Matthew Harrison
@matthewharrison.bsky.social
pizza advocate; english professor
I've been looking at the poem "Surge: to a woman" and thinking about how we translate anger, not just across. languages but across periods. Inés Hernandez, below, offers a staightforward translation, while Alicia Christoff parenthetically intensifies emotion: "(Fuck that noise!)"
February 4, 2026 at 4:46 PM
I've been looking at the poem "Surge: to a woman" and thinking about how we translate anger, not just across. languages but across periods. Inés Hernandez, below, offers a staightforward translation, while Alicia Christoff parenthetically intensifies emotion: "(Fuck that noise!)"
Okay, also, I love his and Celia's bonkers translation of Catullus, where they try to retain as much as they can not just of the meaning but also the SOUND of the Latin.
not surprisingly, the dirty poems are particularly wild.
not surprisingly, the dirty poems are particularly wild.
January 28, 2026 at 3:32 AM
Okay, also, I love his and Celia's bonkers translation of Catullus, where they try to retain as much as they can not just of the meaning but also the SOUND of the Latin.
not surprisingly, the dirty poems are particularly wild.
not surprisingly, the dirty poems are particularly wild.
Small good thing: this tiny, silly bit of Zukofsky.
January 28, 2026 at 3:05 AM
Small good thing: this tiny, silly bit of Zukofsky.
Another small good thing: we've loved Priya Krishna's /Indian-ish/ as a cookbook for years.
Recently bought Priya's Kitchen Adventures for my son, and he's loved reading and cooking from it. The recipes are organized by country, and so it's prompted conversations, too. (Also, the food is good!)
Recently bought Priya's Kitchen Adventures for my son, and he's loved reading and cooking from it. The recipes are organized by country, and so it's prompted conversations, too. (Also, the food is good!)
January 23, 2026 at 7:24 PM
Another small good thing: we've loved Priya Krishna's /Indian-ish/ as a cookbook for years.
Recently bought Priya's Kitchen Adventures for my son, and he's loved reading and cooking from it. The recipes are organized by country, and so it's prompted conversations, too. (Also, the food is good!)
Recently bought Priya's Kitchen Adventures for my son, and he's loved reading and cooking from it. The recipes are organized by country, and so it's prompted conversations, too. (Also, the food is good!)
i've been exhausted whenever i check social media recently, because so much is bad. I'm starting a thread of small good things.
first: this pastel piece, "Tiger in the Rain," by @chloecumming.bsky.social, that my wife bought me for Christmas.
I love it so much.
first: this pastel piece, "Tiger in the Rain," by @chloecumming.bsky.social, that my wife bought me for Christmas.
I love it so much.
January 23, 2026 at 5:09 PM
i've been exhausted whenever i check social media recently, because so much is bad. I'm starting a thread of small good things.
first: this pastel piece, "Tiger in the Rain," by @chloecumming.bsky.social, that my wife bought me for Christmas.
I love it so much.
first: this pastel piece, "Tiger in the Rain," by @chloecumming.bsky.social, that my wife bought me for Christmas.
I love it so much.
January 19, 2026 at 6:56 PM
Annie has been raising the alarm about mandatory high school book lists for awhile, but it's time for higher ed folks to be paying attention.
Look at this bonkers set of linked texts from the Texas list:
Look at this bonkers set of linked texts from the Texas list:
January 13, 2026 at 2:55 AM
Annie has been raising the alarm about mandatory high school book lists for awhile, but it's time for higher ed folks to be paying attention.
Look at this bonkers set of linked texts from the Texas list:
Look at this bonkers set of linked texts from the Texas list:
meet me at the inflatable grinch in fifteen minutes if u wanna fight
December 30, 2025 at 5:17 PM
meet me at the inflatable grinch in fifteen minutes if u wanna fight
Just saw the cover for @chera-writes.bsky.social's new book of poems.
There are very few poets I try to always pre-order new books from, but Chera is one of them. I just recently finished her last book, /Maps of Injury/, which is stunning. I'll find better words for it when I'm not grading.
There are very few poets I try to always pre-order new books from, but Chera is one of them. I just recently finished her last book, /Maps of Injury/, which is stunning. I'll find better words for it when I'm not grading.
December 12, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Just saw the cover for @chera-writes.bsky.social's new book of poems.
There are very few poets I try to always pre-order new books from, but Chera is one of them. I just recently finished her last book, /Maps of Injury/, which is stunning. I'll find better words for it when I'm not grading.
There are very few poets I try to always pre-order new books from, but Chera is one of them. I just recently finished her last book, /Maps of Injury/, which is stunning. I'll find better words for it when I'm not grading.
@tracelarkhall.bsky.social Shakespeare-themed puzzle at my folks’ house. They had to get used to me complaining that the geography was all wrong.
November 29, 2025 at 2:40 AM
@tracelarkhall.bsky.social Shakespeare-themed puzzle at my folks’ house. They had to get used to me complaining that the geography was all wrong.
Today’s teaching: my favorite lines in Spenser.
October 29, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Today’s teaching: my favorite lines in Spenser.
things are getting HEATED in the group chat
October 16, 2025 at 3:29 PM
things are getting HEATED in the group chat
okay, his friend can come, too
but its just me and nahua bugs from here on out.
but its just me and nahua bugs from here on out.
October 3, 2025 at 8:01 PM
okay, his friend can come, too
but its just me and nahua bugs from here on out.
but its just me and nahua bugs from here on out.
not talking to anyone except this caterpillar from the Florentine Codex (book 11, 103r) right now
October 3, 2025 at 7:58 PM
not talking to anyone except this caterpillar from the Florentine Codex (book 11, 103r) right now
@catacalypto.bsky.social reading Renaissance descriptions of possums, so I thought of you.
September 24, 2025 at 10:00 PM
@catacalypto.bsky.social reading Renaissance descriptions of possums, so I thought of you.
I've been looking for moments like this ever since I read Gerda Lerner: moments when Renaissance women find other women writers and claim them.
To that end, let me show you the best thing I've ever seen in an archive: a little note, in Mary Wroth's copy of Eusebius.
To that end, let me show you the best thing I've ever seen in an archive: a little note, in Mary Wroth's copy of Eusebius.
September 23, 2025 at 2:42 AM
I've been looking for moments like this ever since I read Gerda Lerner: moments when Renaissance women find other women writers and claim them.
To that end, let me show you the best thing I've ever seen in an archive: a little note, in Mary Wroth's copy of Eusebius.
To that end, let me show you the best thing I've ever seen in an archive: a little note, in Mary Wroth's copy of Eusebius.
for example, we read Gaspara Stampa's Rime 1 alongside Petrarch's first poem.
Where Petrarch turns to shame and transience in his poem's sestet, Stampa imagines a future in which another woman can be inspired by her, can walk side-by-side.
Where Petrarch turns to shame and transience in his poem's sestet, Stampa imagines a future in which another woman can be inspired by her, can walk side-by-side.
September 23, 2025 at 2:21 AM
for example, we read Gaspara Stampa's Rime 1 alongside Petrarch's first poem.
Where Petrarch turns to shame and transience in his poem's sestet, Stampa imagines a future in which another woman can be inspired by her, can walk side-by-side.
Where Petrarch turns to shame and transience in his poem's sestet, Stampa imagines a future in which another woman can be inspired by her, can walk side-by-side.
i like that this request to review an article doesn't try to flatter me.
September 12, 2025 at 2:25 PM
i like that this request to review an article doesn't try to flatter me.
From there, images of featherwork in the Florentine Codex, including what I think is a tiny self-portrait.
We closed by comparing that to a moment in Du Bartas, where Eve crafts herself a feather mantle.
We closed by comparing that to a moment in Du Bartas, where Eve crafts herself a feather mantle.
August 26, 2025 at 1:01 AM
From there, images of featherwork in the Florentine Codex, including what I think is a tiny self-portrait.
We closed by comparing that to a moment in Du Bartas, where Eve crafts herself a feather mantle.
We closed by comparing that to a moment in Du Bartas, where Eve crafts herself a feather mantle.
We talked about English privateers and the material stuff of sea trade, focusing on spices, calicos, and porcelains as sites of non-Euro knowledge, labor, and creativity.
Then Sir Walter Cope's collection. Talked about his "Madonna made of Indian feathers," showing this Mexican St. John.
Then Sir Walter Cope's collection. Talked about his "Madonna made of Indian feathers," showing this Mexican St. John.
August 26, 2025 at 12:58 AM
We talked about English privateers and the material stuff of sea trade, focusing on spices, calicos, and porcelains as sites of non-Euro knowledge, labor, and creativity.
Then Sir Walter Cope's collection. Talked about his "Madonna made of Indian feathers," showing this Mexican St. John.
Then Sir Walter Cope's collection. Talked about his "Madonna made of Indian feathers," showing this Mexican St. John.
We compared various representations of him (his armor in the Met, two Hilliard portraits, etc) to think about aristocratic masculinity before I asked them about this engraving of him in San Juan.
August 26, 2025 at 12:54 AM
We compared various representations of him (his armor in the Met, two Hilliard portraits, etc) to think about aristocratic masculinity before I asked them about this engraving of him in San Juan.