are they not monsters?

you don't own a poem; if you're lucky, you can catch one, like a firefly, a cold. it's an act of fixed transience. the words in print don't change. you do.

nothing will fix the dying world, but I’m hoping this Elliot Smith cover will help the new one be born

now I can’t believe— that the bible & qur’an & bhagavad gita … exhaling from their mouths “make room for wonder”— all my understanding dribbles down the chin onto the chest & is summarized as: life is merely to ovum and sperm and where those two meet and how often and how well and what dies there

Someone once said "Happy Throuple Day!" and I can't unsee it. Blessings to all who celebrate. Salzburg Missal, C15, Bayerisches Staatsbibliothek, Clm. 15708, f. 63v. #Epiphany #ThreeKingsDay #Theophany #LoveWillWin #Jan6 #DayOfLights #GreekOrthodox #ηΗμέρατωνΦώτων #Bogoyavlenie #DíaDeLosReyes

William Blake's depiction of the Circle of Traitors in Hell from Dante's Inferno, 1827 www.artic.edu/artworks/233...

Sometimes I open a new poetry manuscript and Adobe asks me if I’d like an “AI” summary of the document. I wish there was a way to make it clear that I’d rather have plague-carrying squirrels gnaw off my thumbs.

Come, Revealer of the hero-path. We shall no longer cast thee away. May our entire life become a ceaseless worship...all our acts a continuous service to the Mother, full of love, full of energy. #Durga Stotra (1909), Sri Aurobindo trans. Nolini Kanta Gupta #GoddessPoetry #YearOfTheMother #poem

“Ruin hath taught me thus to ruminate/That Time will come and take my love away.” …but blessèd New Year, one and all! 🫖 🪩 📖 #Bard #Shakespeare #sonnet #HelenVendler #vintage #tealeaves #teacup #NYE #NewYearsEve #chronos #kairos #TempusEdaxRerum #AuldLangSyne #countown #poetrysky

synaloepha: the merging of two syllables into one Los cabellos que-al oro-oscurecían. [The hair that endarkened the gold.] -Garcilaso de la Vega d.1536 Not quite the same, but I thought this lady's name was "Anna Rundell" (d.1649) for a long time #hendecasyllable #hendecasyllabic #poetrysky

Hanging up all the season's #Krampusnacht cards on the wall. "Then he’ll bind them in chains, throw them in his dank sack, Take them deep in to hell, and they’ll never get back" - Ann Hart 🖤 Anapestic Tetrameter 🖤 #poetry #poetrysky rattle.com/krampusnacht... www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

Do we all agree that there's an implicit badass ranking amongst letters? And that these are remarkably similar across alphabet systems? Roman 1. Z 2. X 3. Q Arabic 1. ق 2. ظ 3. ك Purely here to ruffle feathers on this #SnowDay #alphabet #alphabets #writingsystems #language #phonemes #poetry

palinode: i take it back! Confess(ion): I’m starting to think I have an attraction to impossibility – tonight, the sky is a punched-out molar, & here I imagine a desire vast enough to bleed & float for – when you text me i love you, i drift to sleep & leave you on seen - @intifadabatata.bsky.social

#anamorphosis in poetry? a matter of looking To'our bodies turn we then, that so Weak men on love reveal'd may look; Love's mysteries in souls do grow, But yet the body is his book. -The Ecstasy, J. Donne www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1... Anamorphic art by Thomas Quinn.

happy #smallpoemsunday this is invite by melita matsinhe, translated by beth hickling-moore from mozambican portuguese :0 i think it's so beautiful and vital and mysterious and a real celebration of life on earth! @tomsnarsky.bsky.social

Don't catch a leopard by the tail, but if you do, don't let it go. #Ethiopian proverb sem-ena-werq #Amharic: ሰምና ወርቅ www.theparisreview.org/blog/2023/08...

quipu / khipu : knot-writing, record keeping by knots #inca #fabricpoetry #textilepoetry #knotwork #writingsystem #datasystem #poetry #poetrysky Larco Museum, Lima, Peru www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/158...

Am I the first law professor wanting to assign parts of this book to law students, esp. the Introduction by @johannawinant.bsky.social and @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social

Waiting for this to show up in one of those “If you can identify these people, you’re as old as the hills!” buzzfeed clickbait quizzes. #IDidntInhale #usedbooks #secondstorybooks #smallbookshops #smallbookstores #shopsmall #shoplocal #bookgifts #givebooks #resellbooks #bookresale #independentbooks

As the clocks turn again, the old debate rears its stubborn head: Should we abolish time? #daylightsavings

Léni Paquet-Morante up at Art@Bainbridge Princeton #BACHtoberfest

Limerence has become a demon in mental health chat in the last decade. Yes, limerence removes one from the wheel of capitalism & the social bonds deemed acceptable therein, oh no. #Limerence also gives us humanity’s best art & a lens through which to view the most tangled aspects of the self.

If there's not eye liner and caviar sticks all mixed up with the highlighters in your desk organizer or pen cup, are you even alive? I ask.

Our love for those homely animals was deep and would figure in the knowledge that such bruises aren't endless, and that our rib cages are not mere bones. One can die from grief, so now we can describe loss and love as the Holy Twins. Luci Tapahonso (b.1953) Navajo Poet Laureate #NewMexico

Overheard at a bookstore: "Anyone can write a poem with the prompt 'what did the door of you childhood home sound like when it opened or closed? what season? what were you thinking? how did you feel? what were your dreams?'" #creativewriting #poetrysky #poetsky #writingprocess #prompt #screendoor

Poetry is breaking out all over Pōneke tomorrow, and we’ll be announcing the winner of the National Schools Poetry Award and welcoming all the finalists to the IIML for a masterclass with poets Ruby Solly and essa may ranapiri! Find an event near you. www.nzbookawards.nz/national-poe...

Speaking of #woodcuts …. 1551 German translation of Albertus Magnus’ Secrets of Nature Described in Six Booklets. #earlybooks #printing #inutero #uterus #fetus #maternity #matrix #scienceillustrated #historyofscience #pregnancy #lightbulbs #wellcomecollection wellcomecollection.org/works/s6tt67z2

Print is alive and well in #NewMexico this morning. #printing #blockprinting #broadside #lithograph #woodblock #copperplate #inkball #printingpress #smallpress #poster #posterart #indigenous #indigeneity #pueblo #humanrights

Sister-in-law’s coffee table.

Dolores Veintimilla de Galindo (d. 1857) Sin él, para mí el campo placentero en vez de flores me obsequiaba abrojos [Without him, for me the pleasant countryside instead of flowers gave me thistles] #ecuador #spanishpoetry #poetrysky #SouthAmerica

Gay Girl Prayers by Emily Austin #poetry #queerpoetry

"I will defend myself .... Powerless, I drown." Anna Świrszczyńska (d.1984) aka Anna Swir on #maternity The Polish-English collection (trans. by #CzelawMilosz).

Good morning, did the metaphyical poets anticipate the discovery of #microchimerism? I need to know. In any language. In any part of the world. #JohnDonne #MetaphysicalPoetry #EarlyModernPoetry

. From 'Songs of the Chippewa/Ojibwe' (1918) —tr. Frances Densmore #ForgottenPoetry #poetry #poem

I am the only one who worries that my language is hanged, ropes around its neck? My tongue is worthless. Though it speaks among the deaf, it does wear out. Ali Sadqi Azaykou (d. 2004) See #tamazight transliterated into #arabic below #amazigh #poetrysky #ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ #NorthAfrica #Tamaziɣt #poem

May your Friday be as good as this (courtesy of Publications Tirra) #ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ #Tamaziɣt #تَمَزِيغت #kafka #translation #metamorphosis #indigeneity #NorthAfrica #🪳 #literaturesky

Three bookstores in a 1-block radius (including Kaila wa Dimna) in Rabat Centre Ville and noooo expenses were spared. #globalbookstores #bookstorejoy #rampage

Librairie Scarabaeus in #Luxembourg — you don’t need google translate for this one. #bookation all I ever wanted #bookation had to get away #globalbookstores #independentbookstore

Continuing the air-conditioned #bookjoy pilgrimage: La Belle Hortense in the Marais, Paris. I never knew ham could melt in your mouth while surrounded by books and fruity beer. #heatwave #booksky #globalbookstores #bookshop #shoplocal #baguette #fromage

Hard to miss an emerald city Milton like this (Alabaster Books on 4th Ave, NYC, $50) #paradiselost #heatwave

Am I seeing things, or are these figures in the bathroom wallpaper at Bobo in the West Village taken from al-Jahiz’s Kitab al-Hayawan aka Book of Animals? Because who what where when why and how. #manuscriptsky #arabicsky #medievalsky #bestiarysky #animalstudies #menasky #wallpaper #bookhistory

The pipe running through the feminism and women’s studies section of the basement of @strandbookstore.bsky.social That is all.

#booksky #writingcommunity

S A H P E I still recognize your free-spirit-shape. #vss365 #shape

Your Cherokee words for today. The top word is English followed by how it is written in the Cherokee language followed by how it is spelled in English then how to pronounce it phonetically.

Art among the greens at the DuPont farmers market (more below) #vermeer #stephenschwartz #barbarastreisand #doloresoriodan #cranberries #scapes #kale #blueberries #saladgreens #thedistrict #farmersmarket #lettuce #monet #pride #pridemonth #DC #rainbowchard

е-nin-nа mi-nu-ú šit-tu šá iṣ-ba-tu-ka kа-а-ši ta-ʾ-ad-ram-ma ul ta-šem-man-ni ia-a-ši Now, what sleep is it that has overcome you? You have become silent, and you cannot hear me! #gilgamesh #uglycrythursdays

Emily at her absolute sauciest: I envy Light—that wakes Him— And Bells—that boldly ring To tell Him it is Noon, abroad— Myself—be Noon to Him— Yet interdict—my Blossom— And abrogate—my Bee— Lest Noon in Everlasting Night— Drop Gabriel—and Me— #springpoems #birdsandbees #emilydickinson #dickinson