David Harrison Horton
@unionherald.bsky.social
1.8K followers 2.4K following 420 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
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
I’m embarrassed by how many of the poets included in this are new to me. Definitely a good used find for me. Seamus Heaney is listed under “New Voices.”
Cover of British Poetry since 1945.
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
nemoloris.bsky.social
I thought this John Berryman poem, exhumed from an archive by Shane Macrae and published in the TLS, was very fine.
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
luaz.bsky.social
#Poetry -- The preorder page for Becoming Altar has been expanded and updated to include more about me, and a swell poem. Check it out! And @unionherald.bsky.social many thanks for the blurb.
asterismbooks.com/product/beco...
Cover image of Becoming Alter, a blue field with yellow type. Also showing the spine of the book, with white type.
unionherald.bsky.social
Great to hear you read. Thanks for putting that up.
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
henryghenrik.bsky.social
I'm glad to see there's a "closed-caption" option on the lower-right corner of this video. So you can read along with the text supplied (which is a close approximation of the actual text of the poem).
unionherald.bsky.social
Wait, there are people who think Johnny Cash was uncool? Growing up in Detroit, even my punk and metal friends thought he was cool. They may not have dug the music, but the man . . . he was cool.
unionherald.bsky.social
3 volumes and I’m starting at the beginning with Georgias of Leontini (ca 483-376 BCE). Hope my next project benefits from this.
The cover of The Norton Anthology: Theory & Criticism 3 edition
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
jordandavis.bsky.social
Have you preordered this yet? Don’t you want to be able to say you have a copy of the first printing.
subpresspoetry.bsky.social
Preorder now: the first full collection from Kyla Houbolt asterismbooks.com/product/beco...
The distributor’s search result for a book with a light blue cover with yellow type:

**ASTERISM
Search by title, author, translator, or ISBN
Q
Becoming
Altar
New and Selected
Poems
Kyla Houbolt
$20.00
<
Pre-order
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
post-doc-club.bsky.social
Great news!
JSTOR now have a free account with an Independent Researcher category. You can access 100 documents per month

www.jstor.org/action/showL...
unionherald.bsky.social
There’s enough good stuff out there that I’d rather use my energy on. And I know my good stuff will differ from others’ good stuff, and that’s fine. Never understood the zero sum approach to poetry. There’s so much interesting stuff going on that I can’t even keep on top of my to-be-read pile.
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
subpresspoetry.bsky.social
Preorder now: the first full collection from Kyla Houbolt asterismbooks.com/product/beco...
The distributor’s search result for a book with a light blue cover with yellow type:

**ASTERISM
Search by title, author, translator, or ISBN
Q
Becoming
Altar
New and Selected
Poems
Kyla Houbolt
$20.00
<
Pre-order
unionherald.bsky.social
I'm about to do another run. If you'd like a copy, DM me your postal address. Free to good readers. It's a pretty great issue.
unionherald.bsky.social
Very pleased to announce the release of SAGINAW no. 14. Great pieces by @billymills.bsky.social, Stephen Ratcliffe, Katie Coy, @dangodston.bsky.social, and @thedaybooks.bsky.social. Copies are free to good readers. DM me a postal address if you would like a copy.
Cover of SAGINAW no.14: featuring work by Billy Mills, Stephen Ratcliffe, Katie Coy, Dan Godston, and Jessica Smith. The image is of ruins from the Old Summer Palace in Beijing.
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
hanvanderhart.bsky.social
Send me your students’ poems! 🌸💫📖

Nomination details at link below.
awpwriter.bsky.social
The 2026 AWP Intro Journals Project judge in poetry is @hanvanderhart.bsky.social, author of LARKS and others. Read their bio, along with the bios of the other judges, on our website. AWP member program directors can submit nominations October 1–November 30, 2025.
AWP Intro Journals Project Judges
awpwriter.org
unionherald.bsky.social
Sometimes you visit the Nat’l Art Museum of China and see a circular painting of a cow with a bird on its head, and everything is good.
A circle shaped painting of a cow with a bird on its head
Reposted by David Harrison Horton
unionherald.bsky.social
I write prose poems to be read as prose. It is a genre built for purpose.
unionherald.bsky.social
Why are many people wishing that poets read their poetry like prose? I get not wanting them to read like Yeats or Pound, but surely reading a line break as a break is fine if not preferable.
unionherald.bsky.social
Why are many people wishing that poets read their poetry like prose? I get not wanting them to read like Yeats or Pound, but surely reading a line break as a break is fine if not preferable.
unionherald.bsky.social
The (re)claimed: flotsam photographs & new retellings launch was a great success. Below is the poem I contributed to the exhibition and subsequent zine anthology. Congrats to @anapf89.bsky.social and Jessica Medhurst for putting it all together.
Ai Qing Reflects on a Textbook Photo
by David Harrison Horton

Half sleeve over sleeve
of standard jacket
sun and plants
sun upon face
smells of paraffin and tar
not recorded, out of frame
water poured at height
with care
a joy in simple chores
pleasure in the fulfillment
of simple duties Cover of the anthology zine (re)collected: flotsam photographs and new retellings.
unionherald.bsky.social
If you’re in Beijing tonight, come out to the Golden Weasel for the opening of (re)claimed, an exhibition of reclaimed photos along with a poetry reading and zine launch.
Poster to the exhibition “reclaimed: flotsam photographs and retelling”. Has b&w old photos