The room is almost all elephant. Almost none of it isn’t. Pretty much solid elephant. So there’s no room to talk about it. -Kay Ryan, “The Elephant in the Room” #everynightapoem

ICYMI yesterday, CJ just put out a bangin collection about a small Texas town by @kevingrauke.bsky.social.

This collection is knockout. Thalia Larry McMurtry knockout.

My collection of connected stories is out today (paperback and ebook)! And published by the very cool @cowboyjamboree.bsky.social! There are much more important things going on everywhere, but it sure would be nice if you'd spent a little time in the tiny West Town of Yonder.

Wait 'til y'all wander into Yonder, Texas. @kevingrauke.bsky.social's WEST OF DESTRY drops 11/11 from CJ Press. Many thanks to @jonathanin2k.bsky.social for knowin' what's up.

A week from today, my new book of Texas stories comes out from the great press @cowboyjamboree.bsky.social!

Daily(ish) #SmallPress #books: What’s the Point? by @stevenlaffoley.bsky.social (@pottersfieldpress.bsky.social) nimbus.ca/store/whats-... & Yonderites by @kevingrauke.bsky.social (@bullshitlit.bsky.social) www.bullshitlit.com/shop/p/yonde... #DSPBposts 💙📚 #BookSky

This is what democracy looks like. #NoKings

bits, candles, carats, horsepower it's been a bit since I did a spontaneous call send me something I'll love no limits (except a reasonable amount of respect for my very fleeting attention) <3 @crowjonah.com havehashad.submittable.com/submit/4178e...

This is frankly one of the worst things Donald Trump has ever posted, which is really saying something

💀 🥳 https://www.havehashad.com/k8fm6

This week our summer flash series brings you "When Cain Spoke to Abel in the Field" by Kevin Grauke necessaryfiction.com/stories/when...

Updated submissions guidelines means advertising about it on socials, despite my sincere desire not to have to do so. Trying to be quieter these days, but it’s hard to do that with something like Libre. We’re able to offer $15 per accepted piece. Thanks for thinking of us. 🧠 librelit.com/submit/

NEW POEM #243: "The Truth About Brimstone" by Kevin Grauke (@kevingrauke.bsky.social) "And so here I am, back where this all started, staring at this thick, red-headed toothpick, / thinking of you laughing down there in Hell" stonecirclereview.com/the-truth-ab... #Poem #PoetryCommunity #Poetry

"Mother played “John Brown’s Body” on their cheap turntable. I loved how deep his voice was, how it vibrated dust from the speakers." A poem by 𝗞𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗸𝗲 @kevingrauke.bsky.social‬ in the Spring 2025 issue bit.ly/AmsterdamReview #poetry #poetrycommunity

Thanks so much, @aaronburch.bsky.social.

"'We’re God-fearing folk! Tell us! We’ll never do it again!' Anxious, sodden, submissive, they waited for a reply. It came as thunder. Thunder, and thunder. And the rain came down like nails." “Adage" by @kevingrauke.bsky.social

reading today's cento from Stephanie Choi in the thick of wrapping up my semester definitely felt like a little extra perfect, but rereading it this morning, I still extra love it and think it's so perfect https://www.havehashad.com/rpyxt

"My sexual orientation is Tracy Chapman’s voice. Everything I knew about gender unraveled the day I heard her sing about addiction." ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥 today from Amara Tiebout almost wish it were short enough to screenshot. y'all REALLY gotta click through!! www.havehashad.com/hadposts/my-...

i like how roberts even looks a bit like tim robinson in the hot dog sketch www.politico.com/news/2025/05...

new one today from Ryan Petersen and it spirals in the best way “a still frame of the soap opera, projected into the past… indisputable evidence: I was, indeed, a prophet.” https://www.havehashad.com/o1v45

"She hoped maybe one day she’d lose them with her wisdom teeth." I love everything about this story by @mizukiyamagen.bsky.social

Fresh poetry today by @kevingrauke.bsky.social There’s elegance to the questioning. “But most of the time / it’s nothing like any of this.” www.librelit.com/themagazine/...

I haven't felt like sharing any new work since Trump's reelection because it seems too much like playing Nero's fiddle, but I'm sharing this one. We need Paul Robeson and Lady Day more than ever now.

I will get there too late, but I don’t know this yet, nor do I know I’ll never see the hospital bed, or the chair beside the bed, the chair where my sister sits, keeping a constant hand on him, skin whispering to skin. —"Nonstop Flight" @kevingrauke.bsky.social www.fiveminutelit.com/nonstop-flight

All I keep thinking about is how Pete Hegseth raised questions of the competency of a Black four-star general and Air Force fighter pilot who was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Hegseth asked did he get the job “because of his skin color? Or his skill? We’ll never know, but always doubt.”

How much poison are you willing to eat for the success of the free market and global trade? Please name your preferred poisons. For the sake of goodness, how much evil are you willing to do? from "Questionnaire " by Wendell Berry buff.ly/h7HpPvi

Oh, look what normal countries do when a former president leads a far right coup attempt.

Murphy: "This is a constitutional crisis that we are in today. Let's call it what it is."

E-M-P-A-T-H-Y Spread it around!

#MaryOliver #Poetry

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (5/20) #BookSky💙📚 #Books #BookChallenge #BlueskyBookClub

Very grateful for this

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (4/20) #BookSky💙📚 #Books #BookChallenge #BlueskyBookClub

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (3/20) #BookSky💙📚 #Books #BookChallenge #BlueskyBookClub

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (2/20) #BookSky💙📚 #Books #BookChallenge #BlueskyBookClub

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations,no reviews, just covers. (1/20) #BookSky💙📚 #Books #BookChallenge #BlueskyBookClub

Happy to have a poem in the new issue of storySouth, which is always a good read. storysouth.com/stories/the-...

Today's Poetry Thread: PRAISE Feel free to add poems that praise—because, although, despite.

Whenever I feel overwhelmed by family, I try to remember this:

This wrecks me—every single time.

If you'd like a book full of poetry, fiction, and essays inspired by the Texas musicians we all know and love, this is available now. I've got an essay in it about Jerry Jeff Walker's Viva Terlingua, one of the best albums ever recorded.

I keep coming back to this poem from Matthew Zapruder’s great new collection.

this i think is the poem I’m most known for, and probably will be for the rest of my life

Very excited to have an essay about Jerry Jeff Walker in this collection coming out. Can't wait to read the rest of it, too.

Where have you been? Do you know what time it is?