really excited to launch the newest residency at Upstart & Crow, which is specifically for parent-writers and includes a childcare stipend in addition to a residency grant and space to work. the residency I have dreamed of! applications open this weekend: upstartandcrow.com/programs/par...

I think a lot about the story Carl Reiner told: he’d have been a sewing machine repairman if not for a free WPA drama class. That led to other theater work, to Sid Caesar, to Mel Brooks, and all the rest. All because of one free class paid for by a government that felt the arts were worth teaching.

I think I just saw a meteor; heading east, very bright, over the house; Alta Vista, south of Palen: what say you, #ottawa?

A young Tory MP's name gets mentioned as someone ready to cross the floor. He goes to ground and then suddenly announces he is stepping down. Young MPs just don't quit politics unless someone dumped a political horse head in the bed. #cutthroatontherideau #carneyneedsjust1

newly posted: Jeremy Luke Hill : on a burrow, a nest, a lea stone / @meetthepresses.bsky.social ; periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2025/11/jere...

newly posted: Michael Klausman : on Wry Press periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2025/11/mich...

newly posted: Hugh Blanton : A Romp Through Poetry's History: On Ryan Ruby's Context Collapse / @sevenstories.bsky.social ; periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2025/11/hugh...

Thank you, rob~~Enjoyed spending time with your “clever interview questions” !

rob mclennan's spot light 115 features Anna Veprinska of Bonememory! Check it out: https://ow.ly/RfBP50Xm0NU

congratulations to Karen Solie, winner of the 2025 Governor General's Award for Poetry! here's my review of the book, in case you hadn't seen: / @houseofanansi.bsky.social ; robmclennan.blogspot.com/2025/05/kare...

in anticipation of the upcoming Ottawa Book Awards (which my short story collection, On Beauty, is up for), why not check this replay of the interview that Alan Neal did with me over at CBC All in a Day? / @ualbertapress.bsky.social ; www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

Ongoing notes: TIFA Small Press Market/Meet the Presses’ Indie Lit Market (part one, : Liam Burke + Gary Barwin, / @garybarwin.bsky.social @meetthepresses.bsky.social ; robmclennan.blogspot.com/2025/11/ongo...

“What kind of life is a life that can only continue by forgetting itself?”

"...I cover my ears, it’s not enough. But I suppose the engineers weren’t wrong. We are getting somewhere after all, and fast— we’re almost to the next station which could double as a bomb shelter should we need one…"

new from above/ground press: The Sun Will Bleach It Away, by Rebecca Comay / Cary Fagan / @meetthepresses.bsky.social ; abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2025/11/new-...

I wrote a thing, and I'm quite proud of it, if I do say so myself. My thoughts on where a poem begins, randomness, surprising yourself in a poem, strangeness, and more. Thank you to @robmclennan.bsky.social for inviting me to contribute to this fantastic series on where (and how) a poem begins.

Ongoing notes: TIFA Small Press Market/Meet the Presses’ Indie Lit Market (part one, : Liam Burke + Gary Barwin, / @garybarwin.bsky.social @meetthepresses.bsky.social ; robmclennan.blogspot.com/2025/11/ongo...

newly posted: Madelaine Caritas Longman : Three poems / @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social ; periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2025/11/made...

newly posted: Foster Gareau : Two poems / periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2025/11/fost...

congratulations to Karen Solie, winner of the 2025 Governor General's Award for Poetry! here's my review of the book, in case you hadn't seen: / @houseofanansi.bsky.social ; robmclennan.blogspot.com/2025/05/kare...

Friends— here it is. Updated & expanded thanks to the space afforded to me in the @therumpus.net & the guidance of the brilliant @roxanegay.bsky.social’s edits. The win centers Muslims humanity — but what does that mean in a country that rejects that? therumpus.net/2025/11/05/z...

City staff confirmed with me that they removed 75% of these scam stickers from city parking metres today, and will have the rest done by tomorrow.

12 or 20 (second series) questions with Rachel Trousdale / @weslpress.bsky.social ; robmclennan.blogspot.com/2025/11/12-o...

S*BSTACK ALERT: the green notebook, , reading and rereading C.D. Wright, Czeslaw Milosz, Michael Redhill + Leah Souffrant, robmclennan.substack.com/p/the-green-...

On the poem that keeps arriving.

newly posted: Kim Fahner @kimfahner.bsky.social : UNMET, by stephanie roberts / @biblioasis.bsky.social ; periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2025/11/kim-...

newly posted: Jason Heroux : Thumb-Wrestling With Noah Berlatsky’s Gnarly Sonnets / @nberlat.bsky.social ; periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2025/11/jaso...

newly posted at @periodicities.bsky.social : Foster Gareau : Two poems periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2025/11/fost...

newly posted at @periodicities.bsky.social : Laura Kerr : The Enduring Idea, Part 2: A Living Poem periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2025/11/laur...

newly posted at @periodicities.bsky.social : Katherine Parrish : Conversations with P.D. Edgar, part two periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2025/11/kath...

It was so fun getting to talk about bird cognition, experiments, and a list of beloved books with @robmclennan.bsky.social!

newly posted at @periodicities.bsky.social : Ian Fishman : on Press Brake periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2025/11/ian-...

12 or 20 (second series) questions with Rachel Trousdale / @weslpress.bsky.social ; robmclennan.blogspot.com/2025/11/12-o...

An Anglican priest in Toronto wrote a book about an encampment in her churchyard and the challenges its residents face. Here's what she says others can learn.

back home, to middle daughter’s piano lesson, attempting to open new poetry titles by Sandra Doller, Elizabeth Robinson an’ Anne F. Walker, / @nupress.bsky.social

"By the true beginning, I mean the place where I suddenly begin to care about the poem, either as a reader or writer, or both. It doesn’t have to be deep and emotional or autobiographical. Just the place where the bottom of the poem drops out from under you and you are in the poem." Thank you rob!

newly posted at @periodicities.bsky.social : Lisa Richter : Where does a poem begin / @lisarichter.bsky.social @ualbertapress.bsky.social ; periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2025/11/lisa...

newly posted at @periodicities.bsky.social : Katherine Parrish : Conversations with P.D. Edgar, part one periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2025/11/kath...

newly posted at @periodicities.bsky.social : Process Note #65 : Temperance Aghamohammadi : on BATTALION SHAPED GIRL / @mawsheinwin.bsky.social ; periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2025/11/proc...

newly posted at @periodicities.bsky.social : Michael Farrell : Five poems periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2025/11/mich...

Spotlight series #115 : Anna Veprinska robmclennan.blogspot.com/2025/11/spot...

Canadian Poets Series #14 : Dale Smith / @knifeforkbook.bsky.social @talonbooks.bsky.social ; peripetyandortronies.blogspot.com/2025/11/cana...

Tuesday poem #657 : Jamella Hagen : Shiny Silver Train / @jamellahagen.bsky.social @nightwoodeditions.bsky.social @gaspereaupress.bsky.social ; dusie.blogspot.com/2025/11/tues...

newly posted at @periodicities.bsky.social : Jason Heroux : Thumb-Wrestling With Noah Berlatsky’s Gnarly Sonnets periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2025/11/jaso...

hey! It’s me an’ poet Mark Goldstein in Toronto! nice,

This magazine just fired all of their politics staffers

Canadian Poets Series #14 : Dale Smith / @knifeforkbook.bsky.social @talonbooks.bsky.social ; peripetyandortronies.blogspot.com/2025/11/cana...

newly posted at @periodicities.bsky.social : Hugh Blanton : A Romp Through Poetry's History: On Ryan Ruby's Context Collapse / @sevenstories.bsky.social ; periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2025/11/hugh...

newly posted at @periodicities.bsky.social : Madelaine Caritas Longman : Three poems / @mcgillqueensup.bsky.social ; periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2025/11/made...

newly posted at @periodicities.bsky.social : Michael Klausman : on Wry Press periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2025/11/mich...