I’m more concerned than ever that he will come for those of us who oppose him. My words to Trump and his cult: I sing of Olaf, glad and big.

Many thanks to Susurrus for publishing this poem. I struggled with this draft. As I worked through it, I realized that the poem was less about the act of trading one art for another and more about memory.

I have poem in the new issue of @susurrusmag.bsky.social Please read and let me know what you think. Then read the whole issue. It’s outstanding. www.susurrusthemagazine.com/after-a-poet...

My best girl

Happy 51 to me!

theamericanscholar.org/jeremy-spoke... This is one of the most powerful things that I’ve ever read. I mean, I’m not lying when I tell you that this stopped me cold. I’m still sitting here thinking about it. Thank you, Paul Crenshaw. 

One of the great casualties of the last decade for me is that I no longer know what it’s like to feel hope about anything. 

“A language separated from human awareness and aspiration leaves me cold.“ —Stanley Kunitz

“Nothing is coming. Nothing is already here.” —Thomas Pynchon, V

I’m happy the Tifton Gazette ran this. Many thanks for the support! tiftongazette.com/2025/07/02/n...

Check out this give away for Lori Brudner Duff’s new novel! www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho.... It's a giveaway! Sign up and tell all your friends.

I’m happy to announce that I’ve been named president of the Southeastern Writers Association

“The world is ugly,/And the people are sad.” —Wallace Stevens

“Damn it, Neil. The name is Nuwanda.”

I will not forget or forgive all the blood of children this administration has on its hands by defunding USAID. I will not forget or forgive their destruction of freedom enabled by the Supreme Court or the lives of federal workers and academics they sought to destroy for fun

“I have always preferred poetry where the fingerprints show.” —Pablo Neruda

BREAKING: In a unanimous decision, a federal court of appeals has ruled that Louisiana's law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all public school classrooms is unconstitutional. We’ll keep saying it: Public schools are not Sunday schools.

Juneteenth went uncelebrated by the White House. That alone says everything you need to know about this regime.

My father wasn’t perfect, but I admire him and I miss him. Happy Father’s Day, dad. I hope you eventually found some happiness.

“And yet, the way we miss our lives are life.” —Randall Jarrell, “A Girl in a Library”

You realize, of course, that he’s eventually going to direct US troops to kill American citizens, right?

Speaking at the 2025 Southeastern Writers Association conference

Who’s the mean girl? 🤣🤣

My view for the next few days. I’m at the Southeastern Writers Conference on St. Simons Island, Georgia.

Can Trump read?

www.christianitytoday.com/2025/06/sean... Looks like old Ramen Noodles himself is the fraud and liar I pegged him for during his Covid superspreader events.

In your opinion, what are the top three or four 1970s era horror films? 

#AlexJonesWasRight. No he wasn’t. He’s never been right about anything. He’s a lying, bigoted clown.

“A poem cannot stop a bullet. A novel can’t defuse a bomb. But we are not helpless. We can sing the truth and name the liars.” —Salman Rudshie

Tonight’s brew

Novelty Car Horn Playing ‘La Cucaracha’ Sends Stephen Miller Into Dissociative Fugue State theonion.com/novelty...

#FrontPorchReading on this lovely, cool Saturday morning, I’ve been reading this wonderful novel. I’m not even a quarter of the way through it, and I’ve loved every word. What a well written, pointed critique.

A tale of two presidents

A better version of Agent Orange’s Memorial Day message

Editors and writers, what magazines and journals are reading this summer? Who's actively taking submissions?

#FrontPorchReading this humid, drizzly evening. My first encounter with Stanford several years ago didn’t go well. I simply didn’t get it. Now, I think he’s a genius. What about you? Are there any writers that you initially dismissed and later grew to love?

The right-wing attack on universities and the widespread use of ChatGPT to replace thinking and writing are two sides of the same relentless assault on what the Greeks called paideia: the education and development of citizens as ethical beings engaged in their communities.

One. Many thanks to Joshua Robbins for sending along his fantastic new book & to Astounding Books for sending along two books after I ordered only one, a beautiful first edition Charles Simic. I can’t wait to dig into these!

Reading on the porch this afternoon, I came across this lovely essay by Theodore Roethke.

Who are your favorite contemporary Spanish language poets?

It’s that time of year again. #FrontPorchReading. I spent some time this afternoon with this wonderful collection by my friend, Justin Hamm. I love these poems. They balance a transcendent lyricism with a grounded sense of place and self.

We live in a coulrocracy

Please, if your are able, please support Independent publishers. Here are a few who live and die by books sales. They do an enormous amount of heavy lifting in finding great new stories. @littletollerbooks.bsky.social @galleybeggars.bsky.social @saraband-books.bsky.social Thank you.

Every citizen in the USA should be obliged to read or watch The Handmaid's Tale. Now. Oh. Damn it. It's already banned in parts of the USA. When a book becomes alive. Too quick. It seems it's already too late for a rising. But I do hope I am wrong. #TheHandMaidsTale #USA #Facism

Breaking: Harvard University said it has filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration

#LiteraryMagazines and journals, I want to follow you!