The 'lady' in 'ladybugs' refers to the Virgin Mary. First of all, there are over 5,000 varieties of ladybugs. However, the first type of these beetles to be called a 'ladybug' had 7 spots which were thought to symbolize the 7 sorrows she suffered.

Wan o the 1%: Ian Hamilton Finlay FOX see me wan time ah wis a fox an wis ah sleekit! ah gaed slinkin heh an snappin yeh the blokes aa sayed ah wis a GREAT fox aw nae kiddin ah wis pretty good had a whole damn wood in them days hen

📢Poets! If you value a respectful vibe, do submit to THE MADRID REVIEW next time, your work will be treated with care. Thrilled to be in their latest issue, dropping on NOVEMBER THE 28th! 🔆🔆🔆 #TheMadridReview #GreatLitMags #RespectfulEditors #NewPoetry #CrossBorderPoetry #BilingualPoetry #Poems

You didn’t hear this from us, but the Old English word 'sibb' meant “related by blood.” This is where we get the 'sibling.' And 'godsibb' essentially meant “godparent.” Over time, it came to mean "close friend." Now it is something we share w/ close friends... 'gossip.'

At some point, shouldn't the entire Dodgers and Blue Jays teams line up and have everyone shoot penalty kicks to determine who wins?

The post from the Reagan Foundation is just complete gibberish. The ad did not, in fact, misrepresent Reagan's views. But the idea that anyone needs the Reagan Foundation's goddamn permission to use the publicly broadcast official remarks of a former president and/or edit them for brevity is crazy

There is a full-on push in NYC right now to use "Mamdani doesn't make Jews 'feel safe'" as a cudgel to get Cuomo into office, and it is utterly disgusting. You know what makes me feel unsafe? People who casually characterize us as a trembling single-issue monolith scared of the big bad Muslim.

This month I announced that London has met legal limits for nitrogen dioxide for the first time ever. When I became Mayor, we were told it would take 193 years. We did it 184 years earlier than predicted.

“The Hindus of Eastern India and Bangladesh generally, celebrate Diwali by worshipping the goddess Kali.” Really, Wikipedia? Lol. No. Kali Puja, which is also today, is NOT a Diwali celebration.

On Tuesday, October 21st—Ursula's birthday—we'll announce the recipient of the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction! Join Theo Downes-Le Guin and guest host Ebon Moss-Bachrach on YouTube for a live announcement at 9 am PDT. The announcement will happen here: www.youtube.com/@ursula.k.le...

Wikipedia is seeing a significant decline in human traffic because more people are getting the information that’s on Wikipedia via generative AI chatbots that were trained on its articles and search engines that summarize them without actually clicking to the site www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...

'Avenue de la Republique, Paris.' A contemporary writer (this is from 1915) noted of Luigi Loir, ‘One can say of this master that he created a genre: ‘parisianism’...he is, in effect, the painter of Paris par excellence, often momentary and fleeting scenes are no secret to him.’

Oh, the end stop in the penultimate line and the caesura in final line... How it slows you down, how it makes you think #poetry #poemoftheday

“Censorship and the suppression of reading materials are rarely about family values and almost always about control.” — Stephen King

Printing presses kept their letters in cases. Capital letters went in the upper case. Smaller letters went in the lower case. This is why we say ‘UPPER CASE’ and ‘lower case.’ Ok, but what did we call them before the invention of the printing press? MAJUSCULE and minuscule.

We've put together a quiz for National Poetry Day with questions provided by an array of playful poets! Successful participants will be entered to win a free Poetry Society year-long membership or 1-2-1 session with a poet of their choice. 👀 Want to try your hand? bit.ly/PlayPopQuiz

an extraordinary person with an extraordinary legacy who nevertheless didn’t take herself too seriously when Gary Larson published this cartoon, she was in Africa and her institute was horribly offended and drafted a complaint the whole thing was defused when she returned - she found it funny

For want o luve we live on hate, For want o Heven praise the State, For want o richts we worship rules, For want o gods the glibbest fules… —Sydney Goodsir Smith, “Prolegomenon: The Deevil’s Waltz” in A KIST O SKINKLAN THINGS #Scots #poem #poetry #Scotstober #richts asls.org.uk/publications...

I want answers, but there are only the wild geese Calling, high in the almost-dark, bearing south, And me, stopped short, clutching a bag of groceries On the doorstep of my not-quite home… —Susan Mansfield, “Bearing South” from The Rooftop Busker: New Writing Scotland 33 (ASL, 2015) #poetry #poem

These days I think a lot about artist George Grosz, who barely escaped from Germany to the US in 1930s as the Nazis rose to power. His scathing critiques of the rise of a fascist society put him at real risk of retribution. This is his "A Little Child Shall Lead Them (Family)" from 1932

‘Nickname’ is not ‘nick’ + ‘name.’ It was originally ‘ekename.’ ‘Eke’ was the Middle English word for “also” or “in addition.” Since ‘ekename’ began with a vowel, people used ‘an’ before it. Over time, 'an ekename' became 'a nickname.'

"That year, we survived for seven hundred days. Thousands of hours of cold for a single night." #TodaysPoem #poetry Winter by Jorge Galán, translated by @janethendrickson.bsky.social (2025 Academy of American Poets) poets.org/poem/winter-7

We are in an all-hands-on-deck moment for women across the world. I spoke to the @nytimes.com about the strong forces trying to turn the clocks back and how we can all fight for women's rights and futures. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/u...

"It is an attack on all our free speech rights." anntelnaes.substack.com/p/censoring-...

George Sutherland Fraser (1915–1980) “S.S. City of Benares” (Drowned refugee children, 1940) On 18 September, 1940, at one minute past midnight, the SS CITY OF BENARES was torpedoed in the Atlantic. Of 134 passengers, 90 were child refugees bound for Canada. Only 13 children survived. #poem #poetry

Agreed and proud to be a member of the WGA.

What do you call a bear without teeth? A gummy bear.

Someone thought the phrase was “a doggy dog world” and who am I to tell them otherwise.

“Give us your weird, your queer, your oddball ms’s yearning to breathe free…” Any & all themes, genres, mashups, mixups, poetry, drama, fiction, non-fiction welcome! #WritingCommunity

enshittification | noun | when a digital platform is made worse for users, in order to increase profits

Like his hero Vermeer, there are no jokes or tricks about Peter Ilsted's 'Young Girl Preparing Chanterelles,' from 1892. The rules of realism are scrupulously, serenely maintained, it is a work that represents the orderliness of a tranquil life.

🐥 need a political break ? 🐥 #Catsky #Dogsky #Kittens ♥️

On his birthday, your annual reminder that Napoleon gave up politics to become Rod Stewart.

The SPEAKER implies. The LISTENER infers. The DUDE abides.

A late night message from Gavin Newsom

Because of Us - By Em Berry #poetry #poemoftheday #Gaza

Is there a word that uses all the vowels including ‘y’? Unquestionably.

One morning, Don Miguel got out of bed with one idea rooted in his head: to graft his orange to his lemon tree. It took him the whole day to work them free… —Don Paterson, “Two Trees” published in RAIN, @faberbooks.bsky.social 2009 #poem #poetry #BookWormSat

Here are the Top 5 Dogs of the week!

What does it mean for a book to be fully Canadian-made? LPG publishers are committed to keeping Canadian stories, talent, and production close to home, checking all the boxes.

‪Do you work with a #literarymagazine #publishing in Canada? Launching a new #litmag? Recently closed & want to share your story? We're a new organization that supports all #litmags at all stages. We meet via Slack and monthly online. Baseline sector survey underway! Contact us via the website.

Announcing the new Literary Magazines Canada Collective. A place to discover new #litmags. Also a place for litmag editors and staff to share ideas, questions, and challenges -- and to advocate for a more resilient literary magazine sector. litmags.ca #literary #writing

drop your best book recs 📚💙

"Who loved me when I was a hard-edged glow escaping out of a rabbit’s mouth?" #TodaysPoem #poetry A hard-edged glow by Rachel Nelson (@rachelhnelson.bsky.social) (2025 @ecotonemagazine.bsky.social) tinyurl.com/2vbccvkc

"Concentrate on the act of elimination to arrive at your answer. Cross out the stars." #TodaysPoem #poetry I Forget Like a Goldfish by Ayesha Chatterjee (@profoundpapaya.bsky.social) (2016 The Rusty Toque)

JOB ALERT! Canongate is looking for both a Publicity Assistant and a Deputy Publicity Director (maternity) to join our team, in Edinburgh or London. Full details for both roles are on our website, so if you or someone you know might be interested, please do take a look: canongate.co.uk/about/jobs