K. Painter Poetry

08/21/2026

Got my hard copy of Hollow and Sky in!

08/20/2026

I’m just having one of those days where I want to scream until I explode. My hand keeps swelling up to be a tomato. I’ve got hives on my head. Small ones scattered throughout my body. And now I can’t have any antihistamines for the next five days leading up to my allergist appointment, which is gonna cost about $1000. It should not be this hard for me to get help so I don’t like die. Not even so I can thrive just so I can fu***ng be alive. So shout out to my other chronically ill badies.

08/19/2026

Tonight at 6pm
Stay for poetry night at 7pm!

08/19/2026

Hey that’s me!

08/18/2026

Had a great time at the Cattywampus Poetry night! Can’t wait to come back.

08/17/2026

I am honored to have two poems appear in the second issue of Hollow & Sky.

08/11/2026

When your aggressive senior pup won’t eat, sometimes they just want the airplane to come. 💗

08/10/2026

I got to interview my poetry mentor, Neil Hilborn, and somehow that is a real sentence I get to type now. 🥹

For the newest installment of Passing the Salt at Mouthful of Salt, Neil and I talked about everything from the years of work that came before “OCD” went viral and the early days of Button Poetry to his decision to pursue an MFA after more than a decade as a professional poet. We also got into literary magazines, building an artistic career, the importance of showing up for your local poetry community, why you should edit your damn poems, and, of course, getting weirder.

One of my favorite things about this conversation was getting beyond the idea of the “overnight success.” Neil talked about having performed “OCD” more than 1,000 times before the recording that changed his career and how much work went into that moment of luck.

As an emerging poet myself, there was so much in this conversation that I needed to hear. I hope other writers find something in it too.

Passing the Salt: Neil Hilborn on Virality, Community, and Getting Weirder

https://mouthfulofsalt.com/2026/08/10/passing-the-salt-neil-hilborn-on-virality-community-and-getting-weirder/

And a huge thank you to Neil for sitting down with me and being so generous with his time and advice. ❤️

Today I had the absolute honor of sitting down with the most-watched poet ever, and my personal mentor, Neil Hilborn. For many readers, Neil is best known for “OCD”, the poem that launc…

08/10/2026

We are now on like week four of full body hives, and it has spread to facial swelling. We still have zero clue what is causing this.

Getting a hotel for a couple nights to see if this is a food allergy or an allergy to something in my house. I’m not able to see a doctor till the 25th. I wanted to share some of this, because this is just what a lot of chronically ill people deal with on the daily. Any advice about soothing the reactions is more than welcome.

08/04/2026

My first short story is officially published! 🎉

I'm so excited to share that "You Won't Learn His Name" is now live with TrashLight Press.

While many of you know me as a poet, this is my first fiction publication, and I'm incredibly grateful to TrashLight Press for giving this story a home.

If you've ever wanted to read my fiction, now's your chance. I'd love to hear what you think.

Read it here:
https://trashlightpress.com/you-wont-learn-his-name/

Thank you to everyone who has supported my writing over the years. Watching my work grow from poetry into fiction and creative nonfiction has been such an exciting journey, and I'm so grateful you're along for the ride. ❤️

On the first day of Advanced Ethics, Dr. V wrote a single word on the board: Bias. “We all have at least one population we hold prejudice toward or feel uncomfortable around,” he said, settling on the edge of his desk to face us. “Your job is to identify it before it identifies you.” He… ...