Books and Features
For over 20 years, Michelle’s poetry has explored the intersections of race, culture, gender, community, and self both as a solo performance artist/poet and as a founding member of the spoken word poetry group Yellow Rage. Her work has been featured in the following books and projects.
"An American Vocabulary: Words to Action," collaborative flash card project created by Jason Chu and Audrey Chan, sponsored by the Japanese American National Museum
My Life: Growing up Asian in America by CAPE, Published by MTV Books/Simon & Schuster, paperback edition. The poem "Listen Asshole" is featured inside and Michelle and Catzie performed the poem for the audiobook.
Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now, by Jeff Yang, Phil Yu, and Philip Wang. Michelle was commissioned to write a verse for a poem in the book.
Michelle was invited to contribute an Op-Ed piece to USA Today about the re-presenting of Yellow Rage’s signature poem “Listen Asshole” in collaboration with Studio Revolt as a response to the murders of six Asian women in Atlanta on March 16, 2021. Michelle’s Op-Ed became part of USA Today’s Asian American Heritage Month issue in May 2021. In addition to the Op-Ed, Michelle was interviewed by USA Today.
“Still Too Much”
For Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May 2022, Michelle and Catzie (her Yellow Rage poetry partner) were commissioned by the Smithsonian Channel to write and film a poem which represents AAPI experiences today. Michelle and Catzie decided that they wanted their poem to raise awareness about the impact of war as well as anti-Asian violence on AAPI people. Their appearance on the Smithsonian Channel was also supported by the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE).