A new sonnet:
open.substack.com/pub/thesonne...
@christopherbakken
Poet and nonfiction writer whose work has appeared in Best American Poetry, The Paris Review, Ploughshares, etc. Director of Writing Workshops in Greece: Thessaloniki & Thasos. DRIVING THE BEAST (poems) forthcoming from LSUP in 2025.
Yannis Ritsos, "News Report"
During the military dictatorship in Greece (1967-1974), Ritsos was forbidden to publish and placed under house arrest: for long periods on the island of Samos, likely where he wrote this poem in 1969....[read more at bakkenpoet.substack.com]
Happy to see mention of the sublime Amanda Michalopoulou, though it is a pity the author does not seem to be aware of the work of Natalie Bakopoulos, an exception to so much being glossed here. lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-...
Itβs horrifying that itβs come to this, but as someone with a deep affinity for Europe I feel moved seeing that continent come together to try to save itself in the absence of any meaningful aid from the totalitarian regime thatβs in the midst of taking over the United States through an illegal coup
Lord Dampnut & VJ Dance: "bow and kiss our boots and grovel or we won't play." No truth. No sense of history. Just rambling bullshit and bowing to the real Oz in the room: Putin.
Disgrace. Shame. American idiocy.
The poet is at the edge of our consciousness of the world, finding beyond the suspected nothingness which we imagine limits our perception another acre or so of being worth our venturing upon.
~Guy Davenport (The Geography of the Imagination)
Three days until our early decision application deadline for Writing Workshops in Greece: Thessaloniki and Thasos.
This year's faculty: Amanda Michalopoulou Scott Cairns Christopher Bakken Joanna Eleftheriou Panayotis Paddy League and Allison Wilkins Bakken
www.writingworkshopsingreece.com
Apply now to write with us on Thasos this summer. Early app deadline is 2/15. Workshops and residencies. A Roman marble quarry. Three beaches. Island cuisine. Literary hootenanny. Www.writingworkshopsingreece.com
Theology of Flight at The Common. www.thecommononline.org/theology-of-...
"One bullet. Even a rumor of bullet/ restless in the chamber of a neighbor's gun..."
Now reading applications for our summer writing workshops on the Greek island of Thasos www.writingworkshopsingreece.com
Workshops and residencies for writers on the Greek island of Thasos. Yoga, Greek language instruction, archaeology, words. Summer Faculty: Courtney Zoffness, Scott Cairns, Joanna Eleftheriou, Amanda Michalopoulou, Paddy League, Christopher Bakken, Allison Wilkins. www.writingworkshopsingreece.com
Writing Workshops in Greece: Thessaloniki & Thasos
Hello to everyone on Bluesky.
Join us this summer for literary inspiration, community and yoga on a remote peninsula on a remote island.
www.writingworkshopsingreece.com
Summer Faculty Spotlight: Courtney Zoffness is the author of the memoir-in-essays SPILT MILK (McSweeney's). She's an Associate Professor of English at Drew University and lives in Brooklyn, New York. Come find us at writingworkshopsingreece.com
βWe can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to existβ
James Baldwin
Spooky stuff from Orion magazine #orionmagazine
orionmagazine.org/product/unna...
Gorgona
"Fall back into me now, little ghost/ Let go of the shore."
www.juxtaprosemagazine.org/gorgona-by-c...
Such a great film
Home for the Holidays
Alice Brock, whose Massachusetts diner was immortalized in Arlo Guthrieβs 1967 song βAliceβs Restaurant,β died on Thursday β just a week before Thanksgiving, the holiday during which the story at the center of the song takes place. She was 83.
Here is a quick spotlight on a member of our summer faculty, the unstoppable Joanna Eleftheriou: writingworkshopsingreece.com/joanna-eleft...
Join us on the Greek island of Thasos next summer. Now reading applications.
#Resist
Friday Follows
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@radicalrhymes.bsky.social @ggrim002.bsky.social @bonhanson.bsky.social
@queeniepng1.bsky.social @getyourfoxyback.bsky.social @bombshelldaily.bsky.social
@purplehippychic.bsky.social @gemini21.bsky.social @bobyourhuckleberry.bsky.social
@bluestormcomin1.bsky.social
A lot of the dimwitted op-eds about Bluesky being an echo chamber because it doesnβt offer a platform for hate and the far right are just lazy find-and-replace reprints of op-eds about higher education being an echo chamber because it doesnβt offer a platform for hate and the far right
Happy to have a new poem "On the Way to Panormo" in the new issue of The Sewanee Review thesewaneereview.com
Relieved to know @jeffsharlet.bsky.social is tracking and reporting on Hegseth because, frankly, heβs one of the most ominous fascists Trump has chosen. Hegseth is charismatic to many MRAs; he is a skilled rhetorician and a true believer (unlike Trump). He has potential and heβs a diehard.