’d sustained from working construction. I sought help from the city and social services, but wasn’t able to get the help I needed for a long time. It was a dark time, but I found support in community and solace in art. So as much as Sad City is a reflection on working class struggle and our country’s current descent into fascism, it’s a celebration of the light and humor we can find in loving our neighbors, as well as our enemies, and in seeking connection in our lives.
KMD: Could you say more about the relationship between writing and social justice?
CK: To me, my writing has always been driven by a deep-seated desire to make a point, to communicate an argument, to work out philosophical quandaries, to formulate a worldview, and to make meaning, which I believe is ultimately the purpose of art. I was raised in an ultra-conservative, Christian nationalist, white supremacist environment. Even from a young age, I always knew that this was very wrong, but I was one against many, at odds with my whole culture, and it took me a long time to be able to forcefully articulate why. I never felt heard. So poetry is way to try to be heard.
It’s also a way for me to make sense of my experience. I used to be a war reporter and human rights activist when I was younger. I spent time in various war zones around the world, including Iraq in 2008-2009, which was an especially traumatic experience. Poetry has been a way for me to both work through and make sense of this, and to speak the truth of what I learned to power.
After being a reporter, I realized how we are in a “post-truth” society, and how for many people today, facts don’t matter. While finding the facts is an extremely important endeavor, I’ve honestly seen more people’s hearts changed through arts and culture. Where facts may not always touch the heart, art might. And what our culture needs now more than is a change of heart. So, I realized I may now be better suited for being an artist and telling my story that way.
But in regard to political art, I am also aware that I do not want to be a proselytizer, or a propagandist. I believe that striving to be a good artist must come first. I think of how religious movies or music, or propaganda, for example, often do not rise to the level of critically acclaimed art. I think this is because they prioritize proselytizing their message over making good art. And so, I always keep this in mind when writing political poems or songs. It has to be as much about expressing your heart creatively as it is about winning the argument. (And that’s the only real way to win the argument, honestly.)
Youtube and social media are full of “content creators” going viral by intentionally making the most controversial and inflammatory statements in the most confident and arrogant manner possible, because certainty sells, and the loudest voice in the room is always amplified by the algorithm. So, as much as I seek to make a statement, I want to do it by asking the right questions. Because at the end of the day, I am an artist, not a “content creator”.
KMD: In your opinion, what role does stylistic innovation play in challenging the status quo?
CK: Language is a vehicle for thought. It’s how thoughts travel. If we want to get somewhere, we need the right vehicle. If we want to learn, to explore new and rough terrain, we need to adapt the vehicle. If we want to think differently, we need new language. We have to stretch what it can do.
And when it comes to artistic expression, it’s ALL about style. As Bukowski said, “Style is the answer everything.”
I play guitar. I could simply play the notes of a melody. And I could play the same exact notes expressively, with bends, and trills, and frills. With style. The style with which I play it is what makes it worth doing.
KMD: What advice do you have for poets who struggle to craft poetry that is both nuanced and politically charged?
CK: You can make a point. Or you can ask yourself WHY you believe that point, and explore it. Try stating your point as a question. As you follow the thread of your own inquiry, you will question yourself as well, and see other sides of the issue. Dig into the uncertainty. That’s where the meat is.
People want certainty. But they NEED to be challenged. Trust your audience to engage on a deeper level. Don’t be reductive. Don’t tow the party line. Don’t be performative. Don’t tell me what you believe. I don’t care. Show me why you FEEL that way. Explore a personal anecdote. Who are the other characters in that story? How do they feel?
KMD: In addition to your achievements as a writer, you are an accomplished musician. How do the two arts overlap and intersect for you as a creative practitioner?
CK: Yes! I actually started my artistic journey as a guitar player when I was a teenager. I also would always scribble poetry in my journal. But I never shared it. It wasn’t until I got back from Iraq in 2010 that I ever shared. I was in a really bad place mentally, and one night I was doing especially bad, staring down a bottle of pills. But in a moment of desperation I looked up open mic readings in my area (Washington, DC). I went out and shared that night, and it was so cathartic that it changed my life. For many years, I dedicated myself solely to poetry. But my performance and writing style was very song-like. Musical. I would memorize long, abstract, lyrical poems, and move with them as I spoke. Almost more like performance art. It worked well enough for poetry slams, and I eventually became the slam champion of Staten Island in 2018, competing with the slam team in Chicago that year.
Eventually, my style became more like page-poetry as I aged. It evolved into my current style: a more measured, deadpan, darkly comedic, sardonic delivery, somewhere between stand up comedy and poetry. I found I really enjoyed making people laugh. But I missed the more musical aspect of it.
So, I came back to the guitar and became obsessed with songwriting. I found I was able to blend my newer lyrical style with songs on guitar. So, it feels the pieces finally have come to fit together. There’s a certain vulnerability in the performance that the musical aspect has brought back to me.
KMD: What’s next? What can readers look forward to?
CK: I will be doing an interview and reading on the Truth To Power show on Radio Free Brooklyn on May 10th at 12-1pm.
I am working on my next poetry collection. The working title so far is “Doom Scroll”. It will be a bit pithier and more comical, while being even more politically direct. I want to REALLY take on this moment in the struggle against Trump’s fascist regime. I am also beginning to work on a memoir.
Musically, I am recording an album with my progressive rock band, Pinko, for which I am the lead song songwriter, vocalist and guitarist. I am also working on a solo acoustic singer-songwriter album under my own name.