The Nobel Peace Prize for Literature will be announced on Thursday, so unless you're calling from Sweden that day, I won't be answering my phone. I mean, someone on the committee has to appreciate poems that explore an awkward, yet healthy, masculinity in narratives about the domestic front, right?

Yeah, same here. I was pretty active in pursuing scholarship for a while. Now I just want to write my silly poems and post an occasional political or pedagogical diatribe.

I don’t know if you pursue academic writing anymore. If you do, I just ran across this call: link.springer.com/collections/...

This is not the worst way to spend a beautiful fall afternoon. Purchase copies or access of the newest issue of @inkinthirds.bsky.social at www.magcloud.com/browse/issue... and then check out my poem “Water/Skin” on page 38. Such a beautiful journal, well worth your time.

I made it to the finalist stage in some recent single poem and chapbook contests. I mean, just a few, but a few is better than straight out rejection. I’m surprised how good not winning can feel.

On OneA this morning, Jenn White introduced this topic by taking about ‘unsettled science” and disagreements. There is nothing unsettled here, no real disagreements. News folk who change fact for listeners’ tender ears are no longer news gold: they are apologists.

Performance is more dependent on venue/communal modes than poetry is dependent on knowledge of conventions. New performers may echo what they heard in grade school or by some kinds of poets at open mics. Newbies deserve grace; old readers who practice vocal fry have earned some (polite) disdain.

Check out my poem "Water/Skin" in the new issue of *Ink in Thirds* (Fall 2025, 6.2) @inkinthirds.bsky.social, a journal full of wonderful writing and art. The print version costs a couple of well-spent dimes, but you can also purchase an online version for $3.33.
inkinthirds.org/vol-6-i-2/

Her daily Facebook posts are great too. I’m not sure if she publishes those elsewhere.

ICE has fatally shot an Illinois resident close to a school. Schools must be safe zones; ICE should not be creating this fear for our kids and families and communities- I join the IFT in calling for a full accounting

Why am I getting followed by a whole lot of "women" who love my posts and are just looking for friends? Do I come off as that lonely and forlorn? Or are these new friends really turned on by political/poetic/pedagogical content? Ah well, at least I'm reaching the bots.

Rush was actually a citizen before he went more batshit to remain viable in his later years. He wasn’t a good citizen, but he practiced some level of debatable argument. Everyone after has gone in spiraling circles into base, yet insincere, hate and alarmism to gain clicks and favor.

Mr. Rove, Dr. Arendt would like a word: “Thought..is still possible [when] men live under the conditions of political freedom. [N]o other human capacity is so vulnerable, and it is in fact far easier to act under conditions of tyranny than it is to think.” Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition. (1958)

Violence begets violence begets violence. Peace is attainable by breaking that chain with critical thinking, discourse, and the promotion of mutual rights. If a group commits to violence, all the rest can do is practice peace, support others who seek peace, and work to persuade those who don’t.

My dog may be the only one in the house who is grateful I’ve been forced to lay flat all week due to the sadistic tendencies of my back.

There's probably a poem somewhere in being flattened by back pain. If I wasn't so drugged up, maybe I could find it.

Please check out my new poem (as well as the other fine work) in the new issue of MINYAN. (Special thanks to editor Liz Marlow.)
It should be easy enough,
just choose a psalm, any psalm,
say #19 for starters…
www.minyanmag.com/leonardkress...

F25 office hours sign quote:

“Education is the point at which we decide whether we love the world enough to assume responsibility for it and by the same token save it from that ruin which, except for renewal, except for the coming of the new and young, would be inevitable.”
--Hannah Arendt, 1954

The fall semester has started and my submissions, my writing, and my reshuffling of poems to try to make them make sense have all fallen dormant. This is the way of both poetic and economic work, but I need a slight moment to feel bad about it. Alas...

I'm late to the party on this tweet by @briantylercohen.bsky.social, but here goes:

Given what's on our home TV when other people control it, I can't help but think this little vacation is the perfect setup for a cozy mystery in an episode of Agatha Raisin.

My wife, @shaunachill.bsky.social, is a #dietitian starting a new venture to support women as they pursue #WomensNutrition and #HealthyLiving. She is holding a free live webinar tomorrow at 5pm EST. To join, check out her site. While you're there, read a blog or 2: www.shaunahillnutrition.com @shau

As I sat down to create the agenda for a faculty meeting and syllabi for classes starting this week, I glanced over at my youthfully optimistic pile of books and journals I intended to read this summer. Alas, these forlorn books must now join past neglected piles, unread.

People are reading AI-generated synopses of books and then claiming they read 100 books in a week. This is how the abolition of books began in Fahrenheit 451: classics were condensed into five-minute summaries for those too busy to do the reading. Later came the burnings.

This was my favorite shirt for a long time after I finished. I don’t experience anywhere near the same level of disregard as marginalized colleagues, but I loved wearing this shirt to meetings with college admin. Alas, I outgrew it as I got further into middle age. cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/06...