Hatred is a mask that sadness wears.

The use of the word "loser" at the "highest" levels of this government tells you all you need to know: the values are upside down. If shouting and lying your way to the "top" is winning, be a "loser." Be decent, make art, be the person who loves the truthful, struggling soul.

For Those Who Are Alone on the Feast Day of Love

A day that celebrates Love doesn't have to be about Eros. Here's something for those other great loves in our lives.

just in case you need a way to say it today...

for all the lovers out there today 🖤

Sending this, with love, to everyone who may need it.

Four Poems by Joseph Fasano in ONE ART: a journal of poetry oneartpoetry.com/2026/02/03/f...

"Fascism is being afraid. Fascism is fear bossing you. Fascism is worse than all these things, & fascism is closer to you than I can make you see. I’m trying to wake you up to tell you that you’re sleeping with something ten times more dangerous than a poison-fang snake in your bed." —Woody Guthrie

To help someone feel heard is a sacred act.

I wrote this on the day I chose to stay and really live my life. Just in case it will help anyone else out there (in recovery, or in exhaustion, or in the shadows), I've read it aloud in this video. Sometimes it helps to hear a human voice in this digital world.

My heart breaks for the children who get no justice in this world.

"as long as love / runs, it is earthsong" (originally published by The Missouri Review)

I wrote this when I was in a very rough place, and I'll leave it here for anyone who may need to hear it. ❤️ Joseph

"Penelope and Odysseus," a poem from The Last Song of the World (BOA Editions):

I'm grateful to @oneart.bsky.social for publishing these words of mine, especially at this moment when voices are being silenced.

If you're out there writing poems—in a shadowy room, on the night shift, between your child's naps, hiding in your car, anywhere—you're keeping the human soul alive. You're doing the work we all need. And I absolutely love you.

I think we can change it, but I also need to hear this voice sometimes.

There are so many ways of being despicable it quite makes one’s head spin. But the way to be really despicable is to be contemptuous of other people’s pain. —James Baldwin

For Renee Good "We haven't forgotten you— not the blood, not the plushies in the glove box, not the voice that called out like ours..."

Every. Single. Word. Of. This. Charlie Chaplin in 1940 is *exactly* what we should have the courage to say in 2026.

The teachings of Jesus have nothing to do with those who wear his crucifix during White House press briefings. To prove how radical and unpopular he was, imagine what you'd never hear at those briefings: "Love one another." "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

In a world where too many are staying silent, Bruce Springsteen used his gift to do this. Listen to this song.

for Alex Pretti

The pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was murdered by the Nazis for resisting their tyranny. Shortly before his execution, he wrote these words:

for Alex Pretti

We forgot / that we could listen.

for everyone feeling exhausted

Why is this our world?

If you'd like to purchase my new course, The Craft and Magic of Poetry, email me at [email protected].

I love this.

Thank you to The Academy of American Poets, the anthology The Wonder of Small Things, Cider Press Review, and everyone who has published and shared this poem. I hope it finds anyone who may need to hear these words.

The Italian edition of my novel The Swallows of Lunetto, translated by Angela D'Ambra, has arrived. Thanks to my US fiction publisher, @maudlinhouse.bsky.social, for first seeing this book about the real hearts that make the thing we call history. And thank you to my Italian publisher, iQdB.

My four-year-old calls his imagination his "magic." I wasn't going to play in my local Chess Club Championship here in New York yesterday, but my four-year-old said, "Use your magic, Daddy," so I went, and I kept thinking of that, and I won. 🖤🤍

Our world is upside down when the ones who feel they need to hear this are the radically loving souls.

The great Bob Dylan, telling the truth.

I can't stop thinking of all the poets slain by tyranny. Today I hear the voice of Federico García Lorca, slain by fascists in 1936.

In 1936, the great poet Lorca was murdered by fascists. As I sat in his home in Granada in 2019, I heard his voice telling us how it happens, how it can happen again, and how we can honor the voices tyranny has silenced.

In a world brimming with destroyers, I'm thinking of the healers.

🖤

resist it

🖤

If you'd like to purchase my recent course, The Craft and Magic of Poetry, email me at [email protected].

I'm thinking of all the poets silenced by tyranny throughout history, and how their poems last longer than any king.

If you missed my poetry class on 1/4, you can now access the video recording. To request access, email [email protected].

I wrote this poem for a dear soul-friend, and I'm so glad it can be here for you, too—with thanks to La Rotonde Review.

Last chance to register for Sunday's poetry class (online). Email me at [email protected].

Last chance to register for Sunday's poetry class (online). Email me at [email protected].

🖤

This Sunday at 1 PM Eastern, I'll be teaching an online class on the craft and magic of poetry. Everyone is welcome. Email me to register: [email protected].