Oh my god, the Cogwork Dancers are one of the wildest bosses I've ever seen.

Canadian Poets Series : Peripety and/or Tronies / @ryanfitzpublic.bsky.social @reneesarojini.bsky.social @whatisapoem.bsky.social @farahghafoor.bsky.social @jessisays.bsky.social ; robmclennan.blogspot.com/2026/01/cana...

Google Images is functionally useless

I read a version of this in MS and it's very good!

Out May 12: Jordan Abel's Dad Era An irreverent, laugh-out-loud pastiche of free verse, hallmark card, bad truism, picture book, advice website, and meditative reflection on fatherhood. chbooks.com/Books/D/Dad-...

Book Your Own Reading, ed. Scott Inniss / @ryanfitzpublic.bsky.social ; robmclennan.blogspot.com/2026/01/book...

I'm late to the discourse, but I'm a quarter of the way through this finale and the fantasy genre really needs to return to the realm of ultra nerds, social pariahs, and airbrushed vans for, like, the next fifty years.

So how much ChatGPT do you figure they used to write this final season?

I’ve been rewatching Stranger Things and I really think the thing that would improve it is if each season had a lower budget than the last.

Last Judge dead. Citadel reached. Time for Act 2.

Thanks to rob for including No Depression in Heaven on his best of list for 2025. I appreciate that there are a lot of books from previous years that rob has only gotten to this year, which better reflects what should be the slower pace of receiving poetry.

The fireworks are obnoxiously close and I can see them reflected in the windows of the building across the street so happy new year I guess?

I was going to do a big year-end wrap-up thread on here, but maybe I'll just say that I'm rolling forward my big three new years resolutions from last year: read 95 books, keep up my semi-secret Letterboxd account, and never submit to literary magazines unless they ask (I'm offer only 😅😎).

In the spirit of being consumerist and anti-intellectual, here is the list of books I read in 2025. I've been keeping track of my reading since 2009, when my friend Jonathan Ball and I challenged one another to read 95 books. This year I got there – 98 books read! ryanfitzpatrick.ca/95books-2025/

I started reading Karen Hao’s Empire of AI and there’s revelation that Sam Altman was thinking about being an author, so I’d like to say thanks to everyone who decided to be a writer rather than a cosmic-level asshole putting the planet at risk for capital.

"don't bet your ass on narrative" —Erín Moure, O Cidadán

Rob Jackson penned an in-depth review of ᑭᐢᑭᓱᒥᑐᐠ kiskisomitok: ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐤ to remind each and one another by ᑳᐯᓵᑳᐢᑌᐠ reuben quinn in The Rocky Mountain Review. @projectmuse.bsky.social muse.jhu.edu/pub/143/arti...

Oh my god, I'm literally shaking after beating the Widow. The Last Judge is probably going to kill me in real life.

Great read on how Calgary can have one of the most expensive transit fares and also comically bad transit service

Thanks to rob for his close attention to No Depression in Heaven. I hope you'll check out this review (and his many other reviews).

ryan fitzpatrick, No Depression in Heaven / @ryanfitzpublic.bsky.social @talonbooks.bsky.social ; robmclennan.blogspot.com/2025/12/ryan...

I hate the ants. I hate the birds. I hate the giant hamsters. I hate the big chungus linebackers. Otherwise enjoying myself.

Kevin Killian, Padam Padam: Collected Poems, eds. Evan Kennedy and Jason Norris, with an Introduction by Kay Gabriel / robmclennan.blogspot.com/2025/12/kevi...

Scott Jackshaw, Stigmata / @talonbooks.bsky.social @scottjackshaw.bsky.social ; robmclennan.blogspot.com/2025/12/scot...

Didn’t they used to have heaters at the c-train stations?

Read this. "OpenAI is not a partner—it’s an empire, cloaked in ethics and bundled with a Terms of Service. The university didn’t resist. It clicked ‘Accept.’" www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...

Why are all of the enemies big chungus linebackers chasing me halfway across the map all of a sudden?

Kicking off #ALUCozyFest is Dina Del Bucchia coming to us from a cozy spot in her home to read a passage about friendships, group texts, and perfect days from her book YOU'RE GONNA LOVE THIS (@talonbooks.bsky.social). alllitup.ca/cozy-fest-di...

Here's the recording from my launch with the inimitable @vanishingsigns.bsky.social in Winnipeg last month. I was thinking about what a great event it was after Cam sent me a transcript of the Q&A. We had a great convo about poetry, cities, and country music! www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghia...

the usual reminder that @periodicities.bsky.social is open to submissions of previously unpublished poetry-related reviews, interviews, essays and translations; yes, please! periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2020/03/subm...

Who told these ants in Silksong that they're allowed to fight like Elden Ring bosses?

I finally started Silksong, and I'm enjoying it, but man that game really just kicks you into the pool, huh?

middle daughter, piano lesson; ladies and gentlefolk, the right honourable sir ryan fitzpatrick // @talonbooks.bsky.social @ryanfitzpublic.bsky.social

Congrats to @ryanfitzpublic.bsky.social on a great launch last night! The final poem that ryan performed got the entire room singing, spontaneously taught by the poem itself, but without explicit instruction, how we could actualize & activate this thing, together. It was very moving!

This Thursday in Toronto!

Thank you to all who joined us for our fall 2025 launch! What a pleasure to share in an evening of literature with you, our amazing community. Our gratitude to the team at the Secret Lantern Society, the Martha Lou Henley Rehearsal Hall, to Danielle LaFrance for hosting, and to our amazing authors.

If you're in Vancouver, I hope you'll be able to make it out to Talonbooks' fall poetry launch at the Martha Lou Henley Rehearsal Hall. It's looking like a busy weekend of poetry, but this should be worth your time. All of these books are excellent (though I might be biased). Hope you can make it!

Regardless of statistics showing crime is dwindling, safety is a major concern for Calgarians—why? In my latest essay, i explore this question, alongside the implications of letting our bourgeois fears guide our city’s policy agenda.

Thanks to Jonathan Ball for chatting with me about poetry, country music, and my book No Depression in Heaven on his podcast Writing the Wrong Way. Jon always has an interesting slant on things, so it was fun to hear his take. I might've said a few things too! podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/i...

I began writing this story with a naive question in mind: What do we lose when public education is privatized? A lot, actually. By following the MAGA playbook, the UCP’s push against public education not only undermines democracy, it jeopardizes the possibility of a better future for all Albertans.

From “I Don’t Want to Get Adjusted to This World” in Ryan Fitzpatrick’s NO DEPRESSION IN HEAVEN

history flips its bad mattress, tips its server poorly, what’s left for Heaven to ban, it asks Reading @ryanfitzpublic.bsky.social’s NO DEPRESSION IN HEAVEN.

I have a theory www.theverge.com/policy/79849...

my short piece on the book of sentences (University of Calgary Press, 2025), along with a few excerpts, is now online at The Woodlot; / @ucalgarypress.bsky.social @the-wood-lot.bsky.social ; the-wood-lot.ca/2025/10/09/o...

If you're in Calgary, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, or Hamilton this fall, I'll be swinging through with my new book No Depression in Heaven. I hope to see you there! (I'll also be in Edmonton on October 18 for LitFest!) More info on fall Talonbooks events here: talonbooks.com/events/

newly posted: Marc Perez : Some Notes on Goodness periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2025/10/marc...

👀 defector.com/good-riddanc...

Beast Fables is here with comic #1! 🦊🐓🐿️ First issue. Very mint. 4-panel comics like in newspapers of yore. iskotaa.com/comics/beast...

I spent the summer reporting this essay on why it seems harder than ever to sell a book right now—especially if it isn't a debut and comes with the dreaded "sales track." I'm grateful to the writers, agents, editors, publishers & experts who spoke to me for this piece: thewalrus.ca/the-publishi...