It is astonishing that the New York Times, the “paper of record,” refuses to call this situation what it is: an episode of a bigot losing his mind during a *racist* tirade.

Drummers, especially of the rock variety, fall into two camps: those who play in service of the song; and those who play to be heard, to satisfy their own egos. John Bonham, while wildly inventive—using his kit like a melodic instrument—falls into the former group. m.youtube.com/watch?v=la-z...

Your Word of the Day is “vibratile,” adjective: (of cilia, flagella, or other small appendage) - capable of, or characterized by, oscillatory motion. As read in Vincenzo Latronico’s “Perfection” (New York Review Books).

Folks, it’s time we made a change. Can you chip in $5 to my campaign today? The future of postmodern American poetry is in your hands. dannyrivera.co

Spent the last month fostering the sweetest dog, a pitbull named Bonita Applebum, after the song by Tribe Called Quest. Today, her new parents traveled from Boston to pick her up, and she’s on her way to her new home. We’ll miss her personality, but are glad that she found her forever family.

A poem by Hayden Carruth, “The Cardinal” (part of a longer poem), from a collection called SCRAMBLED EGGS & WHISKEY (Copper Canyon, 1996).

Last call for entries! The Monica Taylor Poetry Prize closes at the end of September, so don't miss your chance to be part of this beloved competition. 💚$300 first prize + publication in the December issue of takahē 💚$150 runner up www.takahe.org.nz/submit/

New York! I’ll be reading with Emily Skillings and John Yau at Anton Kern Gallery in Manhattan next Friday, 9/26/25. Please RSVP at conaltura.us/blogs/news/a... Hope to see you there! CC: @finishinglinepress.bsky.social

What movie shall we watch in 35mm? (My pick is “They Live,” though I’d be fine with “Trolls 2.”)

Anyhow, I’m thinking of the awful events that took place in New York, and elsewhere, 24 years ago today, of the victims whose lives were taken, and of a world—a certain version of it, anyway—that no longer exists.

Living in the United States requires accepting that a) no safe spaces exist (if they ever did); and b) one may be shot to death anywhere, at any place, for any reason.

Listening to Steve Gunn’s “Music for Writers” because it is exactly the kind of moody, meditative music I need to, you know, get some writing done. youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Jan Davidszoon de Heem, “Vase of Flowers,” oil on canvas, circa 1660.

Please respect my privacy as I am about to take a deep dive into this very, very important book. Thank you.

Enjoying this poem by Ryan Habermeyer, part of a larger piece titled “Portrait of a Desert with Necronauts,” in the latest issue (Vol. 59, #3) of Denver Quarterly.

I’m hardly superstitious, but I’ve already seen two Cybertrucks (gross) within the last 30 minutes, which just seems like a bad sign for how the rest of my day will go.

If some men don’t read fiction it’s because they’re taught that reading is a waste of time, that it has no useful function—unlike, say, mowing the lawn or betting on MMA matches. Or, you know, reading is somehow a “feminine” endeavor to be avoided. 🙄 www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/s...

Some things never change.

New motto:

I’m day-drinking at a bar in Brooklyn. What book am I reading to indicate that I’m a card-carrying member of the intelligentsia? 1. Joan Didion - “The White Album” 2. Vladimir Nabokov - “Pale Fire” 3. Thomas Pynchon - “The Crying of Lot 49” 4. Saul Bellow - “Herzog” 5. Philip K. Dick - “Ubik”

Folks, thrilled to announce that I finally graduated from high school today. Looking forward to all the wonderful things in my future!

Listen, I hope that I’m wrong here, but it’s only a matter of time before Trum* and his bloodthirsty goons refer to the protests in LA as “an insurrection” (oh, the irony) and start firing on people who are simply exercising their First Amendment rights. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06...

Tear gas > flash-bang grenades > live rounds

Takeshi Kitano’s “Violent Cop” is about, yes, a violent cop who stretches professional and ethical boundaries, but it’s also about the deep moral rot that runs through our most basic of institutions, eating away at society to the point where the line between “good” and “bad” is blurred.

One of the best things about teaching Romeo + Juliet to teenagers is that they up understanding the story using their own terms: Student 1 (as Balthazar): “Shawty in a better hood now. 🕊️ 🙏 ✝️💀🪦” Student 2 (as Romeo): “Oh, word? I’m gonna hop in my whip and go find shawty, uno nunca sabe. 🐎 💔”

Made myself chuckle at the thought of a Trum* presidential library. What would be in it? Dozens of copies of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”? Files related to various divorce proceedings? What other items would fill the shelves at such a place?

The Human Condition, #27: So much wonderful music to discover and experience, but never enough time to enjoy it all.

This is the funniest paragraph I’ve ever read in the Times (or anywhere else, frankly).

“He was writing poems about bees, sex poems with pollen and stamens and pistils, bees sexing their flowers, sexing their queen, jelly and nectar and death in midair. He’d read them to me in his truck in the parking lot of the lake where we swam.” www.nytimes.com/2014/06/22/f...

The latest painting—how does he do it?—by Shawn Theodore: “Lil Bit with Collards,” mixed media, 30x40”. On display to the public starting tomorrow at Future Fair 2025, NYC. futurefairs.com

When teachers realize that there are more than 30 days left in the school year.

“Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through obedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion." -Oscar Wilde, 1891.

“Just a little lovin’, early in the morning, beats a cup of coffee for starting off the day…” m.youtube.com/watch?v=pdgW...

The only correct answer is James Fenimore Cooper’s “The Last of the Mohicans,” one of the single-worst books ever written, in any language, during any period of time, in any known universe. I will be taking no further questions on this matter.

It is wonderful news that Mohsen Mahdawi has been released, but the stain of his incarceration will forever remain on this country, which continues to backslide into authoritarianism. Gift link below. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/n...

In what feels like an altogether different stage of grief, I’m finally combing through my dad’s record collection, combining it with my own. These songs, some of which I haven’t heard in decades, ring anew, and he is home again, and we are reconnected, and he is free of the pain that killed him.

I’m neither a historian nor a constitutional scholar, but it seems that we’re in a major crisis that seems to be getting worse by the day.

One of my favorite discoveries of new music is Corridor, a Francophone band from Canada, whose songs lean towards jingle-jangle pop, but also have some interesting psych elements. If interested, be the first to use the download code below for their fantastic third album, “Junior.” Enjoy!

Bootlickers are going to lick those boots, but the level of self-delusion here is astounding. Gift link below: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

The whole “it’s possible to separate art from the artist” discourse is tired, but it’s worth repeating that it’s not okay to listen to music made by rapists and abusers—thereby normalizing their behavior—and paying them (!) every time you stream a song.

Yeah, pretty much. (Cartoon by Paul Noth, via The New Yorker.)

How are readers of the New York Times—and legacy media in general—supposed to make sense of the world when even the pundit class can’t make up its own mind?

Many thanks to @leepottspoet.bsky.social for publishing my new poem, “Liberation Song,” in Stone Circle Review. Stoked to join so many fine writers in this journal. 🙏

How to read a poem properly

The release of new music by Stereolab—the first in fifteen years!—is always cause for celebration. The lead single, “Aerial Troubles,” smokes. m.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg69...

This used to be a proper country, one that didn’t ask such stupid questions. (The answer is an unequivocal “yes.”)

These are but some of the songs that are helping me get through the End Times: The Damned - “Stranger On the Town” Scowl - “Not Heaven, Not Hell” Iggy Pop - “Don’t Look Down” Fleetwood Mac - “That’s Alright”

0-1: Infancy 1-4: Toddlerhood 5-12: Childhood 13-19: Teenage years 20-30: Young adulthood 30-65: Fleetwood Mac Era

I’ve always said that Wall Street is not the economy, but anyone can see that none of ✨ this ✨ can amount to anything good.

“Choosing moral clarity over strategic calculation, over short-term tactics, requires more than individual courage—it demands revivifying our atrophied senses of community.” Peter Michael Gratton, writing with moral clarity indeed, in Liberal Currents: www.liberalcurrents.com/against-stra...