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Derrick Austin

@paradiselaust.bsky.social

1.3K followers 490 following 820 posts

Author: THIS ELEGANCE (Spring 2026), TENDERNESS, and TROUBLE THE WATER (BOA Editions) | Wannabe Art Historian | He/Him 📍Chicago https://linktr.ee/DerrickAustin

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Derrick Austin @paradiselaust.bsky.social · Jul 26

I'm a queer poet with two books (Trouble the Water and Tenderness) and a chapbook (Black Sand). I write about desire, visual art, spirituality, and pop culture. I have new work just out or forthcoming in The New Republic, Fiddlehead, Poetry Northwest, and Poetry Magazine.

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DerrickAustin | Twitter, Instagram | Linktree

View DerrickAustin’s Linktree. Listen to their music on Spotify here.

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Slava Greenberg 🩼🏳️‍⚧️✡️🇺🇦 in 🇳🇱 for 🍉 @slavagreenberg.bsky.social · 7d

Amsterdam yesterday, shutting it down for Palestine!

News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 8d

NEW: Extraordinary scenes in Amsterdam this afternoon (Sunday, Oct 5).

An estimated 250,000 bring the city to a standstill; people all wearing red to show solidarity with Palestine 🇵🇸

(🎥 Ahmed Zantac)

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Derrick Austin @paradiselaust.bsky.social · 7d

Justice for Gothika. This movie is INCREDIBLE

The movie poster for Gothika (2003) starring Halle Berry

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Melissa Ryan @melissaryan.bsky.social · 10d

I always pay attention to what stories People Magazine and other consumer media outlets cover. That's how you can tell that something has broken through the usual political and news bubbles. This horrific Chicago story has broken through. people.com/ice-agents-o...

ICE Agents Rappel from Helicopter in Overnight Chicago Raid, Dragging Kids from Beds to U-Hauls

Overnight on Tuesday, Sept. 30, federal agents from different agencies raided an apartment building on the South Side of Chicago, pulling men, women and children — some of them allegedly naked — from ...

people.com

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Derrick Austin @paradiselaust.bsky.social · 11d

Certified Copy
Close-Up
When Marnie Was There

Derrick Austin @paradiselaust.bsky.social · 11d

Rewatched The Lighthouse for the first time and my god that movie is as incredible as it is beautiful! Even better than I remember.

a man says i want a steak in a black and white scene

ALT: a man says i want a steak in a black and white scene

media.tenor.com

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Colin @yrcnr.bsky.social · 19d

good evening, I wrote about one of my favourite movies of all-time:

bradley babendir @therealbradbabs.bsky.social · 19d

thrilled (i think i've said thrilled too many times about these essays) to share this essay by @yrcnr.bsky.social on phantom thread for our the ranks of the freaks series!!!!! thisisanewsletter.substack.com/p/oh-i-like-...

Oh, I Like You Like This: Colin Mylrea on Phantom Thread

The eighth entry in The Ranks of the Freaks, a This is a Newsletter series.

thisisanewsletter.substack.com

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Hyenas have hearts🐗 @imamewd.bsky.social · 27d

I could watch a film based off this poem

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Derrick Austin @paradiselaust.bsky.social · 23d

💜💜💜

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Voicemail Poems @voicemailpoems.bsky.social · 27d

“My neighbor listens patiently, amused by my young life.
We’re the only Black gay men in our building,
so he has me over for Sunday tea. I fill our cups.
For the heart, he says, adding whiskey to his.”

- Derrick Austin (@paradiselaust.bsky.social)

voicemailpoems.org/2025/08/14/s...

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Derrick Austin @paradiselaust.bsky.social · 26d

Thanks so much!

Derrick Austin @paradiselaust.bsky.social · 26d

Thank you!

Derrick Austin @paradiselaust.bsky.social · 27d

A poem that’ll be in my forthcoming book, This Elegance, in the summer issue of @voicemailpoems.bsky.social ☕️

Voicemail Poems @voicemailpoems.bsky.social · 27d

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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 28d

"I just want to say, go birds, fuck ICE and free Palestine," "Hacks" star Hannah Einbinder at the #Emmys

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Film Updates @thefilmupdates.bsky.social · 28d

Javier Bardem at the #Emmys: "Here I am today denouncing the genocide in Gaza... Free Palestine!"

(via @Variety)

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Derrick Austin @paradiselaust.bsky.social · Sep 12

Happy Birthday! 💜🥳

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Derrick Austin @paradiselaust.bsky.social · Nov 25

Islands by Muriel Rukeyser

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jzl thee doll @jxzzhndz.bsky.social · Sep 9

ICYMI

jzl thee doll @jxzzhndz.bsky.social · Sep 9

Introducing…. Party Favor
a monthly newsletter with archival & new creative work.

jxzzhndz.substack.com

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Derrick Austin @paradiselaust.bsky.social · Sep 9

I’ll be teaching here alongside other phenomenal faculty 🥳

Tin House @tinhouse.bsky.social · Sep 8

Get inspired at the 2026 Tin House Winter Online Workshop! ⁠
⁠
This fully remote experience is designed to deepen your craft and build lasting creative connections, as well as be tons of writerly fun!

Apply here: tinhouse.com/workshop/win...

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The Yale Review @yalereview.bsky.social · Sep 9

Richard Siken’s CRUSH defined a generation of poets. Then it had a second life on the internet. In our fall issue, Richie Hofmann writes about the book that remade American poetry.

Richie Hofmann: How Richard Siken's Crush Changed American Poetry

An analysis of two waves of the Richard Siken craze, beginning with the 2004 publication of his first collection of poetry, Crush.

yalereview.org

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Derrick Austin @paradiselaust.bsky.social · Sep 2

Tempted to finally commit and read Augustine!

Garth Greenwell @garthgreenwell.bsky.social · Sep 2

I’m teaching a new online class on Augustine’s Confessions—the book that invents much of what’s “modern” about the modern novel. 6 weeks, starting Nov 1. All sessions recorded. Full & partial scholarships available. Full info here: www.garthgreenwell.com/classes-ig

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Derrick Austin @paradiselaust.bsky.social · Sep 2

My local theater had a showing of Lawrence of Arabia, so I got to see it on the big screen. Stunning! If anyone had told me how gay it was I would have seen it sooner!

Derrick Austin @paradiselaust.bsky.social · Sep 2

The Heiress is great! Top notch spinster cinema with Olivia de Havilland giving a fab performance as a woman who has let the men in her life play in her face entirely too many times. L'Innocente is Visconti's last film: a gorgeous, caustic tale. Rebecca: incredible and so, so funny.

Derrick Austin @paradiselaust.bsky.social · Sep 2

I’m grateful to Erin Murphy for editing the anthology as well as the editors of Dilettante Army where this poem first appeared.

Here’s a link to the free anthology:

oneartpoetry.com/the-book-of-...

The Book of Jobs: Poems About Work

The Book of Jobs – Poems About Work (click the link to view anthology) *** ONE ART is pleased to present this “soft launch” of The Book of Jobs: Poems About Work. A…

oneartpoetry.com

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Derrick Austin @paradiselaust.bsky.social · Sep 2

I’m included in a new anthology focused on poems of labor and work called The Book of Jobs: Poems About Work. Recently out from ONE ART, the anthology is free and available online as a PDF. My poem is a love song to Black, gay couturier Patrick Kelly.

At the Grave of Patrick Kelly by Derrick Austin

I want my clothes to make you smile. —Patrick Kelly

Bitten by bed bugs, clothes ruined,
I ache to scorch the catwalk in your dress of Corvette red kisses.
I'd never seen couture like yours,
colorful, buoyant, and sage. Don't be sullen in sweet air.
Strut, cry your buttons! Twirl, cry your bows!
A swishy boy, I'd spin
an antique globe my mother bought for me from the thrift store and where my finger landed was the place I could be happy. You, too,
gave me a world to imagine without dullness or ignorance.
Your epitaph is legible and clean.
Blazing star, a metrocard, chrysanthemum, a pot of mint-On this fifth day of the fifth month, I promise not to get lost again when I return properly with a gift.

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Chris Feil @chrisvfeil.bsky.social · Sep 2

Oh you love Elizabeth Taylor too? My autocorrect capitalizes “giant”!

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