Ready to get a prophecy or at least hear me jam with some love poems? Show up to the Poetry Brothel Saturday at Chicago Theater Works for a rendition of my “Song of Songs” and a stellar lineup of other performers! Get your tickets now (link in bio, too):
www.eventbrite.com/e/the-poetry...

Poets and poetry readers, this just in from the poets laureate of Chicago and Illinois: poetry has to walk around with others. It breathes in experience and cries out life. lit.newcity.com/2026/04/15/t... #poetry #Chicago #poetslaureate

I am not twenty-one anymore and I do not drink. Do I want to visit a museum? Sign up for my newsletter at reshoemaker.com to get weirdos like this in your inbox!

Reclamation

Sometimes life sneaks up and says "nope!" Thoughts on joys in winter up at my website.

Join me and these extraordinary panelists I get the privilege of speaking with at AWP for a conversation about translation, poetry, and the bodddddy! I can promise you I will talk about my Saint Catherine translations project, but I cannot promise how saintly it will sound. Come find out with me!

“Imagine how they lie when there’s no evidence to contradict them.” Watch this powerful message from Jon Stewart.

I’m sorry to report that tomorrow’s Lost Songs Cafe performance in Louisville is canceled due to the weather. I’m sad to not be able to share my poem “Tomorrow, Overnight” and the collaborations with Chris Gleason and Emily Ravenscraft with you live, and I hope I’m able to soon. #poetry #amwriting

One day in 1995, Bears legend Walter Payton was dining at Harry Caray’s before frantically running up four flights of stairs to see mobster Frank Nitti’s apartment. “He just started looking around like a detective,” becoming the unofficial tour guide for the rest of the day. #chicagobears

Fresh newsletter! Subscribe read a new poem from my Holocaust Remembrance project "Tomorrow, Overnight" and a new translation from the prayers of Saint Catherine.

“Dear Magnus, You made me beautiful. I can never look in the mirror again, you’ve ruined me!

My current favorite definition of metaphor! What’s yours? Thanks @victoriachang.bsky.social #poetry #amwriting

Mary Ruefle knows me #poetry

New Year, New Post! Featuring an upcoming live performance and excerpts of new erasures and essays!

I’m the featured poet at The Lost Song Café on January 27th in Louisville, Kentucky! This is a FREE event in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“Caricatured as typewriter poet” WAS on my 2025 bingo card, and it got called just in time! (Do I win with just a postage stamp or…) Thank you Sam Nassau for copoeting with me at a rockin' wedding! #poetry #typewriter

Typewriter poetry is best enjoyed with fireplaces #poetry #typewriter #poet

Review: There’s nothing quite like a Manual Cinema production. They’re the kind of company that, once you’ve seen their work, becomes a point of comparison for other spectacles. I say with no exaggeration that anyone who enjoys theater should consider Manual Cinema’s productions required viewing.

I’m incredibly honored that Spoon River Poetry Review nominated my love poem “With the Kiss of a Thousand Flowers” for a Pushcart Prize! “He brought me birds! hundreds of thousands of birds, Splitting the sky with song, With ‘you, you, you…’”

⚡️ZINE LUNCH!⚡️presents “Humanizing Medicine,” a free, virtual workshop with Katie Farris this Friday, December 12, at 12 PM EST. Link in bio to register—it’s free!

Articles: Criticism, Essay, Journalism, Interview The following PDF includes samples of: “Chicago’s New Golden Age of Magic: A magic mansion with major funding enters a city where the art form already flourishes.” Feature Essay Newcity “Cruising Kentucky and Bulgaria: An Interview with Author…

Newest blog post, in montage style!

“Let’s just be grown-up and pretend magic is real.” I interviewed several of Chicago’s biggest magic acts to write this in-depth story of today’s magic performance scene. Magic shows appeal to the kid in all of us, which I mean in the least dismissive way possible.

Micro review of “Paper Money” by Winshen Liu! www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8B16wSB/

Bill Knott: Beat poetry, but make it short A micro review #poetry #sealeychallenge www.goodreads.com/book/show/19...

Ever adjuncted? Read this and fear for your kidneys (if you haven’t had to sell them yet)! First book of August: “this abattoir is a college” by Orchid Tierney #sealeychallenge

Subscribe to my newsletter at reshoemaker.com! This month's installment includes thoughts on AI as well as announcements.

Say you’re teaching African American lit—which I may or may not be saying myself—what is your must read book from the last 20 years?

What are you most excited to read during this August’s #SealeyChallenge? Convincing myself I’m gonna do it by continuing to ask others about it. Accountability!?

Roses, such deep heat Wall of poems, each frame a friend Time stands still, staring #poetry #haiku #poem #amwriting #letterpress

I’m beyond pleased to be featured in Spoon River Poetry Review 49.2 - even though my “Hex on Elon Musk as a Portrait of Humanity” is so unfortunately ever-relevant!

Just joked with my best friend who helped me get here that my sponsor was Heineken 0.0 and my twelve step was 6 packs of NA. #sober #sobriety #nonalcoholic #NAbeer

Just Buffy floofin out #cat #floof

I now have a window unit Which dehumidifies I must bleed it twice daily To let out the bad waters Please any god Send central air I sacrifice this condensation to you (again, maybe a poem) #amwriting #lifeupdate #amnotcryingyouare

AC broken Rain outside If I can’t sleep anyway, why not take a shower? (a poem, maybe, but also very real life)

New article with @queerkentucky.bsky.social ! So much fun talking throuples and art

New article @queerkentucky about Hollyn-Reid's queer Community Filing Cabinet! It was interesting chatting with him about archives and the very down-to-earth processes by which we preserve our memories. Check it out! queerkentucky.com/ashland-arch...

I had the honor of interviewing author Garth Greenwell for Queer Kentucky! Read the article here: queerkentucky.com/cruising-ken...

Yesterday was poetry mail day! So excited for new poetry by @alinaetc.bsky.social and @elliephantshoes.bsky.social and the beautiful new issue of Tiny Spoon! Go read all that gorgeous goodness.

I'm excited to share that I'll be a guest editor for this fall's issue of The Louisville Review! Send in your work for consideration. Submittable opens June 1 and closes June 6, and submissions are capped at 200. Get in there! thelouisvillereviewfleur-de-lispress.submittable.com/submit

Why I Haven’t Replied to your Message on Social Media and other May Whatnots If you'd like to catch up on previous posts, visit "newsletter posts" from the menu on my website and enter the password: poetryismagic! Highlights: Why I Haven't Replied to your Message on Social Media Update on Magical…

Publications day! Thank you William and @barelysouthreview for publishing "Again," my lil desirous poem, and @srpr_news for including my Hex inside this beautifully-covered volume! It's a lovely day to read a poem :)

Flufflet mourning dove chicks Puzzle over each other Ruffle wet feathers in fog Mother flies off Robins nearby, watching The children find their way Subscribe to my newsletter to read the rest! reshoemaker.com/2025/04/30/f...

Frostburg State, Some Poems, and April Publications If you'd like to catch up on previous posts, visit "newsletter posts" from the menu on my website and enter the password: poetryismagic! Highlights: Featurette:… http://reshoemaker.com/2025/04/30/frostburg-state-some-poems-and-april-publications/

"Does it bear stating that history, like all knowledge, does not develop by decree? Nor does it belong to any one entity, least of all the state. Rather, it is developed through debate, discussion, and dialectic, fuelled by reflexivity, doubt, and an awareness of our limitations."

Wouldn't this be amazing

Don't get excited. But maybe you can get a little excited about the possibility of getting excited. (Also, this is exactly the sort of stuff the current administration is planning to defund. Fuck those dudes.) Gift article. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/s...

In this moment when resistance and action can feel difficult or futile, it's important to remember that little things can make a big impact.