R.D. Pohl
@rdpohl.bsky.social
Writer, critic, literary journalist, poetry editor. Trained as language philosopher. Follow at POETRY/POETICS/LANGUAGE/COMMUNITY (https://rdpohl.substack.com). Formerly with The Buffalo News, currently The Buffalo Hive, a non-profit arts & culture startup.
Reposted by R.D. Pohl
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Stay free
Stay free
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen
youtu.be
January 28, 2026 at 5:02 PM
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Stay free
Stay free
Burning Books’s heARTburn Civic Arts meet-up returns and Em Tea Coffeecup Café and Pure Ink Poetry celebrate a joint anniversary event this week in Buffalo.
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
Buffalo Area Poetry & Literature Calendar (week of Jan. 26 to Feb. 1) -
Burning Books’s heARTBurn Civic Arts meet-up returns and Em Tea Coffeecup Café and Pure Ink Poetry celebrate a joint anniversary event this week. Tuesday, Jan. 27, 7 p.m. to 8:45 […]
thebuffalohive.com
January 27, 2026 at 6:54 AM
Burning Books’s heARTburn Civic Arts meet-up returns and Em Tea Coffeecup Café and Pure Ink Poetry celebrate a joint anniversary event this week in Buffalo.
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
Reposted by R.D. Pohl
Trump's Davos speech was hollow for the same reason that his economic agenda is flailing: he doesn't actually want to advance an economic program that would benefit working-class Americans.
https://bit.ly/4pQMopJ
https://bit.ly/4pQMopJ
Trump Brings His Phony Populism to Davos
Nothing says "I care about working people" like a speech to an audience of billionaires at an exclusive Swiss ski resort.
bit.ly
January 21, 2026 at 6:33 PM
Trump's Davos speech was hollow for the same reason that his economic agenda is flailing: he doesn't actually want to advance an economic program that would benefit working-class Americans.
https://bit.ly/4pQMopJ
https://bit.ly/4pQMopJ
The return of Wednesday Night Live at Caffe Aroma featuring Megan Kemple headlines this week’s events. @thebuffalohive.bsky.social
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
Buffalo Area Poetry & Literature Calendar (week of Jan. 19 to Jan. 24) -
The return of Wednesday Night Live at Caffe Aroma featuring Megan Kemple headlines this week’s events. Wednesday, Jan. 21, 7:30 p.m.: The Screening Room Series co-hosted by Kevin Koch and […]
thebuffalohive.com
January 20, 2026 at 4:47 PM
The return of Wednesday Night Live at Caffe Aroma featuring Megan Kemple headlines this week’s events. @thebuffalohive.bsky.social
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
thebuffalohive.com/buffalo-area...
Serious point: In an age of gambling scandals, it's a terrible look for the NFL to have a high profile playoff game decided by 3 consecutive disputed calls against one team in overtime. What did the Broncos do in OT yesterday other than accept what refs handed them? Kicked a chip shot field goal.
Buffalo Bills lose because of the Deep State!
Nietzsche's Theory of Eternal Recurrence as manifest in the NFL: "I couldn't care less [about the Oscar nominations]...What I don't want see is the Buffalo Bills winning the Super Bowl...Not in my lifetime."
January 18, 2026 at 7:33 PM
Serious point: In an age of gambling scandals, it's a terrible look for the NFL to have a high profile playoff game decided by 3 consecutive disputed calls against one team in overtime. What did the Broncos do in OT yesterday other than accept what refs handed them? Kicked a chip shot field goal.
Buffalo Bills lose because of the Deep State!
Nietzsche's Theory of Eternal Recurrence as manifest in the NFL: "I couldn't care less [about the Oscar nominations]...What I don't want see is the Buffalo Bills winning the Super Bowl...Not in my lifetime."
X-Files: Buffalo Bills' Superbowl woes due to Cigarette Smoking man and deep government conspiracy.
YouTube video by look4lec
www.youtube.com
January 18, 2026 at 7:26 PM
Buffalo Bills lose because of the Deep State!
Nietzsche's Theory of Eternal Recurrence as manifest in the NFL: "I couldn't care less [about the Oscar nominations]...What I don't want see is the Buffalo Bills winning the Super Bowl...Not in my lifetime."
X-Files: Buffalo Bills' Superbowl woes due to Cigarette Smoking man and deep government conspiracy.
YouTube video by look4lec
www.youtube.com
January 18, 2026 at 6:48 PM
Nietzsche's Theory of Eternal Recurrence as manifest in the NFL: "I couldn't care less [about the Oscar nominations]...What I don't want see is the Buffalo Bills winning the Super Bowl...Not in my lifetime."
Some might shake their heads, but to me this is very Marcel Duchamp coded. We are not merely fans; we are aesthetes!
ICYMI: Buffalo Bills fans can buy seats, pieces of the turf and goal post sections from the old Highmark Stadium. But the keepsake getting the most attention? The urinal troughs.
buffalonews.com/news/local/a...
buffalonews.com/news/local/a...
If you want to own an odd keepsake from Highmark Stadium, you're in luck with the troughs
Sure, Buffalo Bills fans can buy seats, pieces of the turf and goal post sections from the old Highmark Stadium. But the keepsake getting the most attention is the urinal troughs.
buffalonews.com
January 17, 2026 at 3:42 PM
Some might shake their heads, but to me this is very Marcel Duchamp coded. We are not merely fans; we are aesthetes!
Reposted by R.D. Pohl
ICYMI: Buffalo Bills fans can buy seats, pieces of the turf and goal post sections from the old Highmark Stadium. But the keepsake getting the most attention? The urinal troughs.
buffalonews.com/news/local/a...
buffalonews.com/news/local/a...
If you want to own an odd keepsake from Highmark Stadium, you're in luck with the troughs
Sure, Buffalo Bills fans can buy seats, pieces of the turf and goal post sections from the old Highmark Stadium. But the keepsake getting the most attention is the urinal troughs.
buffalonews.com
January 17, 2026 at 2:14 PM
ICYMI: Buffalo Bills fans can buy seats, pieces of the turf and goal post sections from the old Highmark Stadium. But the keepsake getting the most attention? The urinal troughs.
buffalonews.com/news/local/a...
buffalonews.com/news/local/a...
Megan Kemple is a multidisciplinary writer, performer, and teaching artist. In 2025, her latest chapbook, A Heretic Without a Home, was published by Arcana Press, & 2 of her short plays, Tough Love and Where There’s A Will, were produced as part of the Chain Theatre’s One Act Festivals Off-Broadway.
Granddaddy's Funeral by Megan Kemple - Just Buffalo Literary Center | Buffalo, NY
Read "Granddaddy's Funeral" by Megan Kemple - part of the Poem of the Week series, curated by literary legacy awardee R.D. Pohl.
www.justbuffalo.org
January 13, 2026 at 4:59 AM
Megan Kemple is a multidisciplinary writer, performer, and teaching artist. In 2025, her latest chapbook, A Heretic Without a Home, was published by Arcana Press, & 2 of her short plays, Tough Love and Where There’s A Will, were produced as part of the Chain Theatre’s One Act Festivals Off-Broadway.
From 2025 in The Atlantic. As we used to say in epistemology, this is "proof of concept" of a paradigm shift in political economic infrastructure. When the unitary executive of a failed democracy comes for the central bankers, that is a litmus test for the fact that we are living in an autocracy.
January 12, 2026 at 8:08 PM
From 2025 in The Atlantic. As we used to say in epistemology, this is "proof of concept" of a paradigm shift in political economic infrastructure. When the unitary executive of a failed democracy comes for the central bankers, that is a litmus test for the fact that we are living in an autocracy.
Reposted by R.D. Pohl
AI summaries are coming to (for?) your Gmail www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/ai-s...
AI summaries are coming to (for?) your Gmail
It's the week of circling back on those emails to sources you sent in December, and soon Google may determine whether you get a reply. On Thursday, Google announced that it'll start testing out a new…
www.niemanlab.org
January 12, 2026 at 11:07 AM
AI summaries are coming to (for?) your Gmail www.niemanlab.org/2026/01/ai-s...
Well, I never thought of it this way...But thanks, Jenny!
CONFUSING YOURSELF IS A WAY TO STAY HONEST
January 7, 2026 at 1:10 AM
Well, I never thought of it this way...But thanks, Jenny!
Reposted by R.D. Pohl
CONFUSING YOURSELF IS A WAY TO STAY HONEST
January 7, 2026 at 12:25 AM
CONFUSING YOURSELF IS A WAY TO STAY HONEST
January 6th was a *failed political coup*, but a *successful epistemic coup.* The Insurrectionists lost the battle but won the war. They control the culture, all the mainstream platforms, and the future A.I. assisted narrative your children and grandchildren will learn moving forward.
The American people electing Trump after he staged a coup attempt 5 years ago was a nail in the coffin of our democracy. You can rationalize it all you want - But inflation! But wokeness! - but ultimately it was a societal suicide attempt and probably the dumbest collective voting decision ever made
January 6, 2026 at 10:00 PM
January 6th was a *failed political coup*, but a *successful epistemic coup.* The Insurrectionists lost the battle but won the war. They control the culture, all the mainstream platforms, and the future A.I. assisted narrative your children and grandchildren will learn moving forward.
1st Just Buffalo Literary Center @justbuffalolit.bsky.social Poem of the Week for 2026: "script eighty-five" by Liz Mariani @lizmariani.bsky.social. This poem first appeared in "Record of Dissent: Poems of Protest in an Authoritarian Age — Summer 2025" published by The Chaos Section Poetry Project.
January 4, 2026 at 4:52 PM
1st Just Buffalo Literary Center @justbuffalolit.bsky.social Poem of the Week for 2026: "script eighty-five" by Liz Mariani @lizmariani.bsky.social. This poem first appeared in "Record of Dissent: Poems of Protest in an Authoritarian Age — Summer 2025" published by The Chaos Section Poetry Project.
President seems to think that he can erase the incursions into Vietnam, Iraq & Afghanistan from the collective memory with A.I. editing tools, and rewrite the scripts with A.I. assistance from historical tragedies to comedies. Again, here's where A.I. gives him a competitive advantage on the devil.
It's the fate of all popular culture forms and artifacts to be decontextualized, corrupted, and recast as triumphalist agitprop by tyrannical hegemons. This video is next level, WWE and boomer coded cinema of cruelty. The president is challenging the devil to up his game.
Trump posts footage of the Maduro raid set to "Fortunate Son" -- a protest song about the Vietnam War draft
January 3, 2026 at 9:08 PM
President seems to think that he can erase the incursions into Vietnam, Iraq & Afghanistan from the collective memory with A.I. editing tools, and rewrite the scripts with A.I. assistance from historical tragedies to comedies. Again, here's where A.I. gives him a competitive advantage on the devil.
It's the fate of all popular culture forms and artifacts to be decontextualized, corrupted, and recast as triumphalist agitprop by tyrannical hegemons. This video is next level, WWE and boomer coded cinema of cruelty. The president is challenging the devil to up his game.
Trump posts footage of the Maduro raid set to "Fortunate Son" -- a protest song about the Vietnam War draft
January 3, 2026 at 8:42 PM
It's the fate of all popular culture forms and artifacts to be decontextualized, corrupted, and recast as triumphalist agitprop by tyrannical hegemons. This video is next level, WWE and boomer coded cinema of cruelty. The president is challenging the devil to up his game.
Reposted by R.D. Pohl
CBS News Exclusive | How did the Department of War enter Venezuela from the Gulf of America? Our team is standing by at the Trump Kennedy Center for updates.
January 3, 2026 at 7:51 PM
CBS News Exclusive | How did the Department of War enter Venezuela from the Gulf of America? Our team is standing by at the Trump Kennedy Center for updates.
NYT Editorial Board once again demonstrating firm grasp of the obvious. "Illegal and Unwise." My goodness. I'm sure Stephen Miller, Trump, and Rubio will read this and realize the error of their ways! Has anyone suggested that Trump kidnapped Maduro to get some pro tips on stealing elections?
In Opinion
President Trump “is pushing our country toward an international crisis without valid reasons,” the editorial board writes after the U.S. attack on Venezuela was announced on Saturday. “If Mr. Trump wants to argue otherwise, the Constitution spells out what he must do: Go to Congress.”
President Trump “is pushing our country toward an international crisis without valid reasons,” the editorial board writes after the U.S. attack on Venezuela was announced on Saturday. “If Mr. Trump wants to argue otherwise, the Constitution spells out what he must do: Go to Congress.”
Opinion | Trump’s Attack on Venezuela Is Illegal and Unwise
We know that Mr. Trump’s warmongering violates the law.
nyti.ms
January 3, 2026 at 6:52 PM
NYT Editorial Board once again demonstrating firm grasp of the obvious. "Illegal and Unwise." My goodness. I'm sure Stephen Miller, Trump, and Rubio will read this and realize the error of their ways! Has anyone suggested that Trump kidnapped Maduro to get some pro tips on stealing elections?
To close out 2025 @justbuffalolit.bsky.social, a poem from the archive: John Logan (1923—1987), one of my professors at UB with "Believe It" from 1981. This poem first appeared Only the Dreamer Can Change the Dream: Selected Poems (BOA Editions Ltd.,1981). Next week, we are back to living poets!
Believe It by John Logan - Just Buffalo Literary Center | Buffalo, NY
Read "Believe It" by John Logan - part of the Poem of the Week series, curated by literary legacy awardee R.D. Pohl.
www.justbuffalo.org
January 2, 2026 at 1:22 AM
To close out 2025 @justbuffalolit.bsky.social, a poem from the archive: John Logan (1923—1987), one of my professors at UB with "Believe It" from 1981. This poem first appeared Only the Dreamer Can Change the Dream: Selected Poems (BOA Editions Ltd.,1981). Next week, we are back to living poets!
If 2025 was the Year of The Performative Oligarchs, A.I. Slop, and the People Who Want to Put Their Name on Everything, 2026 will be the Year of the Peasants with Pitchforks. Go out to your shed now and sharpen your tines! From these barren soils, we can plant a more promising crop.
January 1, 2026 at 6:05 PM
If 2025 was the Year of The Performative Oligarchs, A.I. Slop, and the People Who Want to Put Their Name on Everything, 2026 will be the Year of the Peasants with Pitchforks. Go out to your shed now and sharpen your tines! From these barren soils, we can plant a more promising crop.
To close out 2025 @justbuffalolit.bsky.social, a poem from the archive: John Logan (1923—1987), one of my professors at UB with "Believe It" from 1981. This poem first appeared Only the Dreamer Can Change the Dream: Selected Poems (BOA Editions Ltd.,1981). Next week, we are back to living poets!
January 1, 2026 at 1:42 PM
To close out 2025 @justbuffalolit.bsky.social, a poem from the archive: John Logan (1923—1987), one of my professors at UB with "Believe It" from 1981. This poem first appeared Only the Dreamer Can Change the Dream: Selected Poems (BOA Editions Ltd.,1981). Next week, we are back to living poets!
As we enter the second year of the age of authoritarian surveillance capitalism, not being seen will be the new celebrity, V.I.P. status.
Everyone will want to go into full Pynchon mode, full ghost mode, and all of us will identify as gender-vaporous.
Everyone will want to go into full Pynchon mode, full ghost mode, and all of us will identify as gender-vaporous.
December 31, 2025 at 4:52 PM
As we enter the second year of the age of authoritarian surveillance capitalism, not being seen will be the new celebrity, V.I.P. status.
Everyone will want to go into full Pynchon mode, full ghost mode, and all of us will identify as gender-vaporous.
Everyone will want to go into full Pynchon mode, full ghost mode, and all of us will identify as gender-vaporous.
Reposted by R.D. Pohl
‘Decades later, 𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴still looks like a breakthrough. A concatenation of forces topples over into chaos (then, eventually, rights itself).’
Ange Mlinko on the work of Susan Howe:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Ange Mlinko on the work of Susan Howe:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Ange Mlinko · Scattered Alphabet: On Susan Howe
Reading the work that Susan Howe has produced over the past half century, one marvels at the consistency and depth of...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 28, 2025 at 9:02 AM
‘Decades later, 𝘚𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴still looks like a breakthrough. A concatenation of forces topples over into chaos (then, eventually, rights itself).’
Ange Mlinko on the work of Susan Howe:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Ange Mlinko on the work of Susan Howe:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...