Rachel Trousdale
@rvtrousdale.bsky.social
Poetry, criticism, tomfoolery, rabble-rousing. She/her. Humor, Empathy, and Community in Twentieth-Century American Poetry (criticism, Oxford University Press); Five-Paragraph Essay on the Body-Mind Problem (poetry, Wesleyan University Press)
I've got an article in this cluster on C.D. Wright—look at the gorgeous company it's in!
✒️ 📔 Today's the day of our C.D. Wright cluster!
Ed. @aliciawright.bsky.social
ft. 11 contributors—the list is too long to fit into a single post! But you're in luck, bc the thread below tells the tale of this exceptional homage for an exceptionally talented poet!
post45.org/contemporaries
Ed. @aliciawright.bsky.social
ft. 11 contributors—the list is too long to fit into a single post! But you're in luck, bc the thread below tells the tale of this exceptional homage for an exceptionally talented poet!
post45.org/contemporaries
Contemporaries – Post45
Post45 seeks to reinvigorate the erstwhile convention of academic critics not only describing past traditions but also actively intervening in current tastes. It provides a forum for writers to conver...
post45.org
November 26, 2025 at 3:36 PM
I've got an article in this cluster on C.D. Wright—look at the gorgeous company it's in!
To be fair, the AI-hallucinated plots in the papers some of my students have turned in sound like pretty good stories. They just aren't the stories they say they're writing about.
November 16, 2025 at 2:20 PM
To be fair, the AI-hallucinated plots in the papers some of my students have turned in sound like pretty good stories. They just aren't the stories they say they're writing about.
This review is worth your time, and the book it's reviewing is really, really worth your time.
“Think dog as hygrometer calibrated for storm-turn, dog as live wire volta.”
Just a beauty of a review this morning by Violeta Garcia-Mendoza of Catherine Rockwood’s chapbook DOGWITCH, new from Bottlecap Press (2025).
@martin65.bsky.social @violetagm.bsky.social
Just a beauty of a review this morning by Violeta Garcia-Mendoza of Catherine Rockwood’s chapbook DOGWITCH, new from Bottlecap Press (2025).
@martin65.bsky.social @violetagm.bsky.social
Howl It So: A Review of Catherine Rockwood’s Dogwitch by Violeta Garcia-Mendoza
Dogwitch by Catherine Rockwood (Bottlecap Press, 2025). 28 pages. $10 Dogwitch by Catherine Rockwood (Bottlecap Press, 2025) As family lore goes, I was a little girl who required an extensive colle…
moistpoetryjournal.com
November 11, 2025 at 6:19 PM
This review is worth your time, and the book it's reviewing is really, really worth your time.
Last night I made a really delicious pot of soup, and I am now using the magic it generated to cast a curse on everyone in power anywhere who creates hunger. We harvest more grain than we can store in the US. Why the hell aren't we letting more people eat it?
November 7, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Last night I made a really delicious pot of soup, and I am now using the magic it generated to cast a curse on everyone in power anywhere who creates hunger. We harvest more grain than we can store in the US. Why the hell aren't we letting more people eat it?
You know how in nursing homes, they put signs like "Debbie's Room" in a big legible font on the doors of dementia patients, and it's somehow sweet and very sad and weirdly condescending all at the same time, and gives you existential dread? Well—
November 6, 2025 at 12:10 PM
You know how in nursing homes, they put signs like "Debbie's Room" in a big legible font on the doors of dementia patients, and it's somehow sweet and very sad and weirdly condescending all at the same time, and gives you existential dread? Well—
It was so fun getting to talk about bird cognition, experiments, and a list of beloved books with @robmclennan.bsky.social!
12 or 20 (second series) questions with Rachel Trousdale / @weslpress.bsky.social ;
robmclennan.blogspot.com/2025/11/12-o...
robmclennan.blogspot.com/2025/11/12-o...
12 or 20 (second series) questions with Rachel Trousdale
Rachel Trousdale [photo credit: Nick Beauchamp] is a professor of English at Framingham State University. Her book of poems, Five-Paragraph...
robmclennan.blogspot.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:03 PM
It was so fun getting to talk about bird cognition, experiments, and a list of beloved books with @robmclennan.bsky.social!
When you're writing, you come up with clever little devices and think, "I wonder if anyone will ever notice what I've done here?" Well, Sara Stoudt just reviewed my book in @psalteryandlyre.bsky.social, and she caught every. single. one. I'm thrilled and honored and kind of flabbergasted.
"Rachel Trousdale sees the possibilities in this often-dry form, and stretches beyond it, subverting expectations in her collection, 'Five-Paragraph Essay on the Body-Mind Problem.'"
Sara Stoudt reviews "Five-Paragraph Essay on the Body-Mind Problem" by Rachel Trousdale
Sara Stoudt reviews "Five-Paragraph Essay on the Body-Mind Problem" by Rachel Trousdale
Book Review: “Five-Paragraph Essay on the Body-Mind Problem” by Rachel Trousdale
Review by Sara Stoudt
psalteryandlyre.org
November 2, 2025 at 2:19 PM
When you're writing, you come up with clever little devices and think, "I wonder if anyone will ever notice what I've done here?" Well, Sara Stoudt just reviewed my book in @psalteryandlyre.bsky.social, and she caught every. single. one. I'm thrilled and honored and kind of flabbergasted.
Reposted by Rachel Trousdale
Two All Soul's poems from @havehashad.com last year 🖤
Why I prefer All Souls to Halloween
The day the license expires
some revelers decide
to never give up their wigs knives beards talons glitter
www.havehashad.com/preview/hadp...
Why I prefer All Souls to Halloween
The day the license expires
some revelers decide
to never give up their wigs knives beards talons glitter
www.havehashad.com/preview/hadp...
Two Poems by Catherine Rockwood
Why I prefer All Souls to Halloween
The day the license expires
some revelers decide
to never give up their wigs knives beards talons glitter
On Thomas Street
Little alta...
www.havehashad.com
November 1, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Two All Soul's poems from @havehashad.com last year 🖤
Why I prefer All Souls to Halloween
The day the license expires
some revelers decide
to never give up their wigs knives beards talons glitter
www.havehashad.com/preview/hadp...
Why I prefer All Souls to Halloween
The day the license expires
some revelers decide
to never give up their wigs knives beards talons glitter
www.havehashad.com/preview/hadp...
Reposted by Rachel Trousdale
In MA, folks enrolled in SNAP who have active EBT cards with at least a $1 balance will still be able to access fresh produce with their cards through the Healthy Incentives Program. That funding doesn't go away Nov. 1, when SNAP does. www.mass.gov/info-details...
www.mass.gov
October 28, 2025 at 2:55 PM
In MA, folks enrolled in SNAP who have active EBT cards with at least a $1 balance will still be able to access fresh produce with their cards through the Healthy Incentives Program. That funding doesn't go away Nov. 1, when SNAP does. www.mass.gov/info-details...
I'm so excited for this reading with @heatherchristle.bsky.social and Martha Ronk, introduced by @martin65.bsky.social! Thursday, November 13, at 7:00, Grolier Poetry Bookshop, Cambridge, MA. Links to preregister for in-person and Zoom options below!
October 26, 2025 at 2:06 PM
I'm so excited for this reading with @heatherchristle.bsky.social and Martha Ronk, introduced by @martin65.bsky.social! Thursday, November 13, at 7:00, Grolier Poetry Bookshop, Cambridge, MA. Links to preregister for in-person and Zoom options below!
I'm actually pretty excited about that ballroom. It's going to make such a great venue when we finally get to try Steven Miller for crimes against humanity.
October 23, 2025 at 12:49 PM
I'm actually pretty excited about that ballroom. It's going to make such a great venue when we finally get to try Steven Miller for crimes against humanity.
Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness
October 22, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness
I know many Americans are uncomfortable when they hear people speaking a foreign language, but please believe that you are better off hearing me and my mom speaking Russian than you would be if we were saying that stuff in English.
October 21, 2025 at 12:55 PM
I know many Americans are uncomfortable when they hear people speaking a foreign language, but please believe that you are better off hearing me and my mom speaking Russian than you would be if we were saying that stuff in English.
Reposted by Rachel Trousdale
still v. delighted to have poems from Dogwitch up on the Sundress Blog, all curated by nat raum. This short poem, "Familiar," begins with a hopefully funny/scary riff on Mary Oliver --
sundressblog.com/2025/10/09/t...
sundressblog.com/2025/10/09/t...
The Wardrobe's Best Dressed: Dogwitch by Catherine Rockwood - The Sundress Blog
This selection, chosen by guest editor nat raum, is from Dogwitch by Catherine Rockwood (Bottlecap Press, 2025). Familiar It does not always have to drink your blood.It can be a live thing watchingwha...
sundressblog.com
October 15, 2025 at 1:53 AM
still v. delighted to have poems from Dogwitch up on the Sundress Blog, all curated by nat raum. This short poem, "Familiar," begins with a hopefully funny/scary riff on Mary Oliver --
sundressblog.com/2025/10/09/t...
sundressblog.com/2025/10/09/t...
AI can revolutionize your workflow. For example: the multiple voice mails I've received from some damn company selling AI-based grading software have actually made me WANT to grade this pile of papers myself. Preferably using a quill pen.
October 10, 2025 at 4:11 PM
AI can revolutionize your workflow. For example: the multiple voice mails I've received from some damn company selling AI-based grading software have actually made me WANT to grade this pile of papers myself. Preferably using a quill pen.
Reposted by Rachel Trousdale
Surely Massachusetts lawmakers must be starting to realize that this Special Commission is a political liability.
By an informal count, 59 spoke out yesterday against the MA Special Commission's approach, 18 in support. Many who spoke out were Jews critical of IHRA's labeling of various criticisms of Israel as antisemitic. Here are a few quotes:
September 28, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Surely Massachusetts lawmakers must be starting to realize that this Special Commission is a political liability.
Awesome, we got Kimmel back. Now how about all the disappeared detainees? www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
Hundreds of Alligator Alcatraz detainees drop off the grid after leaving site
As of the end of August, the whereabouts of two-thirds of more than 1,800 men detained at Alligator Alcatraz during the month of July could not be determined by the Miami Herald.
www.miamiherald.com
September 24, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Awesome, we got Kimmel back. Now how about all the disappeared detainees? www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
What really matters is the egregious human rights violations, but tangentially: can you imagine having a social circle with no immigrants, no LGBTQ+ people, no one with an antiauthoritarian sense of humor, and Jews are only allowed if they're hardline Zionists? What must those parties be like?
September 22, 2025 at 11:54 AM
What really matters is the egregious human rights violations, but tangentially: can you imagine having a social circle with no immigrants, no LGBTQ+ people, no one with an antiauthoritarian sense of humor, and Jews are only allowed if they're hardline Zionists? What must those parties be like?
Next week: Thursday, September 25, 6:30-7:45 Eastern time, hear me and my colleagues Patricia Horvath and Kelly Matthews talk about how truth and imagination interact in biography, memoir, and poetry! (Zoom; free and open to the public)
September 16, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Next week: Thursday, September 25, 6:30-7:45 Eastern time, hear me and my colleagues Patricia Horvath and Kelly Matthews talk about how truth and imagination interact in biography, memoir, and poetry! (Zoom; free and open to the public)
I'm not quite sure what my kids are doing right now, but it seems to involve characters named "hungry hippo," "angry alligator," and "alliteration penguin."
September 4, 2025 at 12:42 AM
I'm not quite sure what my kids are doing right now, but it seems to involve characters named "hungry hippo," "angry alligator," and "alliteration penguin."
It's amazing how many episodes of Giuliani's life sound like someone else's anxiety dream. "Oh no my boss asked me to book a hotel and instead I booked a parking lot across from a porn shop" "so I stopped to help this woman and then randomly got hit by a truck" "help my head is leaking" etc
August 31, 2025 at 10:37 PM
It's amazing how many episodes of Giuliani's life sound like someone else's anxiety dream. "Oh no my boss asked me to book a hotel and instead I booked a parking lot across from a porn shop" "so I stopped to help this woman and then randomly got hit by a truck" "help my head is leaking" etc
“Trump is saving America,” some dude told me. From firefighters, apparently.
August 28, 2025 at 5:32 PM
“Trump is saving America,” some dude told me. From firefighters, apparently.
Breaking News: JD Vance Under the Impression that People Yelling At Him on the Street Are Crazy
JD Vance on homelessness: "I don't know why we accepted that it was reasonable to have crazy people yelling at our kids. You should not have to cross the street in downtown Atlanta to avoid a crazy person yelling at your family. Those are your streets."
August 21, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Breaking News: JD Vance Under the Impression that People Yelling At Him on the Street Are Crazy
Gaudeamus igitur.
Stone Circle #ThrowbackThursday poem : "Gaudy Night" by Catherine Rockwood (@martin65.bsky.social) #TBT
stonecirclereview.com/gaudy-night/
stonecirclereview.com/gaudy-night/
Gaudy Night - Stone Circle Review
by Catherine Rockwood - It was a time of disasters but very small ones. Friday, and a party on elsewhere. A bus for revelers arrived at New Hall. I saw it ...
stonecirclereview.com
August 21, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Gaudeamus igitur.
Update: I have drafted the thing. Pickup for the last day of the kids' camp is in almost exactly 24 hours. I must use this precious, dwindling time with the utmost care. *Lies down on couch, picks up fantasy novel*
Tomorrow is the last day of the kids' summer camp and I have some writing which absolutely must be finished before I have no child care and I have completely lost my ability to work, send help / coffee / possibly a time machine
August 14, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Update: I have drafted the thing. Pickup for the last day of the kids' camp is in almost exactly 24 hours. I must use this precious, dwindling time with the utmost care. *Lies down on couch, picks up fantasy novel*