I decided to try some actual revision exercises instead of just staring at a poem and asking it to get better. The results were gratifying.

I am honored to have a poem accepted by southeastreview.bsky.social this week.

I just found out I was a semi-finalist for the 2025 Richard Snyder Book Prize. Congrats to K.T. and Michael! I can't wait to read their books.

Here's my other poem, "Another Morning Poem," published in the latest Southern Poetry Review. Some days you just feel better...

My poem "Shape of a Day" will soon be On the Seawall (www.ronslate.com)!

Here's my poem The Same Dog from the latest Southern Poetry Review. The Roman poet Horace is credited with using a dog as a metaphor for depression, but this is likely a mistranslation.

Just got the latest issue of Southern Poetry Review. SPR was one of the first journals I saw at the local B&N when I began taking poetry seriously. Full of poetry, and with those B&W covers, it became my idea of what a poetry journal was and should be. I’m thrilled to have two poems in the issue.

Great reading and interesting discussion. Dawn's book is fantastic!

Just finished Dawn Tefft’s Once Upon a Riot from matchfactoryeds.bsky.social‬ . It’s amazing. Acutely aware of our current historical moment but full of intimate humanity. Incredible stuff!!matchfactoryeditions.com/books/Once-U...77

I’m re-reading Eros the Bittersweet by Anne Carson. She discusses the significance of the edges in words and desire. This poem from Poetry Daily keeps coming to mind: poems.com/poem/sapphic....

New work up at the always cool Packingtown Review: www.packingtownreview.com/issues/23/ra...

Thanks to my hippie parents, I've always loved celebrating the solstices. Here's a poem for the longest day of the year. From Louise Glück's Collected Poems: bookshop.org/a/862/9780374534097 #books #solstice #writing

I've been getting “encouraging” rejections (“admire your work,” “generated interest from our editors,” “please send more soon”) from some pretty good journals (Southern Review, Meridian, Adroit, Image). I must be doing something right. And something wrong.

Lawlss Coffee in Appleton is closed. A sad moment for the coffee and arts scene in Appleton. Lawlss was a supporter of and gathering place for local artists and writers. Thanks Stefan for great coffee and memories! www.postcrescent.com/story/money/...

My poem in the latest issue of Bellevue Literary Review arrived last week. Great issue. Thanks to BLR!

These rush hours never fail to make me smile.

The audio file is up my poem at Bicoastal Review(www.bicoastalreview.com/josephradke). It turned out really well. Many thanks to Sarah Callinan (sarahcallinan.com) for the second voice in the reading.

My friend Meredith Mason has her first book out. If you have a kid, parent, or job (or know someone who does), you really should read this book. Link the reply.

'I'm mad about all of it': 2,500 people lined College Avenue to protest President Trump, Musk Appleton, Wisconsin www.postcrescent.com/story/news/l...

My friend Austin Segrest has a new book out from Unbound Edition Press. Buy it. Read it. Thank me later.

Joseph Radke in ISSUE 24! www.theshorepoetry.org/issue-24

On Wednesday night, I'll participate in my first poetry reading since 2010. whatever returns from oblivion returns to find a voice — Louise Glück

I'll be reading as part of the new Breathing Room Poetry Series in Appleton, WI. 6 PM on Mach 12th.

We are like a lot of wild spiders crying together, but without tears. Robert Lowell, "Fall 1961"

The poem that's currently haunting me... (originally in yalereview.bsky.social)

I attended an amazing reading by paisleyrekdal.bsky.social on Thursday at Lawrence University. She presented poems from West: A Translation and read some stunning new work. If you have not yet experienced West: A Translation (westtrain.org), go now. Everything will still be here when you get back.

Just found out I was a semi-finalist for the uwiscpress.bsky.social Brittingham and Felix Pollak Prizes in Poetry. Disappointed not to have been selected for publication, but honored and encouraged to have been so highly considered. Thanks to the judge, readers, editors, and staff.

I submitted a poem to Bellevue Literary Review’s poetry contest. It didn’t win, but they considered it for publication. After working with the editors on some revisions, it was officially accepted today!

Two of my poems will be read on the podcast “Landward: Readings of Place and Season” (www.wdrt.org/landward/) in 2026 and 2027.

I have a need of wilder, crueler waves; They sicken of the calm, who knew the storm. So let a love beat over me again. --Dorothy Parker

My poem La Belle Epoque just went up in Issue 8 of bicoastalreview.bsky.social. It's a "trippy" (as one of my poet friends described it) little poem in two voices. Check out the other great poems in the issue and the wonderful site design.

My website is live, now: josephradke.com. Check it out for more about me and sample of my work.

“tunnels once denser than steel. The guide put out the lights. For a moment, darkness was so complete I couldn't tell if my eyes were open or closed…” From “You Can’t Separate Absence from Presence by Distance Alone” by Joseph Radke in ISSUE 24! https://www.theshorepoetry.org/joseph-radke-you-c…

"Windows give up their secrets, Not mirrors." -- Laura Jackson, from City of Cold Women

“Poetry is memory become image, and image become voice.” — Octavio Paz #poetry

Always there seems something ahead, the next poem or story, visible, at least, apprehensible, but unreachable... It’s like a lighthouse, except that, as one swims towards it, it backs away. - Louise Glück

My latest poem is up at The Shore (@theshorepoetry.bsky.social): www.theshorepoetry.org/joseph-radke... It's always a thrill to my work in the context of such wonderful poems by other talented poets. Check out the entire Issue 24: www.theshorepoetry.org/issue-24

Hello Bluesky! I’m new to this whole microblogging thing. About a year ago, after about a decade hiatus, I began to write and submit my poetry again. I’ve been fortunate to get work accepted by Permafrost, Southern Poetry Review, @bicoastalreview.bsky.social and theshorepoetry.bsky.social.