Magpie Miller
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magpiemiller.bsky.social
Magpie Miller
@magpiemiller.bsky.social
5.3K followers 7.9K following 820 posts
A.K.A.: Kim. See also: poems; books; trees (fruit & family); Appalachia (east TN, KY). Likewise, melodious felines, unfounded optimism. Confounding hounds. Further reading: science-adjacent, spirit-curious. Vintage. Allergies: DMs, bigots.
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magpiemiller.bsky.social
Good Morning, BlueSky Friends! 🐦‍⬛🪺
“To someone who had really seen, words mattered no more than the chatter and whistling of starlings.”
— The Forest of Hours, Kerstin Ekman

#TheForestOfHours #KerstinEkman #NordicWriting #NordicFantasy #ScandinavianLiterature #ScandiWriting 💙📚🖋️
A cup of morning coffee in a green and brown pottery mug alongside a paperback novel, The Forest of Hours by Kerstin Ekman. Both are propped on the work clothes, belly, and legs of the OP, who is STILL packing her house! “To someone who had really seen, words mattered no more than the chatter and whistling of starlings.” — The Forest of Hours, Kerstin Ekman
November 4, 2025 at 2:38 PM
magpiemiller.bsky.social
Last time I’ll receive Trick-or-Treaters in Lexington, Kentucky as The Witch of Kenwick, The Sorceress of Aurora!🎃🧙🏻😘 So happy for the many good memories made here and so glad that soon the other kind will vanish into the ether behind me. To happy new beginnings! #NewBeginnings #HappyHalloween
A large, clear glass votive holder with a black metal frame made up of circles like owl eyes holds a single candle and glows in the twilight on a porch on Halloween.
November 1, 2025 at 12:35 AM
magpiemiller.bsky.social
This week’s book haul! I think 2/4 qualify as Halloween-worthy!😉🧙🏻🐺🧟‍♀️
📚💙📚🖋️
#StephenKing
#CycleOfTheWerewolf
#TheBriefHistoryOfTheDead #TheHistoryOfLove #JosephBrodsky #JosephBrodskyPoems
#Halloween
#BookHaul
#bookhaul
#thriftingbooks
Books by Joseph Brodsky, Stephen King, Nicole Krauss, and Kevin Brockmeir resting atop a throw pillow with a black cat faces pattern
October 8, 2025 at 3:24 PM
magpiemiller.bsky.social
Colleen, my dog-daughter/ Kentucky Coonhound (hound-dominant mix)/ Princess, did not get the Blue Star Clean Plate Award today! Her brother (RIP, Pup) would’ve wolfed this down. Colleen daintily picked out the chicken and most of the rice. I’m still having some for a late lunch! #ungrateful #picky
September 12, 2025 at 7:03 PM
magpiemiller.bsky.social
Today’s moving pic: The Granny or Mamaw I aspire to become (with or without grandchildren😉) says: “L-yeah!”🤌🏻 That pawpaw even has the slightly-green finish of the real deal! Like a hill-person mango gone wild. I love you, Ale8!😍😍😍
#ale8 #kentuckyproud #appalachianmamaw #givegrannyherpawpawale8
Cold, sweating open bottle of Ale8 in the new pawpaw flavor, atop a moving box marked “photos”
August 7, 2025 at 7:30 PM
magpiemiller.bsky.social
Packing pic, part 2: Chessie guarding the passage of boxes to the “leaving” area!😉🐱 #packing #catswhohelp #packingwithcats
Chessie the silver tabby sitting atop a braided rug. Packing boxes in the background.
July 12, 2025 at 5:47 PM
magpiemiller.bsky.social
Today’s packing pic: a 2015 syllabus. Believed in those lofty goals & words. Still do!
📚💙📚🖋️ #teachingisresisting #communitycollege #makeamericawelcomingagain #madeinamerica #youbelong #packing #lovemycountrybutfearmygovernment #jesuslovesALLthelittlechildren #codeswitching #appalachian #dreamers
The first page of an English 101 syllabus from 2015, ten years ago. The course title was “MADE IN AMERICA: HOW TO USE SMART WORDS, HARD THOUGHT, AND CONSTRUCTIVE ACTION TO HUILD THE COUNTRY OF YOUR DREAMS.” There a is a color image of the dystopian young adult novel FEED below the text. This book was on the syllabus for our class. Following the department’s boilerplate description of ENG 101 is my personal course description for our class: “Whether you were born in the United States or immigrated to this country, whether you are a citizen or a long-term visitor, you add to the nation's story through your participation in our culture. At the same time, living in America makes you a different person. In this section of English 101, we will review the basics of mainstream American English, but we will also study rudiments of critical thinking. We will look at how some of our culture's critical thinkers view the roles of both individuals and social movements in creating the emerging American story. In studying these visions, we will strive to understand how we might build a more equitable nation and - by extension - a more fair world.”
July 12, 2025 at 5:15 PM
magpiemiller.bsky.social
“In this world, shipmates, sin that pays its way can travel freely, and without a passport; whereas Virtue, if a pauper, is stopped at all frontiers.” — Herman Melville
Had to sit with that: As if he saw oligarchs jet away to marry while farm laborers are carried off in chains.📚🖋️💙
A woodcut or linoleum print of a man reclining on his belly above the book title, “Moby Dick or The Whale.”
June 30, 2025 at 10:46 PM
magpiemiller.bsky.social
Today’s packing pic: reward-reading chapters of Lessons in Chemistry the past few days! Only sorry to finish! 🥰🧪📚 (Also, a few reads from earlier packing breaks!😉) Thanks to the Goodwill donor & to several Bluesky readers for steering this joy my way!📚💙📚🖋️
#lessonsinchemistry #bonniegarmus #packing
A hardback copy of Bonnie Garmus’ Lessons in Chemistry stands upright beside a short stack of other books: Anne Rice’s The Feast of All Saints, Ann-Helen Laestadius’ Stolen, and Hanna Pylvainen’s We Sinners. A clear plastic box of moving tools like scissors and tape rests atop the short stack of books. All of the aforementioned items are set atop a bankers box marked “Family History.” A hardback copy of Bonnie Garmus’ Lessons in Chemistry stands upright beside a short stack of other books: Anne Rice’s The Feast of All Saints, Ann-Helen Laestadius’ Stolen, and Hanna Pylvainen’s We Sinners. A clear plastic box of moving tools like scissors and tape rests atop the short stack of books. All of the aforementioned items are set atop a bankers box marked “Family History.”
June 24, 2025 at 3:56 PM
magpiemiller.bsky.social
Fun fact: To kill bedbugs with heat, the object must be exposed to 118F for 20 minutes or 113F for 90 minutes. (Don’t just believe me. Check Orkin and others on-line.) There’s a lot about summer I don’t like, but leaving my newly-thrifted books in the car for an afternoon soothes my OCD soul!🤣📚💙
A plastic thermometer reading 118F rests atop some pages from a secondhand copy of A Dark and Bloody Ground, with a car’s windshield in the background.
June 22, 2025 at 3:18 PM
magpiemiller.bsky.social
One more packing pic: started scribbling an abbreviated inventory for each box as I go. Really, really wish I’d thought of it months ago. 🤦🏼‍♀️📚Oh, well! “Discovering” all the uninventoried books one box at a time will be fun, too!💁🏼‍♀️📚📦
📚💙📚🖋️💙 #packing #packingbooks #homelibrary #methodvsmadness
Close-up of a bankers box with 2 post-it notes taped to the side. Each neon yellow post-it contains 12-15 book titles scribbled by hand, indicating the contents of the box.
June 21, 2025 at 1:16 AM
magpiemiller.bsky.social
Today’s packing pic: “Truce.” I’m frequently using this bed as a packing table & box-assembling & book-sorting space, but I try not to disturb the Silver Sisters too much in the process. Sigh: Littermates, but never friends. So: Truce. #packing #silvertabbies #packingbooks #booksandcats 📚💙🐱
Two silver tabby cats look away from each other while curled or sitting on a plaid-sheet-covered bed. A teal wall is behind them.
June 20, 2025 at 5:29 PM
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Today’s packing pic: Yes, I looked it up — a Canadian show I must need to watch? But even without context, I love how this image can become either a defense or an indictment. In these politically-charged times, I know how I read it. How ‘bout you?
#allegedly #lookdonthide #timetoact #nokings
A pint glass with a black ostrich in profile and the word “allegedly” emblazoned across the bird’s body.
June 16, 2025 at 2:57 PM
magpiemiller.bsky.social
My new crush!!!🍀❤️🍀❤️🍀❤️
#raccooncrush #otherpeoplescars #carlust #cutenessoverload #magpievenerablevintage #goodwillthrills
June 12, 2025 at 10:32 PM
magpiemiller.bsky.social
Packing on the porch! 🧳📦📚 Foreground: yesterday’s score!🤣💙 Found while scavenging for packing towels at GW. Background: recent day’s take, while hunting packing sheets at GW. The careful eye will notice some repetition😉. Hoping to start a book club or Little Library! 💙📚💙🖋️💙🧪📚 #packingbooks #moving
Two stacks of books balanced on a front porch column, with assorted items awaiting packing into background.
June 10, 2025 at 3:52 PM
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Today’s packing pic: Ultima Thule, swaddled and coddled in its Bankers Box! So looking forward to some quiet time in the future with this massive friend.
📚💙📚🖋️📚🧪
Today’s packing pic: a coffee table book, Ultima Thule by Jean Malaurie, swaddled by a grey-striped ticking sheet, inside a Bankers Box.
May 26, 2025 at 4:01 PM
magpiemiller.bsky.social
“What’s wrong, you ask? I’m growing up in the ‘70s. Not the cool ‘70s with hippies, pot, & bell bottoms. I’m just a kid. I won’t be a car-driving teenager until the ‘80s, when it’s over.” #vintagepackaging #1970s #1970schildhood #tradlife #tradkid #tradmom
Vintage ad: Sad-faced White male child frowning at a plate of sliced ham and a bowl of scrambled eggs. Vintage 1970s ad from the side of a toaster oven box: Sad-faced White male child frowning at a plate of sliced ham and a bowl of scrambled eggs while his sister and father bond over breakfast and their mother is absent except for her well-manicured hand daintily lifting muffins from the toaster oven.
May 19, 2025 at 10:30 PM
magpiemiller.bsky.social
Today’s packing pic: dear flotsam🌊📚!
“Carrion,” Riverwind, pp. 24-25, 1997. Today I’d probably end the poem on “early March wind.” Wind down that need to insert myself, get some final final-word.
📚💙🖋️💙 #appalachianpoetry #revisingpoems #farmlife #tennesseepoet #kentuckypoet #hockingcollege
Literary journal Riverwind 1997 with cover photo of bride holding a little girl; all in sepia tone. The first page of the poem “Carrion” by Magpie Miller writing as Kim Miller The second page of the poem “Carrion” by Magpie Miller writing as Kim Miller.
April 26, 2025 at 4:09 PM
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Packing-break pic: Revelator by Daryl Gregory. 🐦‍⬛ Full disclosure: read the word “Michigan” in the back cover bio and thought, “Well.” Hit a scene that referenced Jergen’s Lotion, and had to stop, drop, & Google. Who is this guy?!! 1/3 #revelator #darylgregory #cadescove #appalachianhorror 📚💙🖋️💙📚🧪
Paperback copy of Revelator by Daryl Gregory on a dusty, coffee-stained, and cat-scratched table. A small Raven figure perches nearby on the base of a lamp.
April 17, 2025 at 3:34 PM
magpiemiller.bsky.social
Chessie, in her Appalachian Goth phase? But also: literary fiction from The Great Far North and a serving of Midwestern body horror. She just can’t decide! Sacrificial Animals by Kailee Pedersen; The Adversary by Michael Crummey; and The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo. 📚💙📚🖋️ #catslovereadingtoo
Chessie, a silvery tabby, reposes alongside 3 works of fiction: Sacrificial Animals by Kailee Pedersen; The Adversary by Michael Crummey; and The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo.
April 15, 2025 at 4:48 PM
magpiemiller.bsky.social
Today’s packing pic & a confession: I DID end up busting through Smothermoss. Couldn’t help it! Then turned to my pacing-myself read, Demon Copperhead, & suddenly couldn’t get this MC’s fate out of my head. Finished the last chapters as slowly as I could bear. Then started reading it again! 📚💙📚🖋️
The Appalachian-set novels Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver and Smothermoss by Alisa Alering resting atop a dusty-blue lap throw
April 3, 2025 at 6:46 PM
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Today’s packing (break) pic: Smothermoss! ❤️ Trying hard not to burn through it too quickly! Setting feels both richly new and lushly familiar. As an Appalachian, I recognize the eeriness of nature and of home. Very taken by this story! #smothermoss #alisaalering #appalacianfiction #packing 📚💙 📚🖋️
The novel Smothermoss by Alisa Alering rests atop a stack of unopened Bankers Boxes. A clear container holds packing tools and tape.
March 27, 2025 at 5:18 PM
magpiemiller.bsky.social
Guess which of life’s small, perfect pleasures is once again springing up in grocery stores like a crocus breaking free?!? 🥳🫶🏻🥳
A bottle of the Kentucky-made softdrink Ale8one in the seasonal flavor Blackberry! The bottle is laid across a plastic-wrapped flat containing the other 23 bottles.
March 26, 2025 at 2:17 PM
magpiemiller.bsky.social
Today’s packing pic: Finished in the last few days.:) The Winners: a faithful bedtime snack for a while, (usually) a calming end to the day. The Lost Apothecary: earlier in the evening; for the last several chapters, I switched it to afternoon packing break, for the pace picked up even more! 📚💙 📚🖋️
Two novels lie on a wooden tabletop; a clear container of packing tools stands nearby. The novels are Fredrik Backman’s The Winners and Sarah Penner’s The Lost Apothecary.
March 24, 2025 at 2:14 PM
magpiemiller.bsky.social
Today’s packing pic: Sweetland by Michael Crummey.📚❤️📚 Going into a lidded box labeled “More Frequent Access” because I just finished reading 2 days ago and am still “talking” with the MC and author. We aren’t done! Hurrah! 📚💙 📚🖋️#michaelcrummey #newfoundland #packing #packinghouse #canadianlit
The novel Sweetland by Michael Crummey atop a teetering stack of other books on a wooden floor, where they are waiting to be packed.
March 19, 2025 at 4:19 PM