Vivek Narayanan

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Another Life I’m writing love on a serviette as mourners gather on a mound for the disgraced dead, still in grave-clothes underfoot—

Today's Feature:

What Sparks Poetry: Medha Singh on "Another Life"

Read here:
poems.com/poem/another...

"butterfuly" is a very nice typo.

This guy gets it.

Cartoon. Person says to other person „We invented a robot that answers questions.“, adding, „we just have to feed it 10 baby giraffes a day“. The other person asks „But it answers the questions correctly?“ Person responds „Oh my goodness, no. No no no no no.“ By Aram J. French Appropriated due to missing alt text

Gladys Mae West obituary: mathematician who pioneered GPS technology She made key contributions to US cold-war science despite facing huge barriers as a Black woman.

No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition.

Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/24/o...

Hard to read this and not feel hopeful about some stubborn and essential spirit of our country, which its current leaders seem to have entirely misunderstood

"We’re in need of the sun tell the shadows to vanish
If me-ness disappears nothing remains in my heart but you"

—Homa Mojadidi Translates Bedil Dehlavi

anmly.org/ap41/homa-mo...

Just received today this exquisite gift of a book by Vivek Narayanan, one of the few poets doing stellar experimental work in Indian English poetry. The Karuntokai and Its Mirror is a fractalized translation and reinterpretation of a classical work in the Tamil Sangam canon.

It was amazing to have one of the poems emerge through our collaboration Saudamini!

Always nice when one’s prejudices are confirmed. We have long suspected that LLMs over-generalise. They do. Here's the documentation.

Forum on “A Defence of LLM-Assisted Poetics” with Althusser, Ayer, Baal Shem Tov, Baldwin, Benveniste, Blake, Bloom, Deleuze, Du Bois, Heidegger, James, Kuhn, Lacan, Lucretius, Rawls, Schmidt, Stein, VENDLER, WYNTER -- An Fantasy by Artie Intaglio: In Sum 17

"To say LLMs can produce essays or poems that resemble the frequent generation of robotic production by humans is NOT to say there is no difference: it is to say humans can do better and need to stay alert and mobile. And that means: resist forms of ...

Amia Srinivasan · The Impossible Patient: Return of the Unconscious You may not wish to commit yourself ontologically to some thing called the ‘unconscious’, and you may reasonably...

‘Psychoanalysis was born of a moment not dissimilar to our own: a moment when the image of the human as a rational animal seemed fragile if not preposterous, and the progressive liberalism founded on that image was revealed to be dangerously naive.’

Amia Srinivasan:

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

India: Academic Hany Babu’s bail hearing to take place after five years in jail without trial — PEN International | Promoting Literature & Defending Freedom of Expression Worldwide Update (4 December 2025) : The Bombay High Court has granted bail to Hany Babu, following his application on the basis of his prolonged detention without trial. Following the completion of formalitie...

#India: We welcome the imminent release of academic Hany Babu following the approval of his bail application. Detained without trial for over 5 years, this ruling recognises the grave injustice he has faced.

Learn more ⬇️
www.pen-international.org/news/india-a...

Delhi University professor Hany Babu granted bail after 1,955 days in jail in Bhima Koregaon case The Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail to Delhi University professor and noted academic Dr. Hany Babu, who was arrested in 2020 in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case and charged under the...

Professor Hany Babu is granted bail after spending 1,955 days in jail for a made-up crime that he hasn't been convicted of (and won't be because the Indian govt planted fake evidence to accuse him of it).
Let's see if he actually makes it out and for how long.
maktoobmedia.com/india/delhi-...

Me too

Buddha head with nimbus from Berenike

Astonishing finds excavated at Berenike in Egypt include Buddha images & other artifacts from India and some made locally in Indian style, plus a bilingual Sanskrit & Greek dedicatory inscription found near a marble Buddha head in an Isis temple courtyard.
publications.dainst.org/journals/jdi...

Part 1: My Life Is a Lie How a Broken Benchmark Quietly Broke America

This is important www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...

"Greeks living in Afghanistan were Buddhist 500 years before China and a thousand years before Southeast Asia" is one of those things that sounds made up but is in fact true

Mahmood Mamdani on Zohran, Uganda and forced expulsion: ‘Who is part of the nation and who is not?’ After being expelled from his homeland in 1972, the academic has grappled with questions of political belonging – a major theme of his son’s mayoral campaign

www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

Happy pub day to Ron Padgett. ☺️

2013👇 2025👇

What The Universe Is, featuring poets Nathan Spoon and Vivek Narayanan Tuesday, November 18 at 7:30pm ET Register at: bit.ly/WTUI_Nov2025

I'm delighted to be reading poems this Tuesday evening with @naravive.bsky.social!

Link to register here: bit.ly/WTUI_Nov2025

Centre-left tipped to lose Copenhagen for first time in electoral history Political rivals say PM’s divisive politics have encouraged voters to ditch the Social Democrats for the far right

Someone tag the Labour party: ““This was a cynical strategic manoeuvre to avoid losing voters to the far right, but it seems, based on polling, that all they have done is prime their own voters to join the far right rather than stay with the Social Democrats.””

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

When copying the #Mahabharata in #Persian in 18th-century #India, did one praise Allah or Rama?

Sometimes, the copyist praised both.

More Hindus read the epics in Persian (versus Sanskrit) in this period.

Images courtesy of Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin

A LinkedIn ad showing Jensen Huang shaking hands with some vague fashion executive: L'OREAL 6,204,444 followers Promoted We're thrilled to announce a collaboration with NVIDIA to supercharge beauty with next-gen Al. WELCOME TO NVIDIA L'ORÉAL GROUPE

I don’t want to seem out of touch but I don’t actually understand the economy anymore.

@nathanpspoon.bsky.social ’s new book, The Importance of Being Feeble Minded is really delightful and I’m looking forward to reading with him on Tuesday, in the What the Universe Is series.

Amazing to have a byline with @cbo.bsky.social - read our take on Watson’s ultimate legacy in the Boston Globe. Will be in Sunday’s print edition.

No contract, no coffee.

I'm proud to stand in solidarity with @sbworkersunited.org as they strike for the wages, dignity, and respect they deserve.

Starbucks must come to the table and negotiate in good faith.