Caitlin Gildrien

something something political violence

aw, thanks 🥰

a screenshot reading: caitlin gildrien / editors' choice prize in poetry - 1st place winner "Please list any education or training you have had that is relevant to your artistic practice." 1. I used to burn my fingers on the espresso machine until I trained them not to burn. 2. I learned that a seedling tray and a serving tray balance on the palm in the same way.

a screenshot reading: 3. Once, in the third hour of weeding carrots, I squinted into the sun and learned I was pregnant. 4. I was trained to smile. 5. Once, I burned my fingers on the espresso machine while the boss's son stood behind me, asking me what my boyfriend called me in bed. I learned better than to tell him.

a screenshot reading: 6. I was taught how to unzip the spine from a dead rat in one hard pull. 7. I learned to sit perfectly still until the bell rang. 8. Once, I sat bleeding through my pants in a fancy restaurant and learned I was not pregnant any more.

a screenshot reading: 9. I trained myself to mend ragged things with scraps of thread. 10. I was trained to cut a straight line with a sharp blade. Caitlin Gildrien is a poet, visual artist, and designer living at the feet of the Green Mountains of Vermont. Her work can be found in Rattle, the Rumpus, Poets Reading the News, and more, where it has been nominated for Best of the Net and Pushcart Prizes. Her first manuscript, Cradlesong for a World’s End, is looking for a home. Find her at cattailcreative.com.

little good news in the sea of bad news: @birdcoatquarterly.bsky.social just published their summer issue, with my prize-winning poem at the helm ✨

www.birdcoatquarterly.com/post/caitlin...

oooh thank you

Trump Wants To Deport Noncitizens Using A Little-Known Provision. This Bill Seeks To Repeal It. The bill, first obtained by HuffPost, takes aim at a law allowing visa holders and legal residents to be deported if the secretary of state thinks they're a foreign policy threat.

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 was once a rarely used provision. But now Marco Rubio uses it daily. It was his basis for going after Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk, and others to suppress political speech.

So @ross.house.gov and I want to repeal it.

a closeup of the interior of a mostly-empty vending machine, showing four rows of spiral wires. there is one Heath bar and another unidentifiable candy bar (maybe a Butterfinger?) partway back in one row.

in the market for a used vending machine for a ridiculous project if you’ve got one hanging around

today in “you can be gay but not queer.” goddamn it, Pete. 😖

yesssssssss 💀⚔️🦴🖤

A poem: Poem for Those Lawmakers Who Betray Democracy Have you seen the old photos of the stump of a sequoia, so large it has been made into a dancefloor, filled with couples laughing? Or the men beside the mountain of buffalo skulls, or hip-deep in elephant tusks. I wonder about them. I imagine their souls curled like snails in their shells. Didn’t they weep, sometimes, knowing? I imagine they felt something like triumph when the holy thing fell. And then the shockwave. And then an empty space. And then the emptiness. — Caitlin Gildrien

A poem: public pool, Fourth of July, or, what I mean by Freedom there is the high chaos of the shallow end, the shrieks and splashes. there are the explosions of water from the cannonballing kids in the deep end, the white-gold sun on everyone, the cement so hot we dance and hop once our feet dry. the high schoolers arrayed carefully on their towels, pretending not to care if anyone sees. there’s the sound of an ice-cream truck in the distance. and there’s the teenage lifeguard walking up to his station, red trunks and bare chest, the top- surgery scars still shiny, grinning like light on water, his whistle tapping gently against his heart with every step. — Caitlin Gildrien

couple of poems for the day

fortify inside why spiritual practice matters during the rising authoritarian tide

Please believe me when I tell you:

Double the fuck down on your spiritual practice now.

You are going to need it.

And no, that doesn't have to be a prayer-god thing.

The thing that sustains and nourishes you.

That makes you more alive to yourself, the world, others.

More present.

More:

the snoot of an unbearably cute white goldendoodle snuggling up to the camera

an extremely fluffy white goldendoodle sitting in a pile of fallen leaves, looking happy and adorable

Teddy 💖

What are some good orgs for trans youth that could use some donations on this awful day? Reply below.

The New York Times Leads the Movement to Stop Zohran Mamdani As the democratic socialist surges against Andrew Cuomo, the opposition to his campaign is also increasing.

Every single day living in America is a feeling of helpless psychic terror as we watch the fascism machine use all its money and power to suppress any hope we have of extricating ourselves from this nightmare.

Sen. Padilla pushed to ground, handcuffed for demanding DHS not lie Forcibly removing a sitting US senator, as they opposed the president's immigration policy, is a part of a broader slide.

A DHS spokesperson defended the detainment, accusing Sen. Padilla of failing to properly identify himself during Sec. Kristi Noem's press conference.

But multiple videos show Padilla clearly identifying himself as a senator.

Every flashbang could instead be a meal for a poor kid. Every hotel room for a National Guardsman deployed to fire at our neighbors could house a homeless vet. Every "less-than-lethal" bullet pulled from a journalist's eye could be already needed healthcare for anyone else. All of this is a choice.

an orange cat squished flat between a sliding glass door and its screen door, side view

a cat squished between a sliding glass door and its screen door, top view.

orange cats are special

an acrylic painting of a blue nude figure reclining with a background of abstract pink and red

just dropped this lil darling off for a pride show at a local gallery. first attempt at this kind of style; I think it turned out ok!

I have a huge request for my readers: Trump's tax and spending bill will be moving through the Senate. Senators can invoke the Byrd Rule to try to remove the anti-trans Medicaid ban and EHB changes.

You can find and call your senator here and ask them to do that.

Please share as well.

idk if it’s because I’m on my second anxiety attack of the day or what but my fridge is electric-whining so goddamn loud right now, I can’t take it, serious last-straw territory, somebody come put one or the other of us out of our misery

a brick wall with a fluorescent EXIT sign. a plaque below reads “The Tarses family presents an exit sign leading to another exit sign”

favorite thing I saw at @massmoca.bsky.social this weekend

To proceed to the survey, please check off the box and click the button below.

Hey folks, I have a HUGE request from the Trevor Project and would appreciate help getting the word out.

Trevor is now recruiting for it's 2025 National Youth Survey. They need people 13-24, LGBTQ+, in the United States to take it.

This research is critical to LGBTQ+ rights.

Take it here:

fuck. seeing it coming doesn’t make it easier to see

was just checking out at the co-op and putting my bags in the cart, and the lady says “73.48” and I was like, omg, three full bags of groceries, only $73???

but it turns out I had missed the first syllable, which was “two.”

😭

an acrylic painting on an easel, the top half of a reclining nude from behind in blue on a bright pink background. the bottom half of the figure is covered in white paint

in which I cover up half the painting because her legs were like two inches too far down even though they were pretty great otherwise, sometimes I really see the appeal of working digitally

takeout-style sesame noodles with cucumber One of my favorite better-than-takeout dishes is full of ingredients you keep in the pantry + any noodles you’ve got + any raw vegetables you like thinly sliced.

ah, it’s a cold noodle salad kinda day! I’m making these (with a side of edamame in the pod) 🙂 smittenkitchen.com/2015/08/take...

Montana Court Issues Final Blow to Anti-Trans Health Care Law A judge found that the law's premise is not scientific, but “political and ideological.”

1. Huge news: A Montana judge has issued the final blow to the state's gender affirming care ban for trans youth as unconstitutional.

Because it was a state court, it doesn't even matter what SCOTUS says - it will remain blockd.

The latest from S. Baum.

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just pulled one off my living room curtain, burn the whole house down

have officially reached the “every walk immediately followed by a shower and incinerating all the clothes you were wearing” portion of tick season

A Chicago Pope implies the existence of an MLA Pope and APA Pope

concert photo of Allison Russell, a blazingly beautiful Black woman in a green dress with long braids, and Anaïs Mitchell, an also gorgeous white woman in a black shirt. they both look joyful. Allison is holding a microphone and has her other arm raised. Anaïs is smiling at the audience

Allison Russell and her band during the end of show bow, holding hands with arms raised, all smiling

blessed to see Allison Russell & her dynamite band last night; double-blessed w a surprise performance of Wedding Song with Anaïs Mitchell. here’s to the artists using their voices to name the violence & destruction in the world & urging us toward better. here’s to the artists. here’s to better.