David Harrison Horton
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unionherald.bsky.social
David Harrison Horton
@unionherald.bsky.social
1.8K followers 2.4K following 470 posts
Artist, curator, editor, and writer based in Beijing. Author of Necessary (Downingfield, 2025), Model Answers (CCCP Chapbooks, 2024) and Maze Poems (Arteidolia, 2022). Edits poetry zine SAGINAW.
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unionherald.bsky.social
David Harrison Horton @unionherald.bsky.social · Jul 27
My second full-length poetry book, Necessary, is out today from Downingfield Press. I am really very excited about this. If you’re interested in reviewing it please DM me. downingfield.com/book/necessa...
The cover of David Harrison Horton’s Necessary. The cover shows colorful geometric patterns with minuscule mythical figures among them. David Harrison Horton’s Necessary is a poetic exploration of time, place, and connection. Drawing on sources as diverse as Babylonian creation myths, Carolingian history, Marco Polo, Paul Éluard, Elizabeth Willis, and Xinran, Horton layers fragments and imagery into a contemporary meditation on how we come to understand our place within inherited and unfolding narratives. Structured in a fixed nine-line form, each poem places these elements in dialogue with the movements and longings of a recurring figure, Mr Lusk. As he walks the ‘well-beaten path’, Mr Lusk confronts the weight of history and heritage, echoing the universal need to reckon with what has come before. With laconic precision, Horton’s voice allows each fragment to resonate, inviting readers to draw their own meaning from the intricate weave of past and present. Necessary is a compelling inquiry into how stories shape us – and how we, in turn, shape them.
unionherald.bsky.social
Excellent mail day came just in time for my Christmas break.
Cover of LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka)’s novel “The System of Dante’s Hell.” There is a big sea-looking monster on the cover.
December 22, 2025 at 8:46 AM
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
daniel-barker.bsky.social
Babe wake up, new Sumerian myth just dropped. phys.org/news/2025-07...
Study translates fragmentary ancient Sumerian myth around 4,400 years old
A recent study by Dr. Jana Matuszak, published in the academic journal Iraq, examines the mythical narrative contained in a tablet (Ni 12501) dating to the Early Dynastic IIIb period (ca. 2540–2350 BC...
phys.org
July 23, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
thedaybooks.bsky.social
Speaking of famous men, can y'all who study history recommend any theory to me that specifically rejects Carlyle's "Great Man Theory"? This isn't my field, so I need some guidance if anyone can point me in the direction of a rabbit hole I can go down.
December 19, 2025 at 6:03 AM
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
luaz.bsky.social
This collection has magic, humor, spirit, lyricism, resistance, delight, and lots of animals. Thought-provoking and kind, *Becoming Altar* makes a great gift for yourself or any reader.

What I want for Christmas is for *Becoming Altar* to sell out!

❤️ 🎄 📘 💖

asterismbooks.com/product/beco...
Image of book cover in blue with yellow text, Becoming Altar, New and Selected Poems, Kyla Houbolt. The text on the spine is white.
December 1, 2025 at 12:16 AM
unionherald.bsky.social
Hey poetry editors, once again thanks for the wonderful work you do. One request, if your publication decides to fold, please do let the writers you’ve already accepted but won’t publish know about it. This is the third time in recent years I’m learning the hard way.
December 15, 2025 at 11:11 PM
unionherald.bsky.social
Really happy to have a poem in the latest issue of the Inkwellian.
Ode to Error 404 (in which they bothe made hir housbandes for to dye) To say everything is about death isn’t wrong, but it’s heavy handed. C’mon, the Beijing Shanghai train is under three hours now. Find some joy in this life, like when that old lady’s dog licked that snail and immediately regretted the decision. The lady didn’t laugh but her friend thought it was funny. Or when how when you’re dead, you are outside of time, and that Mr. Heidegger is a lot to contemplate. No wonder you wrote poetry. Cover of the Inkwellian issue 2.
December 13, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
tomsnarsky.bsky.social
I want to be sad, but who has the time?

Xin Qiji, tr. Jon Hansen
IN SEARCH OF REVELRY Drunk, I seek revelry. I want to be sad, but who has the time? Now I understand the books of the Ancients and believe them all: “There are no good points.” Last night I fell drunk next to a pine and asked it, “How drunk am I?” Suspecting the pine wanted to pick me up, I shoved it and said, “Go!”
December 13, 2025 at 12:02 AM
unionherald.bsky.social
It’s a top selling poetry book. I saw him on Jimmy Kimmel promoting it. Is it any good?
Cover of Matthew McConaughey’s book Poems & Prayers. It has a sepia tone photo of the author seated and looking to the right.
December 11, 2025 at 3:19 PM
unionherald.bsky.social
Got the first stew of the season going on the stove.
December 10, 2025 at 5:45 AM
unionherald.bsky.social
I love it when my small neighborhood cinema in Beijing shows random treats like 1957’s Witness for the Prosecution for no apparent reason.
Three men in a lawyer’s office.
December 9, 2025 at 12:03 PM
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
jordandavis.bsky.social
It really is a beautiful book.
luaz.bsky.social Kyla Houbolt @luaz.bsky.social · 17d
#Poetry #booksky
My lovely publisher made these postcards to help promote my book. If you had one, you could get your library to order a copy! Plus they make nifty bookmarks. If you'd like one, or a couple to share, DM me your mailing address and I'll send you a Happy Holiday card! (US only.) 📚 ❤️‍🔥 📬
Image of postcard picturing blue book cover with yellow type, and on reverse some text about the book. Becoming Altar, New and Selected Poems, Kyla Houbolt.
December 8, 2025 at 5:55 PM
unionherald.bsky.social
Movie you've watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no star wars or trek, LOTR, Marvel, Potter, Disney or Pixar.
December 8, 2025 at 12:46 AM
unionherald.bsky.social
Je hais le mouvement qui déplace les lignes,
Et jamais je ne pleure et jamais je ne ris.

Charles Baudelaire, La beauté
achillesthe2nd.bsky.social Achilles Micawber @achillesthe2nd.bsky.social · 17d
Which lines of poetry live rent-free in your head?
December 7, 2025 at 3:37 AM
unionherald.bsky.social
胡格吉乐图(Hugejiletu) and Dasom Baek @ Traverse. Horsehead fiddle and flute avant improv. So glad to see music like this live in Beijing.
Hugejiletu and Dasom Beak play horsehead fiddle and flute in a small warehouse setting. Hugejiletu is sitting to the left playing the horsehead fiddle. Dasom Beak is standing on the right playing a long wooden flute. You can some seated audience members in the bottom foreground.
December 5, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
henryghenrik.bsky.social
I've just published a new poetry pamphlet, titled THE MOUSETRAP. It's the 10th in a chapbook sequence, provisionally titled SHIELD OF MNEMOSYNE.
www.lulu.com/shop/henry-g...
The Mousetrap
THE MOUSETRAP is a set of poems, comprising the 10th section of a work-in-progress, tentatively titled SHIELD OF MNEMOSYNE.
www.lulu.com
December 4, 2025 at 8:48 PM
unionherald.bsky.social
The bookstore in my neighborhood had this today. They don’t usually carry English language books outside of old school classics (think Dante, Dickens and Hemingway and you’ll get the idea). I’ve never read this, so it’s a nice unexpected treat.
Cover of Anne Carson’s Autobiography of Red
December 4, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
robmclennan.bsky.social
the usual reminder that @periodicities.bsky.social is open to submissions of previously unpublished poetry-related reviews, interviews, essays and translations; yes, please!
periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2020/03/subm...
submissions
periodicities is open to submissions of previously unpublished poetry-related reviews, interviews and essays. Please send submissions as .d...
periodicityjournal.blogspot.com
November 30, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
six18sfoundry.bsky.social
He literally has no comeback
Japanese man in 1940s taking a verbal blow from wife in traditional black robe w sash. She says “You don't think about anything important.” Jubilation Street Kinoshita
December 1, 2025 at 11:08 PM
unionherald.bsky.social
Second hand find. How some learned English around these parts 50 years ago. To be fair, it’s at a fairly advanced level. Looking forward to reading it.
A copy of the script for Lenin in 1918 (Peking Foreign Language Institute, 1975). Very plain cover with an official circular red stamp on it.
November 30, 2025 at 3:55 AM
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
robmclennan.bsky.social
newly posted at @periodicities.bsky.social : Chris Stroffolino : A Note on The Title: The Word Medi(t)ation
periodicityjournal.blogspot.com/2025/11/chri...
Chris Stroffolino : A Note on The Title: The Word Medi(t)ation
“a person (the poet) has no irreducible, ahistorical, unmediated, singular, eternal identity.”— Lyn Hejinian Meditation is the actio...
periodicityjournal.blogspot.com
November 3, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
jordandavis.bsky.social
A poet is not responsible for their poems prompting in other people the wish to write poems themselves. Except that that’s what poetry is — the continuing of a conversation, with the probable consequence of the conversation being continued later on by someone else.
November 27, 2025 at 1:50 PM
unionherald.bsky.social
An envelope of goodness from @allisonanne.com. Really great collage zines.
Two zines and two postcards Allison Anne.
November 28, 2025 at 11:34 PM
unionherald.bsky.social
An envelope of goodness from @allisonanne.com. Really great collage zines.
Two zines and two postcards Allison Anne.
November 28, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
upfromsumdirt.bsky.social
A DIRT SALE.

starting December 1st, the pdf for my first collection, Deifying A Total Darkness, will be available for FREE (or, yaknow, "paywhutchalike") through gumroad.com/upfromsumdirt ... the paperback will be a slender $10.

discount will end on my birthday, January 21st, 2026.
photo of the white paperback bookcover for my poetry collection with an illustrated figure dressed in red shirt & black jeans, with blue sneakers & baseball cap. he holds a black & gold sword while standing over a subdued (if not dead) lion with a severed front paw. a sun with the stylized facial features of african art shines down from above.
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
unionherald.bsky.social
Going through the IWW’s Big Red Songbook and love how the songs list the lyrics and then the forgotten tune that is meant to supply the music, like “The Workers, So They Say” is set to the tune of “The Bird on Nelly’s Hat.”
November 25, 2025 at 11:33 AM