"her memory is a cloud she can't hold..." Lots of feels with this poem for my mum. Sent with love for anyone with a parent or loved one with Alzheimer's/dementia. It's a journey. (And thank you @poetsorg.bsky.social and Rick Barot for sharing this one. It means a lot.)

All these incredibly short windows for open submissions.

Tired of this vessel.

Take my poems!!!! Now!!!!!!!

It's the end of The Best American Poetry. I wrote about the forty-year anthology project, poetry’s place in Big Five publishing, and editor David Lehman's culture wars vision of American verse. defector.com/good-riddanc...

These past two months have been exhausting, physically and emotionally. I hope you’re well.

I think about this poem all the time

Sometimes it's nice to remember that even Marcus Aurelius was like "you don't have to comment on everything bro"

Trying, desperately, to stay sane and hold on to any iota of joy I can find.

Charles Simic

Poets 🤝 the word “wound”

I know I’m depressed when writing feels useless.

Is every poem a love poem or an elegy?

Me, an edgy teen in the early 00s: lol you can say anything online and just get away with it xD Me, now, radioing the police: People are literally saying anything online and getting away with it!!!!!!! 🚨 🚨

Me, an edgy teen in the early 00s: lol you can say anything online and just get away with it xD Me, now, radioing the police: People are literally saying anything online and getting away with it!!!!!!! 🚨 🚨

Tired of hearing/reading “impactful.” Do not use that AI-speak around me or in meetings.

I vacillate between feeling as if I’ve seen quite enough and sticking around long enough to see The End.

I had an outing with my sister today to a nursery and it was very nice. We got some plants, peach salsa, and truffles.

Some gay poems from @andchangepoetry.bsky.social have arrived!

I think about starting a literary journal all the time but then just get stuck on coming up with a good name for it.

Sometimes I watch or read Heartstopper and I’m like, awww, I wish I had a young love like that. Then I read a queer memoir where there are 174 crushes before age 17 and I’m like, nah, I’m good!!

So tired of people peddling hatred. You have one life and this is what you chose to do with it.

Poetry editors: “Send us your best!” Also poetry editors: “Okay, but not this.” Also poetry editors: “Or this.” Also poetry editors: “Or this…” Also poetry editors: “…”

Poetry editors: “Send us your best!” Also poetry editors: “Okay, but not this.” Also poetry editors: “Or this.” Also poetry editors: “Or this…” Also poetry editors: “…”

Some Pride reads for you. Reading itself feels like a political act in this climate, with all the book bans and truth-speakers being silenced. Resist by living and loving authentically.

I miss when everything was much more text-based. I don’t like how everything/everyone now is so driven by image and video. I want text, I want to be text. I don’t want to be perceived any other way.

Submission Sunday. Back at it. They’re going to love me.

Typical Caturday: Our cat Abby was bringing us a sock as a gift (she does this sometimes when she gets fed) but her brother Jacob started chasing her around the house. She was hissing at him the whole way. You do NOT disturb the sacred sock-offering ritual!! 😡

"i asked grok" "i asked chagpt" yeah well I asked a rare books librarian and they found things I didn’t even know I was looking for, while answering questions about provenance

Maybe if I turn everything into couplets, editors will like me more.

You know you’re in Florida when people’s lives revolve around eating at Chick-fil-A, thinking about getting Chick-fil-A, waiting in line at Chick-fil-A. Chick-fil-A.

Since today is my birthday, I’m waiting for the inevitable rejection(s) to hit my inbox.

Currently reading.

Actually, you DO have to be good. What else is there, Mary??

Is your poetry boring or annoying?

I am so sick of all the AI slop everywhere. I try to block the content as much as I can, but it keeps sluicing its way into every crevice.

the nea just canceled grants ALREADY AWARDED for presses/mags that, according to the letter, do not “reflect the nation's rich artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the President.” support small presses. support literary mags. we have to find ways to keep literature alive.

I am yearning for good friendship. If you have friends that you have stayed close with over the years, consider yourself lucky.

Grades have been finalized and submitted. Now I can play dumb video games with my sister.

I’m thrilled to have two #poems in the latest issue of @malahatreview.bsky.social alongside wonderful work from, among others, Jennifer Gossoo, Eve Joseph, Ronna Bloom, John O'Neill, Manahil Bandukwala, and two of my favourite Sues, Susan Gillis and Sue Sinclair. #poetry

SONG OF MY SOFTENING, Omotara James.

So many poetry collections are 100+ pages now and I don’t know why. Many don’t need them. I much prefer a stronger 70-80 pages.

The “we’re certain these will find a home soon” rejections come off as patronizing to me.

I'm doing an independent study project this semester that's focused on submitter and editor perspectives on literary magazines. If you submit work to literary magazines and have a few minutes, I'd be so grateful if you would fill out my survey: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

“You have to fight with everyone to make any progress.” - me talking to my husband about dealing with gastro doctors, but also about life in general

Trying to be.

“How we will share the future if we cannot be instructed by grief?” - Essex Hemphill

I’ll never understand why adults don’t prioritize friendships. Any time I reach out, nothing happens. I pretty much only spend time with my husband, sister, and parents, and it isn’t because I don’t try.

Writing a short poem? This can’t be right.