Abby Bland Named 2026 Best poet in KC via The Pitch

I am truly humbled to have been voted best poet/spoken word artist in The Pitch once again thisyear. I was so focused on promoting my comedy/poetry show American Raccoon at this year’s KC Fringe that I hadn’t given the contest much thought.

I’m truly thankful to be part of a community that supports my work and provides this sort of recognition. I was nominated alongside other poets that I truly admire and did not expect to pull this off for a 3rd time.

When I first started writing poems I was a young kid growing up in the Northland. It didn’t occur to me that there were accolades to be had, though I did dream of being published. I didn’t start performing poems until 2017, and then in 2018 I made the founding Kansas City Poetry Slam nationals team (now the Fountain City Slam). It still didn’t occur to me, at the time, that being nominated Best Poet was even a thing I could achieve, let alone competing and producing shows across the country.

Being voted “best poet” in Kansas City is not a real title. I work hard at my craft, but I know this accolade is much more about my community supporting me than it is about my level of skill or talent.

However, this is a reminder that my work is actually reaching people. Which is truly the coolest thing.

Poetry is a strange art form to dedicate your life to. It's not exactly a career path your high school guidance counselor enthusiastically recommends.

It lives in bookstores and coffee shops, on stages and sidewalks, in classrooms and open mics. Sometimes it exists in a notebook no one else will ever read. Sometimes it's performed as part of a delightfully unhinged Fringe show about the Internet.

I've spent a large part of my life writing poems that tried to make sense of grief, joy, anxiety, Godzilla, growing up in the Midwest, being queer, expectations placed on women, and whatever bizarre thoughts wandered into my brain at 2 a.m.

I’m honored to be recognized by my community, even as I’ve been spending more and more time at comedy mics and crafting solo shows. But I love that poetry and comedy are both really about the same thing: telling the truth in a way that helps people feel less alone.

Awards are funny because they're both deeply meaningful and completely incapable of capturing what art actually is.

It’s cheesy, but the real reward for me has always been the people who come up to me after my shows and say “I saw myself in this, thank you.”

Still, I'm incredibly honored to have been voted Best Poet by this community again. Kansas City has given me places to grow, audiences willing to take chances on weird ideas, and a creative community that continually reminds me why I wanted to make art in the first place.

If you've ever come to a reading, laughed at one of my jokes, cried during one of my poems, bought a book, shared my work, invited me to perform, hired me to teach, or simply told a friend about something I made—thank you.

You helped me get here.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I’ll be returning to my regularly scheduled programming of staring at a blank document wondering if I've ever had a good idea in my life.