Dr. Poet t.l. sanders

As a performance professional rooted in Kansas City, MO, Poet  t.l. sanders warmly welcomes collaborative connections with creative visionaries, opportunities to captivate appreciative audiences, and invitations to illuminate special celebrations. His groundbreaking debut—a poetic screenplay titled kNew (published by Flying Ketchup Press)—earned the Producer's Pick Award at the acclaimed 2019 KC Fringe Festival. ​

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Poet   has graced prestigious stages, performing at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts—a "super" in Georges Bizet's The Pearl Fishers, presented by the Lyric Opera of Kansas City—and captivating crowds at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Poet's power with the pen has penned subsequent, serendipitous experiences he would later live in. Following the release of his realistic fiction POETICscreenPLAY, kNew (2021), Poet   graced stages in multiple places in Kansas City's vibrant Historic Jazz District, 18th and Vine—enchanting audiences at the American Jazz Museum, the Gem Theater, and the iconic Blue Room. In May 2021, he earned first-place honors in the Artful Poetry Contest, sponsored by the Kauffman Center.

In August 2022, he celebrated his first art exhibition, Beauty in the Darkness, a compelling duo-show alongside narrative portrait and landscape artist DJ Matheny. Yet just one week later, Poet  endured a traumatic head-on collision at seventy miles per hour—an abrupt moment profoundly punctuating his life's narrative, sowing pseudo-silence within his poetic voice. Over the subsequent years, Poet gradually reclaimed his rhythm, rising with resilience from the quiet shadows of recovery. By channeling challenge into contemplation, he began weaving his voice anew through purposeful scholarly exploration. In 2025, Poet  successfully defended his doctoral dissertation, Reaching Out From Within: A Poet's Critical Autoethnography, concluding his scholarly journey at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and reclaiming his artistic voice with resonant revelations and revitalized academic insight. Blending his lived experiences with boundless creativity, Poet embodies a vibrant synthesis of academic rigor and artistic authenticity. His journey reveals a relentless pursuit to empower himself and others through diverse forms of expression.

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Poet AKA Àtwist – The Language Artist, is a modern-day renaissance man who lives to build minds and loves to body build. He speaks French. He plays bass. He is a cage-fighting martial artist. He educates. Give him a stage, he articulates. Lend him an ear, he motivates. As Paper Birch Landing Art Gallery’s 2019 Poet in Residence recipient, a Prairie Lands Writing Project Teacher Consultant, a Missouri Writing Project Network Teacher Consultant, a member of the National Writing Project Writers Council, a current coordinator of Real World Learning as a part of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation's RWL Initiative, a former curriculum director and former elementary, middle, and high school English teacher (with 16 years of teaching experience), Poet   embraces the value of our shared stories. Whether he is sleeping, breathing, writing, or teaching, he has a passion for empowering people.  

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Find him on YouTube under Bethephenom, on Twitter and Instagram @PoetTLSanders and on Facebook: facebook.com/bethephenoms. 

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Note:  Poet   is actually his first name!