Baby flying squirrel alert

"Spider Season" a typewriter poem by yours truly from the Chicago Botanic Garden! poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7954848...

Our night blooming flower is blooming!

Well it’s showtime at @kathleenmrooney.bsky.social’s & my place again for Phyl, our epiphyllum oxypetalum! Thanks as always to @chutson99.bsky.social for bringing him into our lives.

If you are in Chicago, you should go see this hilarious musical that has nothing to do with Stephen King! The next two Fridays at the Facility Theater!

"Leaf Town's residents suggest that the aggressors join them, a gesture of kindness in an all-too-unkind world." Thanks to Lisa Farver of Patch for this feature on @bethrooney.bsky.social's & my picture book from @uminnpress.bsky.social & 10/21 event at Anderson's in DG! patch.com/illinois/dow...

"It Turns Out that Shakespeare" a typewriter poem by yours truly from Glenwood Avenue Arts Fest! poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7939454...

Thanks to Mary Ann Grossman of the Pioneer Press for including LEAF TOWN FOREVER--co-written with @bethrooney.bsky.social & illustrated by Betsy Bowen--from @uminnpress.bsky.social on her reading list for a thrilling Fall! www.twincities.com/2025/08/31/r...

Tomorrow at the Chicago Botanic Garden from 10 am to 2 pm! Come get a hot, fresh Poem While You Wait! poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7925845...

Sweet baby flying squirrels!

Big news for authors with out-of-print prose books looking for a new home: We're opening up submissions to our Lost/Found imprint on 9/3! We were so happy to rehome Brooke Shaffner's COUNTRY OF UNDER last year + now we're ready to rehome more. Full details forthcoming, but the pertinent ones are:

So fun to listen to the conversation between @martinseay.bsky.social & @amrangowani.com at the Book Cellar about Amran’s fantastic debut novel LEVERAGE!

sucks to your sleep apnear

Tomorrow! From 3:30 to 5:00 pm at the Glenwood Avenue Arts Fest at Farwell and Farwell in the Outrageous Open Arts tent! Come get a hot, fresh Poem While You Wait: poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7920387...

I got to interview @amrangowani.com about his hilarious, angry, satirical debut novel LEVERAGE for Chicago magazine! Come see him at the The Book Cellar in conversation with @martinseay.bsky.social on Tuesday, 8/19 at 7 pm! www.chicagomag.com/arts-culture...

"Mise en Abyme" a typewriter poem by yours truly from the Chicago Botanic Garden: poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7918549...

Happy 20th anniversary to @martinseay.bsky.social! And to @bethrooney.bsky.social & Nick with whom we are so honored to share the day!

Hey, y'all should come to this! It'll be fun!

At the @awpwriter.bsky.social Book Fair in LA, I happened upon the magazine @doesithavepockets.bsky.social & loved what they were doing, so when I got home, I sent them a few poems. I'm so excited to have these 5 cinquains in the August issue! www.doesithavepockets.com/poetry/kathl...

So here is your 64 lottery picks with their song choices updated as they come in. Congratulations to those who got lucky in the lottery this year! Those who didn't: pitch us EXTRACURRICULARS! We start running essays in September/October. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Picking 35th, @kathleenmrooney.bsky.social selects Patty Loveless's You Don't Even Know Who I Am (1993): www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfrJ...

Get ready for so much teenage sadness and yearning and driving past cornfields and crying!

"Down at the Owl Stock Exchange" a typewriter poem by yours truly from the Chicago History Museum! poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7896840...

just imagine working at Cabela’s in whatever planet Predator was from

Chicagoans and piping plover enthusiasts should also check out the cover story in this @audubon.org issue.

"Rock Dove" a typewriter haiku from the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel by yours truly poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7888720...

Super excited to have my poem “The” in the July/August issue of Poetry Magazine alongside too many other excellent poets to tag here. You should get a copy for your summer reading stack! 

✨Cover reveal!✨ Super excited to share the creepy cover of my dreams for my debut novel, HEMLOCK, coming 1/20/26 from @littlebrown.bsky.social & now available for preorder! You can find it at all major retailers and, better yet, your local indie bookstore or @bookshop.org. See you in the woods! 🦌🌲👻

Quick reminder that if you want to put your name into the 2026 March Sadness 1990s Edition Lottery, do it in the next week. Here's the form to do so: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Thanks to the always lively @robertarchambeau.bsky.social‬ & Joshua Corey for interviewing me for the lovely Fortnightly Review, and for publishing 4 of my cinquains! fortnightlyreview.substack.com/p/the-fortni...

My sister Beth Rooney & I have co-written our first children’s book, Leaf Town Forever. Illustrated by the brilliant Betsy Bowen, it's coming out with the marvelous @uminnpress.bsky.social & is available for pre-order now. Add to cart! www.upress.umn.edu/978151791737...

So peeps, we're looking for nominations of 90s sad songs for our longlist. Particularly interested in pop/R&B/hip hop/country, but anything's welcome.

Be there or be square!!!

Hey, y'all should come to this! @amrangowani.com's book is wild, smart & extremely funny, & this conversation will be a hoot. Be there or be sad! (You can also be there AND be sad. Times are tough. We won't judge.)

"The Moon" a typewriter poem from Ragdale's More Than a Novel Affair by yours truly poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7873319...

Okay two more with dramatic lighting and then I’ll leave y’all alone:

Terrible photo but couldn’t resist getting the flower and a flying squirrel tail in the same shot; that’s a great night at @kathleenmrooney.bsky.social’s & my place

Terrible photo but couldn’t resist getting the flower and a flying squirrel tail in the same shot; that’s a great night at @kathleenmrooney.bsky.social’s & my place

Not quite at Peak Evil Flower but looking good!

Progress report

If you didn’t believe me when I said that this is now a stan account for the epiphyllum oxypetalum that @chutson99.bsky.social gave @kathleenmrooney.bsky.social & me, well…

"When the Sky" a typewriter poem by yours truly from the Chicago Public Library's Night in the Stacks! poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7861503...

Saw a hummingbird on her nest today & my heart exploded

"Summer's Comin' in Hot" a typewriter poem by yours truly from Soho House! poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7852437...

I love history

Our hummingbirds are back in a big way

the wire is one of the last bastions of good music media out there. they are worker-owned. they cover weird shit uncompromisingly. they have been doing so forever