Great to see that @unmpress.bsky.social published a new paperback edition of Stanley Crawford's essay collection A RIVER IN WINTER. A terrific book cover to cover but "Free Lunch" is a particular favorite of mine.

The @portersqbooks.bsky.social events email is always welcome in my inbox, but especially so when my pal @bookbent.bsky.social is included. Hope to see some of you on 11/12!

Two women walked past me a moment ago as one said to the other, “He’s in partially supported housing,” so my thoughts are with whoever this guy is in his half-built home.

Whenever I pass this sign I think of Peter Markus’ brother stories. Two brothers, clutching their fish in the mud, cursing the moon.

They grow up so fast

You do you but I'm just going to mention you can sing it to the Ickey Shuffle www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBxW...

I’m as surprised as you are

Looks like the glass won this time

"Aha!" said the absent-minded professor, who had spent the morning wondering why his second cup of coffee was so weak and warm-milky, upon discovering hours later a grinder full of beans.

Hello folks. If you're up for a seasonal wander, tomorrow (Sunday) at 10am I'll be posting this month's #DistanceDrift prompt - join in wherever you are, in sync or thereafter.

It feels a bit apocalyptic walking the dog through our dark neighborhood before dawn while all the Halloween lawn statues toppled by overnight wind softly utter their sound effects and recite their creepy lines from the ground.

i think if you ride public transit enough you learn that most weird behavior is not dangerous, and conversely i think driving a car teaches you that everyone is trying to kill you at all times

Residents, businesses, food pantries to try to ensure nobody starves because of President Golden Ballroom (tried to list some resources; if you know of others, let me know) www.universalhub.com/2025/residen... #Boston #SNAP

The dissolution of certainties about US power now has its perfect visual emblem in the form of bulldozers reducing the East Wing to rubble. @willwiles.bsky.social considers what lies ahead for the White House and looks back at another spectacular demolition marking the end of an era buff.ly/2ikkJLf

I'm so grateful to @epochliterary.com for publishing my essay "The Spider's Share" a few months ago, and now for this Pushcart nomination. And in such good company, too.

I'm reminded of Dawn Powell's novel A TIME TO BE BORN, set just before WWII, with it's character Amanda Keeler the romance novelist:

Hey, I'm on a new podcast this week, talking writing, teaching, and literary community (as well as my new book, obviously). Here is a picture of my face talkingwriting.substack.com/p/tom-mcalli...

just put $50 into the pocket of the town food bank. if you are in the US, do the same (honor system), let me know how to email you for your address, and I'll send you a print or an artist's book. five people. go

“Place fascinates me, and it always has. Why do some places resonate with us in often inexplicably profound ways while others don’t?” Julian Hoffman and Alexis Marie Adams talk about Hoffman’s latest book, ‘Lifelines,’ the magic of place, grief, hope, conservation and more.

I'm thrilled to see ARTIFACTS by my former student, now friend Natalie Lemle listed for preorder at last. It's a smart, exciting novel and a lot of fun.

A call for work by Northeast regional emerging artists exploring "the dynamic connection between art and language," to be shown here at Emerson.

SNAP isn't about "people who don't work." It's about people who don't get paid enough to live. Of the 40 or so million people who rely on food stamps: * Two-thirds are children, seniors, or disabled * Most working-age adults who receive SNAP are employed—but in jobs that pay poverty wages

This is the time of year when I grow my beard out a bit more than usual as a service to parents who tell their kids Santa is watching.

If you're in the Boston/Cambridge area, next Wednesday 10/29 I will be talking about Van Gogh, industrial pollution & climate change at Harvard's Mahindra Humanities Center mahindrahumanities.harvard.edu/event/enviro...

Leaf in its Black-eyed Susan costume for Halloween

listen, we are going to do BEAUTY and we're going to do it TOGETHER and we are NOT leaving anyone behind and it's going to take real work and we are going to get tired but the end (there is no end) will be more life and more beauty and more of everyone and we are going to do it

when I become a DJ you already know the first thing I’m playing at the club

Wow, whose desk was the application sitting on for all those years?

It's pub day for The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2025, and the whole Best American series. I'm so proud of this book and all the brilliant, beautiful writing @susanorlean.bsky.social selected for it. bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

Mattress fort standards are slipping

"Terminal Zones" by Gareth Rees is a terrific collection of modern tales of horror and the uncanny. And at 50% off you can't go wrong.

embrace freedom

The ragged edge of the salt marsh is a place of rumour. Mud is scoured for monstrous prints. Augury murmurs from a hundred tidal pools where the sky is trapped as well water. This is a place where folklore not only resides, but reigns. – #DAKilroy, 1982 #LandscapePunk

This is important! Markey is running for reelection against a “generational change” Democrat whose position on trans rights is cynical wishy-washiness. It matters that his response hasn’t been to “moderate his position.”

I’ve always been fascinated by miniatures, and I really appreciate @literaryhub.bsky.social for letting me go long and weird on tiny things, from murder dollhouses to shrinking people to the worlds of Wes Anderson lithub.com/on-the-art-a...

The Wilderness Yet is good music for this chilly autumnal morning

Get it where you can find it

See you tonight!

New species just dropped

Forever is quite long.

Thursday night at @harvardbookstore.bsky.social I'll be in conversation with @ambersparks.bsky.social. Hope to see you there! www.harvard.com/event/amber-...

has a Nobel laureate ever looked so much like the agéd bass player in a classic rock band?

Nice wall of cloud rolled up across the mouth of the bay where it flows into the ocean

A Cooper's Hawk just thumped a window beside me (softly, without injury) then flew off with the same embarrassed aura the dog had the other day when she failed jumping into the car and walked back to the house like she hadn't wanted to go for a ride anyway.

Next Thursday night 10/16 at @harvardbookstore.bsky.social, talking to my pal @ambersparks.bsky.social — please join us!

And a good morning to you, Madame Acorn

cannot get this song out of my head (again) so if you pass by my office please accept my apology and/or join in the singing

Wow, this leaf fell hard!