Trending
Derek JG Williams's Avatar

Derek JG Williams

@derekjgwilliams

expat American writer, PhD Reading Water (Lightscatter, 2025) Poetry Is A Disease (Greying Ghost, 2022) http://www.derekjgwilliams.com/

230
Followers
221
Following
264
Posts
27.08.2023
Joined
Posts Following

Latest posts by Derek JG Williams @derekjgwilliams

one working brain cell that's about to go kaput

12.03.2026 13:37 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

WXPN playing "Sunday, Bloody Sunday," and it's like I've never heard this song before, but also I've heard it almost every day of my life, you know?

28.02.2026 17:47 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

So far my 5 day old daughter has watched Industry and Shoresy. Not sure what that says about me, but that’s what’s up over here.

21.02.2026 18:05 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

If it isn’t baroque, don’t fix it 🎢

17.02.2026 02:02 πŸ‘ 19 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

Over here wondering where my yearly Threepenny Review rejection be.

17.02.2026 10:50 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
You came one day and
as usual in such matters
significance filled everything
your eyes, the things you
knew, the way you turned,
leaned, stood, or sat,
this way or that: when
you left, the area around here rose
a tilted tide, and everything that
offers desolation drained away.

You came one day and as usual in such matters significance filled everything your eyes, the things you knew, the way you turned, leaned, stood, or sat, this way or that: when you left, the area around here rose a tilted tide, and everything that offers desolation drained away.

Asterisks are my favorite fallen stars.

*This poem was found after the poet's death on the back of an envelope from Helen Vender, November 28, 1981.

05.02.2026 05:17 πŸ‘ 37 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

Peseroff really "gets" my project

02.02.2026 15:31 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Restless Messengers - Poetry In Review

thanks: Joyce & Norman

"Some books of poetry take on a single subject... In others, artists create a work into which they pour everything they know. Expansive, elegiac, exuberant, tender yet cool and precise in its observations, Reading Water is such a book."

www.poetryinreview.com/reviews/read...

02.02.2026 15:30 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

finishing Nova Scotia house now!

01.02.2026 13:58 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
from Jonathan Franzen's 2013 By the Book interview in the New York Times:

Describe your ideal reading experience (when, where, what, how).

The book creates the experience. If I’m loving something, I suddenly discover large chunks of reading time that I wasn’t aware of having.

from Jonathan Franzen's 2013 By the Book interview in the New York Times: Describe your ideal reading experience (when, where, what, how). The book creates the experience. If I’m loving something, I suddenly discover large chunks of reading time that I wasn’t aware of having.

This is one of those quotes I think about more than any other.

01.02.2026 13:11 πŸ‘ 54 πŸ” 11 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1

it feels pretty good to rip a heater once a week - also you get to say things like "rip" and "heater"

31.01.2026 18:43 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I like the old school ones with folks smoking. When I hit 50 I aim to start smoking again.

31.01.2026 18:25 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
β€œWhen the eye loses the ability to see an object for the fact of its very nearness, then the imagination must alter the lens. A poem may bring us what we see in it just such a way. It reaches through the little hole in the eye and puts the thing in mind, that realm in which perception and forgetting are simultaneous, where every presence coincides with a corresponding absence, where experience, as in an old iconic painting, holds aside the breast of its garment to reveal not a burning heart, but a nothing that pulses and is on fire.”

β€œWhen the eye loses the ability to see an object for the fact of its very nearness, then the imagination must alter the lens. A poem may bring us what we see in it just such a way. It reaches through the little hole in the eye and puts the thing in mind, that realm in which perception and forgetting are simultaneous, where every presence coincides with a corresponding absence, where experience, as in an old iconic painting, holds aside the breast of its garment to reveal not a burning heart, but a nothing that pulses and is on fire.”

In case any poets needed some Dan Beachy-Quick tonight...

"When the eye loses the ability to see an object for the fact of its very nearness, then the imagination must alter the lens. A poem may bring us what we see in it just such a way."

30.01.2026 04:25 πŸ‘ 24 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

there is no reason for ICE to exist. immigrants aren’t doing anything wrong by trying to live and work and provide for their loved ones. I don’t care how people got here. if they want to be here that’s good. leave them alone.

08.01.2026 01:22 πŸ‘ 3021 πŸ” 747 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Yeah, I get that criticism. I'm curious what the consensus is though. Saul was often very slow and didn't seem go anywhere quick. I think there's a enough goodwill for Gilligan that he'll be able to do whatever he wants, at whatever pace he chooses.

06.01.2026 15:44 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

The most unsubtle, heavy-handed claims made by pomo academic types have turned out to all be true. Gender is a relation of domination that requires constant, affirming witness. Capitalism will require extractive colonial relations. There’s no subtlety. Every day is like a 101 seminar at Oberlin.

06.01.2026 13:27 πŸ‘ 1379 πŸ” 291 πŸ’¬ 22 πŸ“Œ 0

so much love for everyone reading and thinking about my work, all that time and effort

in addition, I'll be back in the US and doing some reading/talk dates in late April (early May) - shout if you want me to come visit!

05.01.2026 09:57 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Derek JG Williams / Readng Water - Bear Reviews Rebecca Valley / May 8th, 2025

& more Reading Water flotsam:

bearreview.com/br/rev-derek...

05.01.2026 09:54 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

🌟NEW REVIEW ALERT! Check out Tyler Truman Julian’s review on READING WATER by Derek JG Williams.🌟

Link in bio!

www.theshorepoetry.org/shore-things...

02.01.2026 18:00 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I fall completely on the other side of this. I liked the pace of it and generally found the episodes to be quite funny. The scene with the drone? C'mon!

05.01.2026 06:26 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

THE PITT 🀝 INDUSTRY

Me somehow understanding everything despite not following 98% of the jargon.

04.01.2026 05:05 πŸ‘ 137 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0

oh look, hot garbage

18.12.2025 12:10 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Any one of us could be in the next apartment building that ICE raids in the middle of the night.

Any one of us could be on the next boat that Trump bombs on a whim.

Any one of us could be detained for hours despite being a U.S. citizen.

Authoritarianism hurts all of us.

06.12.2025 22:01 πŸ‘ 5547 πŸ” 1690 πŸ’¬ 120 πŸ“Œ 46
Video thumbnail

Benicio awards fever in FULL effect. I’m a fan.

03.12.2025 21:08 πŸ‘ 143 πŸ” 10 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 1

No darkness lasts forever. And even there, there are stars.

14.11.2025 04:15 πŸ‘ 160 πŸ” 68 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Post image
05.07.2025 18:15 πŸ‘ 13 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

the thing about this is I will AGAIN be watching random Mad Men episodes during lunch every day, which will AGAIN lead me to a re-watch the entire thing for the 100th time

13.11.2025 18:11 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

daydreaming about baseball cards

13.11.2025 14:09 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

just realized I somehow thought Lady Bird and Frances Ha were the same film? no clue how that happened...

13.11.2025 09:03 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Yesterday's No Kings protests were apparently the largest since the first Earth Day in 1970

The NYT covered that story with a six column headline across the top of the paper and two full pages inside

Today, two small pics below the fold and a story on page A23

They constantly let America down

19.10.2025 13:22 πŸ‘ 3941 πŸ” 950 πŸ’¬ 96 πŸ“Œ 49