You want to see the left embrace technology? Give us something that blocks AI everywhere. Give us a laser-beam brooch that shoots those spy glasses off of their face. Give us the outfits from Fifth Element

Looking forward to this Sunday, when I’ll be reading with Lynn Fitzgerald at Suite Bar in Manhattan, 2/22-3-5 pm. Open mic after. Thanks so much to Morningside Poetry Series for inviting us! (Bonus: I get to visit my kids along the way)

Vincent blissed out on painkillers as none of us watch any sports whatsoever lesleywheeler.org/2026/02/08/w...

Huge congrats to Chris Gavaler, who’s really been on a roll! From Chris on his new book: JSTOR awarded it a “Path to Open” grant, which brings the price down, plus Ohio State University Press is offering a temporary 30% off with my public discount code “GAVALER.” @ohiostatepress.bsky.social #comics

the Washington Post effectively blew up its arts section today, dismissing its books, TV, music, and theater critics, features writers, and several editors. (I'm also guessing the vacant film critic position will stay that way.) Just an insane loss of talent and a huge self-inflicted wound.

This Friday—so looking forward to it! @haydensaunier.bsky.social @paulguest1974.bsky.social

Tonight!

I’d love to see you—and hear your latest poem, if you’d like to read it!—at the Bardic Trails reading this Tuesday 2/3, 7 pm MT, 9 ET. I have a St Brigid’s Day poem in mind as well as 🍄-infused goodness. Free Zoom link here: www.tellurideinstitute.org/western-slop...

I’ll be in conversation with these smart poets a week from today, Fri 2/6 starting 6:30 pm—& the temps will be above freezing! Free @PVCC campus in Charlottesville VA. Register & get a free book! piedmontgarden.org/event/a-poet... #poetrycommunity @paulmguest.bsky.social @haydensaunier.bsky.social

Not shockingly, my Lexington VA “Writing from the Underworld” workshop has been pushed to Feb 11. I’ll be giving a free online reading on Feb 3, though, in case you could use some camaraderie (all can share poems; prompt=🍄). Thanks to Art and the Bardic Trails series for including me.

But we stand together angelic at the edge of ice thaw over abyss to choose and remake what we thought we once saw and did into our us the cosmos. This is how I pass my time that no longer exists. Alice Notley

Fun fact: Your local bookstore is doing more to protect you and your neighbors than Amazon is.

Post on Arthur Sze’s Into the Hush over on the blog—lots of 🍄🍄🍄in this very moving book! Thanks to Ida Domazlicky for the photo of a #mushroom sparkling in frost. lesleywheeler.org/2026/01/23/a... @coppercanyonpress.bsky.social #fungi #poetry #arthursze

Beautiful issue!

National media should really be covering the fact thay every major school, museum, and arts institution in the Twin Cities, and hundreds of local businesses are closed tomorrow to protest federal occupation. Nothing like this at this scale has happened anywhere in America anytime in living memory.

periodicities: a journal of poetry and poetics : #submissions (updated, periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2026/01/subm...

M Gessen claiming space through editorials in a paper so many of us distrust: “claim all the room there still is for speaking, writing, publishing, protesting, voting. It’s what the people of Minnesota appear to be doing, and it’s something each of us needs to do — right now, while we still can.”

Free workshop in Lexington VA! Still pondering what underworldly snacks I’ll bring. Big thanks to Rockbridge Libraries for all they do to nourish community—dark days mean we need good people and good art more than ever. #lexingtonva #librariansrule

It's release day for my book! Thank you so much to @jacklegpress.bsky.social and @fulmerford.com

Reading the winter issue of @newversereview.bsky.social with admiration. Find the whole thing on their website, including my poem about ghosts in an invented form, the “triskelion,” bc I’ve been obsessed with spirals: www.newversereview.com/3-1-poems-pa...

My spouse Chris Gavaler making death jokes in @therumpus.net therumpus.net/2026/01/13/w...

Good protest today in my little southern town. Also thinking about this erasure poem we published in Shenandoah in 2019: “Ethos of Ice” by Brandon Melendez. www.shenandoahliterary.org/681/ethos-of...

It’s hard to chase sabbatical projects when I’m so mad, but at least there are great books to read. lesleywheeler.org/2026/01/09/a...

Thank you so much, Joanne! I just read another book from Lit Hub’s list of indie books, the novel The Sleeping Land by Ella Alexander, and it was terrific. I’m so grateful when someone helps me find good books that didn’t get the publicity megaphone treatment!

Getting my news from poems this first week of 2026: these books I bought at the Punch Bucket Lit Fest are variously beautiful, strange, fierce, and funny. Grateful to have them. Thank you @hanvanderhart.bsky.social @amorak.bsky.social @saramoorewagner.bsky.social & Carlene Kucharczyk!

Getting excited about this poetry panel in Charlottesville VA sponsored by the Botanical Garden of the Piedmont, 2/6/26! First 125 to register get a free book! piedmontgarden.org/event/a-poet... with @paulguest1974.bsky.social @haydensaunier.bsky.social Kiki Petrosino & Charlotte Matthews

Part of 2025’s luck for me was being in on a lot of fun conversations. This one on The Mushroom Hour was one of my favorites. 🍄 www.welcometomushroomhour.com/blogs/podcas...

Embroidery courtesy of my eldest child and Emily Dickinson. My year in reading, thanks to all the writers, including those whose books are still smoking-hot on my side table. I’ll get there! lesleywheeler.org/2025/12/31/2...

From ‘Montage Of A Dream Deferred’ (1951) —Langston Hughes #poetry #poem #advice

Yes it is—thank you!

Hello, at the University of Minnesota, we're hiring a visiting creative nonfiction writer for the next 2-3 years to teach a 1-1 (one grad class, one undergrad class) and potentially sit on some MFA thesis committees. This job will give you time to write you next book: hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/371...

Psst I still want to read your book even if it didn't make any lists. ❤️

The prize of $2000 will be awarded in 2026, with publication by The American Poetry Review in partnership with Copper Canyon Press in the following year. The author will receive a standard book contract, with royalties paid in subsequent years. For complete guidelines and to submit: loom.ly/JUkTfFM

The new issue of Shenandoah is amazing. Tran Tran was our Poetry Editorial Fellow and selected an amazing portfolio of multilingual poetry! www.shenandoahliterary.org

I need an alternative to the phrase “going down the rabbit hole” but “descending into the coils of the Great Pink Sea Snail” doesn’t have the right ring lesleywheeler.org/2025/12/18/t...

In conversation with Jane Satterfield about stone bothering, concept albums, maledictions, and trying to keep up the lyric heat while writing poems from research. Thank you @newversereview.bsky.social ! open.substack.com/pub/newverse...

Today I’m in pleasant struggle with a poem about snails. Tonight I sing for my supper!

Philip Pullman in The Rose Field: “A system isn’t complete until there’s a hole in it” #portals #fantasyfiction

My review of Rosa Castellano’s striking #poetry collection, All is the Telling, is now up. Thanks to @whaleroadreview.bsky.social for welcoming it! www.whaleroadreview.com/rosa-castell... @diodeeditions.bsky.social

Happy 10-year anniversary of Whale Road Review! Thank you to all who have contributed and to the peer reviewers who have spent countless hours reading and shaping this journal with me. Here’s another fantastic winter issue that we’re excited to share! www.whaleroadreview.com/issue-41

The stars are definitely aligning for me this month. Big inner stuff, too lesleywheeler.org/2025/12/04/s...

So excited! Thank you, @swwim.bsky.social and The Betsy Writer’s Room! #poetry #womenpoets #miamipoetry

I know these lists only show a fraction of the great new books out there—but how lovely for Mycocosmic to be on one! I just followed the article’s Bookshop.org link to order books in small press solidarity! lithub.com/100-notable-... @literaryhub.bsky.social

Thank you for shining a little light on Mycocosmic @angelacv.bsky.social —I just spotted the article & I’m so surprised & delighted! 🍄 ❤️🍾

“Why do you say / I’m dying when I am reading?” by @catemarvin.bsky.social —the November issue of Poetry was particularly kick-ass. www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazi... @poetryfoundation.bsky.social

@ktcndn.bsky.social Wow, Katie—this poem blows me away www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazi...

I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.

Thanks to the @poetryfoundation.bsky.social for giving this piece about my friend Marty Silano, a wonderful poet who passed away a few months ago, a home. We miss you, Marty. www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/172...

On the blog this week: A Week of Poetry Friends And Readings, Horror Poetry, Halloween/Samhain, and Some Real Life Scares: webbish6.com/a-week-of-po... #poets #readings #halloween #horrorpoetry