Mic Check Poet Profile: Michelle Strong
On Finding Her Voice—and Representing Winnipeg at CIPS 2026
By: Chey Wright | IDIC Verse
Some poets arrive onstage already certain of who they are. Others find themselves
slowly—through listening, feeling, and learning how to belong. Michelle Strong is part of the
latter, and that journey, shaped by migration, memory, and cultural pride, is what makes her
voice so compelling.
This year, Michelle will represent Winnipeg at the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam (CIPS) in
Vancouver, a national poetry competition that brings together some of the strongest spoken
word artists in the country. It is a major milestone—one that reflects not just her talent, but the
depth of perspective she brings as a Kenyan-born poet carving out space in Canada’s literary
landscape.
Before diving into her creative journey, we started with a few quick questions to get to know
Michelle beyond the mic. Her go-to comfort food is a rich beef stew made the way her parents
cook it back home in Kenya—slow-simmered with onions and tomatoes and scooped up with
naan bread. Food, for Michelle, is memory. Culture. Home.
The artist influencing her most right now is Kenyan poet and videographer Gufy, whose
revolutionary work blends poetry with political resistance and documentation of police
brutality. That connection to Kenyan storytelling traditions—where poetry, activism, and
community intersect—continues to inform Michelle’s own work.
If she could rewatch one thing endlessly? Shrek. All of them. When she is not writing or
performing, she is happiest surrounded by friends, building chosen family wherever she lands.
Michelle’s relationship with storytelling began early. Growing up in Kenya, she loved reading
and spelling, encouraged by parents who celebrated her curiosity and creativity. That love
naturally evolved into journalling—a way to process emotions for someone who describes
herself as deeply empathetic and emotionally sensitive. At just seven years old, she wrote and
illustrated her own short story collection, A Proud Peacock and Other Stories. Though it was lost
during a move, the instinct to create never left.
In high school, a drama class—and a teacher who recognized her potential—further connected
Michelle to writing and performance. Still, poetry did not fully claim her until her university
years. She first attended Winnipeg Poetry Slam for the first time in November of 2024. She
remembers listening, feeling overwhelmed, and quietly crying afterward. “I think I found my
thing,” she realized.
Rather than rushing the stage, Michelle spent months simply listening. That patience is
reflected in her work today—grounded, intentional, and emotionally precise.
Her poems rarely begin with structure. They begin with feeling. Writing is how Michelle
releases what she is carrying—sometimes with humour, sometimes with vulnerability. “I see
myself as a vessel,” she explains. “I don’t always know what people will take away from my
work. I just hope they take something.”
That philosophy extends to her performances. Michelle loves the stage because it allows her to
share emotion—laughter, recognition, or moments that tug at shared memory. While music
performances still make her nervous, poetry feels like truth rather than perfection. Recently,
though, nerves have crept back in, a sign that her work is reaching levels of visibility and
responsibility.
As an immigrant from Kenya, Michelle speaks openly about the complexities of belonging. Early
on, navigating social spaces after shows felt intimidating. Cultural differences made small talk
harder, and sometimes the room itself felt distant. “By nature of not being from Winnipeg or
even from the country, sometimes I felt very other,” she explains. “There are moments where
I’m sitting in a room and I’m like, wow, I kind of don’t feel part of this.”
Poetry bridges that distance. Performing gives Michelle a sense of grounding—a shared
language that opens doors. “That is why I like poetry,” she says. “I could not talk to anyone the
whole time, but after performing, suddenly I feel brave enough. It almost feels like I’ve proved
that I’m part of it.” In those moments, poetry becomes connection—proof that, as she puts it,
“we’re not so different after all.”
That sense of connection has carried her to her biggest milestone yet: representing Winnipeg at
CIPS in Vancouver. For Michelle, it is proof that her voice—shaped by Kenyan roots, lived
experience, and emotional honesty—holds real power. As she prepares to take the national
stage, she is continuing a journey of finding her voice and inviting others to listen.
Michelle Strong is a spoken word poet and multidisciplinary creative currently based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her work moves between poetry, performance and sound as she explores themes of home, identity and becoming. Through embodied storytelling and musicality, she invites audiences into moments of tenderness, tension and quiet transformation. She is an emerging artist currently preparing for national spoken word finals this April.
