Kealoha (translation: "The Love") is the stage name of slam poet Steven Kealohapau`ole Hong Ming Wong, founder of HawaiiSlam, First Thursdays, and Youth Speaks Hawai`i. He has been described as Hawai`i's "slam poet laureate." With a degree in Nuclear Engineering from MIT in 1999, Kealoha has developed a poetic style that combines analysis with creative writing to investigate social, personal, and philosophical themes.

His best known work is the performance poem Dichotomy (a.k.a. Hawaiian in the 21st Century), an identity piece that demonstrates conflicting arguments within the Native Hawaiian community. Written in 2004, Dichotomy has been used in classrooms throughout the state of Hawaii to spark debate and dialogue within Hawaii's youth. Dichotomy debuted outside of Hawaii in 2007 at the National Poetry Slam, helping Kealoha to place 8th individually out of over 350 of the world's best slam poets.

Other signature pieces include Recess (an uplifting piece that reminisces about playing on the playground and warns the audience not to fall into complacency), The Male Feminist (an empathetic male's perspective on violence towards women), and Destiny (a philosophical investigation of the popular notion of destiny).

Kealoha currently lives in Honolulu, and serves as HawaiiSlam's SlamMaster. He hosts the First Thursdays poetry slam at Pipeline Cafe, which is the largest registered poetry slam in the world (with an average attendance of 600+). He did nuclear fusion research, management consulting, and surf instructing prior to making a living as a professional slam poet. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.