Robert van Vliet

Great review of some excellent poetry—

When you were all at AWP, did anyone swing by the Unsolicited table? Did you see my book? Did you buy it? If not, let me know. I have a few copies.

Mine arrived Saturday!

Gimme an F...

I think I’m finally someone else now.

I’ll look for it around the house, but I think you took it with you when you left. Have you checked under the seat of your car? Also, the fridge. I found my car keys in the fridge once.

two by two
sky of blue

This means more to me than I can say.

The Gen X urge to burn all my notebooks, what good are notebooks

Of all the bad music puns in this thread, that might be at the top of the Liszt.

Stand With Minnesota Stand With Minnesota is a hub for supporting, learning, and taking action to support Minnesotans impacted by ICE and federal enforcement.

Please keep in mind that ICE still hasn't left Minnesota and many of our neighbors are still living in fear. If you're able, please consider donating to one of the many aid funds listed at standwithminnesota.com.

Thank you again! 💖

More like “Presidunce Day”

We just returned from a performance of the Scottish Play at the Guthrie. Flawless.

Unfortunately, when it comes to the internet, there’s always more.

I agree with you, Han, that maybe J-T could have reached out directly to the Ogre folks first for clarification, but every step the Ogre guy has taken since then is a study in the exact opposite of what to do when spotlighted on social media.

Not to me, no — but to everyone in the original thread that J-T started when he pointed out Ogre’s sloppy, ambiguous, and weirdly overreaching content license.

No, it was an exchange in which the EIC of Ogre was defending his content license and lambasting anyone who has a problem with it.

No, not me. See this exchange:

Nobody should submit to a journal that takes all rights to your work in perpetuity, period.

(And then calls you nasty names (illiterate, unpublishable, boomer (when you’re obviously Gen X)) when you point this out, then says they haven’t read the contract in years, it doesn’t matter, nobody cares.)

Oops, it looks like someone forgot the First Rule of Holes.

What staggering incompetence and carelessness (among other things, but I'm trying to keep this clean).

Under no circumstances should you submit your work to this Ogre place. Avoid at all costs. Unfollow, block.

“…with all those teeth coming up from below…”

#SA4QE

A favorite quote from a favorite book by a favorite author on what would have been his 101st birthday.

#SA4QE

Letter to editor from Leah Phifer, Mpls, in MN Star Tribune, 1.31.26

Excellent letter to editor in Star Trib this morning, from a former ICE employee.

How frustrating, that must make you CRAZY

brass solidarity band performing “stand by me” in the streets of whittier next to alex pretti’s memorial. the crowd started chanting “the people united will never be defeated” so they incorporated it into the song. i love minneapolis

Here are the last two questions from my interview last spring: “What did you edit out of this book?” & “Does writing energize or exhaust you?”

(I was going to post the last one tomorrow, but I will be offline.)

www.letterspace.org/2026/01/22/i...

“Friday, January 23rd will be a statewide day of non-violent moral action, reflection: no work, no school, no shopping—only community, conscience, and collective action.”

More details here on what Minnesotans will be doing tomorrow:

Here’s today’s question: “How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?”

(The number has increased since I answered the question, because I recently found an enormous manuscript of prose poems from 2006-08 that I’d completely forgotten about.)

www.letterspace.org/2026/01/21/i...

You’re so welcome. This is the Minnesota I know.

Faith leaders encourage Minnesotans to observe "A Day of Truth and Freedom" YouTube video by WCCO - CBS Minnesota

This is Minnesota.