Dr Joe Watson
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joewatstein.bsky.social
Dr Joe Watson
@joewatstein.bsky.social
200 followers 170 following 23 posts
Teaching fellow at Warwick. Ovid/Cavafy-stanning. Also teaching Latin, often writing, sometimes sleeping. Extremely queer, possibly here. He/Him/His.
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joewatstein.bsky.social
Lovely to receive my author copies of CP 120.3, containing my recent article on the Carmina Priapea, obscenity and space!
Photograph of a hand holding an academic journal, emblazoned with an image of a fish. Photograph of a Page of an academic article, titled “Down the Garden Path: Divinity, Space, and Poetics in the Carmina Priapea”
September 8, 2025 at 10:15 AM
joewatstein.bsky.social
Lovely to get my author copies of the Alaudae translation cooked up by Michael Lombardi-Nash. I hadn’t read my translation (of Issue 7) since I sent it off in 2021, so it was delightful to revisit it this morning!
Front cover of a book in yellow, entitled Alaudae, edited by Llewelyn Morgan and Michael Lombardi-Nash. Photo of a double page of a book. The left page gives a Latin text of Issue 7 of the Alaudae, while the right page gives the same text in English.
August 19, 2025 at 11:31 AM
joewatstein.bsky.social
Clearly, ‘tis the season, for it is once again proofs’ day!

This time, I am working on proofs for a short chapter, ‘Classical Cavafy and Cavafy among the Classicists’, for the forthcoming Bloomsbury volume, ‘Cavafy as World Literature’! Due out at the end of this year.
Black text of an academic article on white paper. Title: Classical Cavafy and Cavafy among the classicists.
June 30, 2025 at 9:18 AM
joewatstein.bsky.social
It is once again proofs day! This time for my piece on queering Latin love poetry in the Underworld, out in this year’s JRS.

Hell is Other Poets: Tibullus, Ovid and Statius in Queer Elysium
Printout of article proofs. Black font on white paper.
June 23, 2025 at 1:09 PM
joewatstein.bsky.social
Proofs day! Forthcoming in July in Classical Philology: 'Down the Gardem Path: Divinity, Space and Poetics in the Carmina Priapea'.
Screenshot of the first page of an academic article (black text on white page), entitled 'Down the Garden Path: Divinity, Space and Poetics in the Carmina Priapea'.
April 11, 2025 at 6:07 AM
joewatstein.bsky.social
A nice little haul of discount philology from this weekend’s shopping trip:
Five books; The first two volumes of the newish Loeb translation of Fragmentary Republican Latin (Ennius) Lafaye’s Budé of Catullus Butler’s Loeb of Quintilian, vol. 4 Gow and Page’s commentary on the Hellenistic epigrams of the Greek Anthology.
March 24, 2025 at 8:57 AM
joewatstein.bsky.social
After a wonderful weekend with @esthermeijer.bsky.social in London (seeing sites and enjoying theatre), I’m quite proud of my wide-ranging haul—some new, some second, third, fourth or fifth hand!
Seven books on a multi coloured carpet. Studien zum Corpus Priapeorum queer ecologies Bad Education Petronii satirae et liber priapeorum Powerplay in Tibullus the Roman poetry of love Amor: roma. Love and Latin literature
January 14, 2025 at 6:42 PM
joewatstein.bsky.social
After a fairly heavy week, I’m very excited to be gifting myself with the new(ish) Kristen’s to enjoy over the next few weeks!
Most of the image is dominated by a book. The book is mostly white, with a dark blue chevron at the bottom and a photograph of Dostoevsky in the middle. The title is Dostoevsky in the Face of Death or Language Haunted By Death by Julia Kristeva
January 19, 2024 at 7:34 AM
joewatstein.bsky.social
Very excited to be speaking at the Oxford Classics Sub-Faculty Lang. and Lit. seminar on Friday, with a paper about Arachne, Ovid, Spiders and Roland Barthes!
Blue PowerPoint screen with white textbox, containing the title of a talk: Arachne’s Web of Bestiality in Ovid Metamorphoses 6. Image of a distorted tapestry in the left. Blue threads are unpicked. In the right is the work’s title: Certainty / Entropy (Peranakan 2). A slide which prominently features two birds. One in a red circle and one in a green circle. Above is a line of Latin (fecit et Asterien aquila luctante teneri) and its English translation (she also made Asteria, being held by the struggling eagle).
November 21, 2023 at 9:37 AM
joewatstein.bsky.social
Making slides for my lecture on the poetics of sexual identity in Propertius, and I’m very concerned by this recommendation of image by PowerPoint…
On the left of the image is a slide reading “Propertius and the production of sexuality”, the right hand half of the slide is a series of balled fists from hands of various skin colours pointing the top right. On the right of the image are various other slide options: one including a number of shirts, one including shaking hands.
October 9, 2023 at 6:04 PM
joewatstein.bsky.social
I took a brief break from my ongoing cross-stitch project to do a little mosaic-style image of Leda and the Swan for my office!
A light wood frame containing a cross stitch, entirely in green and white. A naked white female figure reclines against a plant border, while a white swan approaches. The border is a repeated squared spiral.
October 8, 2023 at 9:33 AM
joewatstein.bsky.social
At this point, I am used to the idea that OCTs come in many different shapes and materials, but the green of the dust jacket for this copy of Heyworth’s Propertius is upsetting…

(I have seen *other* copies of Heyworth’s Propertius than are a more typical shade)
Four books on a light brown table, all in varying shades of green. The object of focus is the book in the middle bottom section which is a very different (much darker and more pigmented) shade of green than the other three.
October 5, 2023 at 10:15 AM
joewatstein.bsky.social
Had a lovely day in the Wilko sales, and then came home to make curry, breads and raspberry crumble
Plate / bowl of curry. In the near ground is an orange, potato and pea curry. In the background a brown aubergine and tempeh curry. Also a bread. Three dishes on a table. Towards the front is an aubergine and tempeh curry, to its right are breads, wrapped in a tea towel, and furthest back is a yellow Dutch oven containing an orange potato and pea curry. A red / pink sticky fruit crumble.
September 23, 2023 at 8:30 PM
joewatstein.bsky.social
Yesterday, the sky may have been grey and dreary, but at least the Gay Gods have been blessing my tomato harvest
Main feature is a grey and stormy sky with a double rainbow. In the foreground are some trees and stone buildings. Main feature is a grey and stormy sky with a double rainbow. In the foreground are potted plants including tomatoes.
September 21, 2023 at 8:05 AM