the hungry observatory

My son and I saw Elim Chan guest conduct SF Symphony playing Holst's The Planets and it was exhilarating! I can't wait to see more wonderful performances under her direction www.nytimes.com/2026/05/21/a...

Here's a visual article about a newly (but also not-so-newly) discovered bodily system for circulating fluids: the interstitium. Gift link. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Bay Area people: come to Berkeley this Saturday to hear Van Jordan and Julia Levine read from their newest books of poetry. It'll be super. Where: Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda in Berkeley, CA When: Saturday, April 25, 3-5pm sixteenrivers.org/readings-eve...

I love MTT's work. He'll be sorely missed. www.sfcv.org/articles/fea...

"You’re not up to the task of being in power if you do not think about the cost of violence. If that’s not at the front of your mind, then I don’t think you are morally in the right place to be in positions of power.” Gift link. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/o...

My friend got a shipment. The knife is a nice touch...

Just a very cool article about a parrot. Gift link. Enjoy. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/s...

Bay Area people: I'm reading with Dane Cervine and Carolyn Miller from our new books at Corte Madera's Book Passage this Sunday, April 19, at 1pm. Join us! www.bookpassage.com/event/sixtee...

My book of poetry, Afterimages, is now available at shop.sixteenrivers.org/products/aft.... Click the link to purchase or view sample poems. Vera's painting captures the many perspectives explored in the book: artist, subject, bystander, viewer, critic, thinker, experiencing subject of a life...

April Fools Day well-attended and solidly living up to its name

Poems up at the Art House Gallery, this Sunday, March 29! Sixteen Rivers poets Dane Cervine, Carolyn Miller, & Lenore Myers will be reading from their hot-off-the-press books! Thank you, Poetry Flash, for hosting. You come too! 3:00 pm. 2905 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley. #poetry #poetrycommunity

Pink frogs for democracy!!

"Our garden is forlorn Our garden is forlorn" "I Pity the Garden" by Persian poet Forugh Farrokhzad (1934-1967) wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...

Proof! With Vera Iliatova's wonderful painting, "Subterfuge," on the cover

My neighbors. Happy Friday.

Cost of the first six days

Who are these amazing donkey-women and where can I find them???

In case you're in the mood to revisit how your NEA grant was yoinked by kids in backpacks working for establishment conservatives. Gift link. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/a...

The Toyota War of 1987 is called that because Chad defended itself from Libya using hundreds of Toyota pickups supplied by France (some with missile launchers, which are not factory standard). The 2025 model year now has air conditioning, a backing camera, CarPlay, and surround sound.

Ask me any question. My response will be, "Your Security is Our Happiness"

A de facto vote for war.

Ok my husbeast and his Ukrainian cousin and her family have finally exited Abu Dhabi. They were getting very uneasy with things there. They'll sleep better tonight (and so will I and my son).

If I were a billionaire I think I’d buy an abandoned suburban mall and let people turn all the old stores into weird art spaces and galleries. The only rule is you’d have to keep some % of the original store’s design elements/aesthetic. Also the food court would reopen.

Paul Krugman's cat really is going into this weekend the right way

"This Justice Department may not continue the investigation. But Mr. Homan’s personal business is headquartered in Virginia, and it would be awfully interesting to find out if Mr. Homan reported [the 50k of cash in a paper bag] on his state tax returns." Gift link. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/o...

Here's the Stephen Colbert interview with Texas State Rep James Talarico (now running for Senate) that the FCC refused to allow CBS to air. The interview manages to fold in all the things you aren't supposed to discuss over the dinner table. youtu.be/oiTJ7Pz_59A?...

A little history for your Friday before the long weekend. Gift link. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/m...

Sixteen Rivers Press and NorCal poets and friends gathered at the Sacramento Capitol Building on Friday Feb 6 to honor and remember those killed by ICE. #BlueskyProtest #NorthernCaliforniaPoets #ICEProtest #PoetryForJustice #ArtAgainstOppression #PoetsAgainstICE

The publishing industry is dismantling itself pretty much right before our eyes www.nytimes.com/video/books/...

Share and enjoy. Gift link. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Artists and writers are now doomed to waylay the unwary on social media because the people who used to take a cut of our earnings in exchange for explaining how lives would be enriched by owning what we made, decided that making the artists do everything (except make a living) is far more efficient.

This comment by Nancy Mitchell captures a bit of what we lost when Ellen died.

Console yourself: Henry's always got it worsen you open.substack.com/pub/robertpo...

Join NorCal poets in protesting ICE violence at the State Capitol Building on Friday, Feb 6, at 10am. Sponsored by Sixteen Rivers Press. #BlueskyProtest #NorthernCaliforniaPoets #ICEProtest #PoetryForJustice #ArtAgainstOppression #PoetsAgainstICE

Guess I'll spend the next three years quoting poems by Ilya Kaminsky www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazi...

Bonus question: Which country has 100% of the world's supply of Bjork?? open.substack.com/pub/gohlkeap...

"If up to one-third of people who contract Covid-19 also acquire some form of Long Covid, this is something quite a lot of authors are dealing with." #AuthorSky #BookSky #LongCovid

I have ordered the Library of Congress number (a little belatedly) for Afterimages, my upcoming book, and hope to be able to share the cover soon. Kid, book, press work, teaching; punctuated by periodic illness, weird world events and U.S. freakiness; a lot of chocolate gets me thru the latter

Daddy Long Legs performs in Winsor McCay's BUG VAUDEVILLE

Happy to have a poem from the upcoming book (Afterimages) in New Verse Review this month. Thanks so much to NVR editors Steven Knepper, Mary Grace Mangano, and D.A. Cooper! www.newversereview.com/issue-3-1--w...

There are still pockets of professionalism in the federal government. Gift link. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/u...

San Francisco’s Ocean Beach!

A dark, national déjà vu is upon us. Perhaps the darkness never left. Certainly, it seems we are at a tipping point in our democracy. In 2018 we published an anthology of poems: America We Call Your Name: Poems of Resistancee and Resilience. This collection still sings true today. #poetrycommunity

Well on the upside today, turns out my kid has lice.

While watching perp walks and things explode in Venezuela, this also happened--on Christmas Eve, in a basement, behind a sign reading "Beware of Leopard!!!" open.substack.com/pub/mscary/p...

Hey-o, Northern California poets! It's raining! It's pouring—what better time to polish your manuscript and submit to our awesome press? Think about it! 🙂 #callforsubmissions #poetry #poetrysky #poetrycommunity

MAGAts will be very very busy attending these incredible performances by these outstanding superstars!

A sad, hard read. Nick Kristof's article goes to questions of what we value, of what kind of country we want this to be. Feels like hard times of 100 years ago never quite went away. Gift link. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/o...

In Agadoo did Kubla Khan Push pineapples, shake the tree