Looking forward to reading this beautiful book @kathleenmrooney.bsky.social @bethrooney.bsky.social

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

Boom! 👊 Another book mail day at my house! Chapbooks from @sixthfinch.bsky.social by Ruth Baumann, Rick Barot, Chad Reynolds, & Ben Mirov. & Leaf Town Forever by @kathleenmrooney.bsky.social & @bethrooney.bsky.social @uminnpress.bsky.social will make great gift for niece & nephew for holidays!

"Laugh" a typewriter poem by Sabrina Alsaffar from Chicago Botanic Garden: poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7953911...

1153 pages is really big! Maybe too big! Like I think I’m going to give up and get it on an ereader because carrying it around— or even just sitting in one spot trying to hold it while reading it—is too much, man.

Dreamt last night that someone named Webitha stole my laptop.

"Minerals and Crystals" a typewriter poem by Kailah Peters from the Chicago Botanic Garden: poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7953030...

"roly poly" a typewriter poem by Bri McLaughlin from the Museum of Science & Industry poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7952138...

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.

Our night blooming flower is blooming!

"inner voices" a typewriter poem by Emma Hospelhorn from Grayslake Author Fest: poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7951207...

We're witnessing the culminating rot of shareholder capitalism in real time. Some of the most powerful corporations in America have sided with an authoritarian regime in order to protect their short term profits — the fundamental rights of everyone else be damned.

"Let's Travel" a typewriter poem by Marcos Morales from Chicago Public Library's Poetry Fest! poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7950310...

I got to write about how @bethrooney.bsky.social & I wrote LEAF TOWN FOREVER, out next month from @uminnpress.bsky.social, in a sneak peek for @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social! chireviewofbooks.com/2025/09/17/a...

Check out a sneak peek of @kathleenmrooney.bsky.social and @bethrooney.bsky.social's picture book "Leaf Town Forever" (and illustrated by Betsy Bowen) from @uminnpress.bsky.social this October! chireviewofbooks.com/2025/09/17/a...

"winnie" a typewriter poem by Sofia Bellafiore from Secret World Books! poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7949382...

"sleepless nights" a typewriter poem by Caro Macon Fleischer from Chicago Botanic Garden poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7948514...

"Disneyland, Japan" a typewriter poem by Sam Nassau from the Chicago Botanic Garden: poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7947565...

The Sweet Dove Died by Barbara Pym is so sad & unsparing & the pink on the interior covers of the @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social edition is so hot.

Outstanding prompt today

Oh hi

"Tarantulas" a typewriter poem by Sara Zalek from @msichicago.bsky.social poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7946684...

Poeming While People Wait at the @msichicago.bsky.social !

"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...

"drinking juice from a champagne flute" a typewriter poem by Kailah Peters from the Chicago Botanic Garden poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7945796...

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!

Sometimes you can't makes sense of what's going on, but maybe even the failed effort is worth doing. I wrestle with how what happened at Texas A&M this week makes it feel like the work of teaching and learning is becoming impossible. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

Tomorrow from noon to 2 pm at the Museum of Science & Industry! Come get a hot, fresh, bug-related Poem While You Wait! poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7944890...

It is our flying squirrel Louise and one of her sweet babes!

"Garden Lovers" a typewriter poem by Andrea Rehani from the Chicago Botanic Garden! poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7943984...

These picture books from Japan are totally charming. I just ordered every single one that the library has.

Day One of Fall quarter at DePaul: let’s do this!

"Parenthood" a typewriter poem by @awolfson.bsky.social from Secret World Books! poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7943022...

My new post on Literary Cleveland’s Inkubator Festival, which starts today, and the activist conference READ Barcelona, organized by @versolibros.com —> open.substack.com/pub/derekkri...

"dachshund debutantes" a typewriter poem by Lisa Farver from the American Writers Museum OnWord gala! poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7942167...

Poeming while people wait at the American Writers Museum’s OnWord Gala!

No matter how many dozens of times a day I see one of @martinseay.bsky.social & my hummingbirds it never gets old!

"New Season" a typewriter poem by Eric Plattner from Argyle Night Market! poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7941266...

The graffiti ghost, seen all over the city recently, is now haunting a CTA manhole cover! #ManholeCoverMonday @kevinirvine.bsky.social @sparrersway.bsky.social @willpunctuate.bsky.social @rogersparkman.bsky.social @kathleenmrooney.bsky.social @ironcovers.bsky.social @jjtindall.bsky.social

Are there signed copies of From Dust to Stardust around town? Evanston would be a bonus. Or borrow from the fairy castle library. @kathleenmrooney.bsky.social

Tomorrow night at the American Writers Museum's Onword Gala! Come get a hot, fresh Poem While You Wait! poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7940361...

An awesome novel you blurbed for @tortoisebooks.bsky.social = a good mail day

A very good book to read while riding the bus around Chicago (or anywhere, really)

Less than a month for #PloverAppreciationDay on 16 Sept! We started dedicating #plovers this day back in 2015. We'll be celebrating 10th anniversary with an art competition for children. Entries by 15 Sept to [email protected]. We'd love to see #ploverart on socials from all ages as well!

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

Unrivered by @djvorreyer.bsky.social = a good mail day!

"The Beauty of Authenticity" a typewriter poem by Heather McClelland from Chicago History Museum: poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7938548...

"The university’s trustees & leaders view it preeminently as a tax-free technology incubator, & its debt load is so great that it is abandoning ideals it once held dear in order to sustain that goal." A damning article on the U of Chicago's self-made crisis: www.compactmag.com/article/the-...

The Elizabeth Catlett exhibit at the Art Institute is excellent.

"did you know" a typewriter poem by Bri McLaughlin from Glenwood Avenue Arts Fest poemswhileyouwait.tumblr.com/post/7937643...