In the latest episode of On the Radar, the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder’s series highlighting Black Minnesota creatives, host Dominica Ellis sat down with poet, MC, cultural producer, and educator Tish Jones to talk about her life in poetry, her work in education, and the 20th anniversary of her arts organization True Art Speaks.
Poetry as a Way of Life
For Jones, poetry is not something she does. It is something she is.
“I am a poet. Period. I live, breathe, eat, sleep, think poetry,” she said. “That’s my work. That’s how I move through the world. And everything else emanates from that place. The spirit of black poetics.”
She described her creative process as one that never really stops, explaining that poems take shape in her mind long before she ever puts pen to paper. To illustrate the point, she shared a recent story about running out of gas for the first time in her life and the unexpectedly poetic encounter that followed when a stranger sitting on an upturned utility bucket at a bus stop coached her through refueling her car, warned her away from an overpriced nearby gas station, and offered to come back if she still needed help before boarding his bus.
“There’s something really beautiful about black struggle and the common language shared between struggles,” Jones reflected. “I see you, you see me and we don’t have to have formal introductions.”
The moment also sparked a social justice thought for her. The man had no bench to sit on while waiting for the bus. “Why doesn’t my man have a bench?” she said. “A more comfortable place for him to be.”
What Is a Cultural Producer?
Jones also broke down what it means to be a cultural producer, a term that can feel abstract but carries real weight in her work.
“Cultural production is about creating culturally specific spaces,” she explained. “As a black cultural producer, I’m thinking about how to convene people around black genius and black creative expression and how to celebrate and center black genius in the spaces that I create.”
That work, she said, is both diasporic and deeply rooted in the specific experience of descendants of enslaved Africans in America.
Rooted in Rondo
Growing up in St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood shaped Jones’ voice and her sense of purpose. She described Rondo as a piece of a larger quilt in the story of what Black people have endured and overcome, drawing a direct line from the destruction of the Rondo community to similar displacement in cities across the country.
“We’re still here and we’ve overcome it and we claim and hold on to that history,” she said. “It connects us to a national history which then connects us to a global history.”
She also spoke personally about her great-grandmother, who was forced to move around the Rondo neighborhood to keep her family stable. “What does it mean to endure, to be a people who stay, to have staying power?” Jones said.
True Art Speaks Turns 20
Jones founded True Art Speaks in 2006. Now in its 20th year, the organization’s mission is to cultivate literacy, leadership, and social justice through the study and application of spoken word and hip-hop culture. The organization works with young people, professional artists, aspiring artists, and people in schools, prisons, and community spaces.
“We’re doing liberation work through the arts, education work through the arts, cultural preservation and education through the arts,” Jones said.
True Art Speaks also runs what Jones describes as the longest-running open mic in the Twin Cities, now 13 years strong, where she says she gets to simply be a listener and encounter new voices.
To mark the 20th anniversary, Jones is curating a monthlong residency at Ice House in Minneapolis, with a different theme each month. March’s event features an all-women lineup in celebration of Women’s History Month, including Jand Dela Ray, Sienna, Jana the Moon, Cricket, DJ Cassopia, and Omi Aoma.
Looking ahead to the organization’s 40th and 50th years, Jones is dreaming big. “What does it look like for True Art Speaks to be in a theater space and have a wing that is just thinking about the history of black theater? What does it mean for us to be thinking about black music, period?” She even floated the idea of opening an Afrocentric school. “Dream big, baby. We need another Afrocentric school here in the Twin Cities. Somebody holler at me. Let’s start a school.”
Writing Prompt Decks and National Poetry Month
Jones also discussed her just writing prompt decks, a set of cards designed to give people an entry point into poetry and creative writing with a focus on social impact. The deck is structured in four levels, moving from beginner prompts all the way to writing on topics like gentrification, state-sanctioned violence, and war. It also contains more than 30 cards specifically designed for the 30/30 challenge, a commitment to writing one poem per day throughout April in honor of National Poetry Month.
Jones plans to drop accompanying lessons for the decks in April.
Advice for Aspiring Creatives
Her message to anyone just getting started in writing or spoken word was characteristically direct.
“Just do it. Do it afraid. Do it scared. Do it as a novice. Consider yourself a novice even when you’re great. Stay and remain in love with the process. And trust your voice.”
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20 years of TruArtSpeaks: A poet’s dedication to hip-hop, poetry, and cultural preservation
Tish Jones discovered the power of hip-hop storytelling as a child and has spent decades using poetry and spoken word to educate and uplift young people. As founder of TruArtSpeaks in St. Paul, she blends art, culture, and social justice.