Shara Lessley

😂

This Sunday! Perfect event to usher in the Keatsian season of mists...and a happy respite from the daily shite happening, well, you know. Hope you can join us in poetry. 💙

Same thought when he listed all those dudes.

Next weekend, please join us in celebration of #StanleyPlumly. A terrific lineup of writers will be reading from Stan's recently published COLLECTED #POEMS. Virtual event. Sept 28. 3:00 to 4:30. Link to register with @hvwriterscenter.bsky.social. 💙
Readings | HVWC share.google/ZR3g1pq731kN...

Today, the children at Annunciation Catholic School were shot while praying. Two were killed in the pews.

Thoughts and prayers are NOT enough. We need immediate and comprehensive gun safety laws. That’s what saves lives.

I’m Dating a Man Who’s Married to a man who’s dating a man who’s

In this crazy life, we never know who's pulling for us! Be happy, Natalie! (delighted by the lift this #poem by Aaron Smith gave me this morning) 💜
poets.org/poem/im-dati...

Congrats! Terrific news!

Firebird ballet. Dancer in red tutu leaps across crowd of maidens and animals, monsters, etc. New York City Ballet.

Drafting about Chagall fleeing N*zi France for NY, his beloved wife suddenly dying, a year of mourning (no art) until Balanchine commissions him to design costumes / sets for the reimagined Firebird ballet (Stravinsky) with genius Maria Tallchief in titular role. The world sucks, but there's that.

@westbranchmagazine.bsky.social's Creative Nonfiction Editor here! Would love to see your #essays this season. If I've encouraged you in the past, please resubmit! Formal innovation, personal #essays, eco-focused, lgbtq+ -- I'm looking for your best and most surprising work! No fees. We pay. #cnf

Starred, indeed. Looking forward to this. 💙

You can send him my way. www.sharalessley.com.

Immigration agents told a teenage US citizen: ‘You’ve got no rights.’ He secretly recorded his brutal arrest Video from Kenny Laynez-Ambrosio, 18, puts fresh scrutiny on the harsh tactics used to reach the Trump administration’s ambitious enforcement targets

“You’ve got no rights here. You’re a migo, brother.” Afterward, agents can be heard bragging and making light of the arrests, calling the stun gun use “funny” and quipping: “You can smell that … $30,000 bonus.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

West Branch opens in August! We pay! (Also, same)

The evil that men do lives after them

Blood Harmony

Oh wow! Pretty sure the Opry makes an appearance in Bruce's new book (just posted about it)! Blood Harmony | University of Wisconsin Press share.google/STwXZGb0DQRh...

Blood Harmony

#BruceSnider isn't here, but the link to preorder his new book of #poems is! BLOOD HARMONY comes out Nov, 2025. Brotherhood, addiction, queerness, and country music. So many forms. It's a dazzler! #booksky @uwiscpress.bsky.social 🏳️‍🌈 share.google/STwXZGb0DQRh...

Thanks!

I am so overwhelmed by the constant news coming out of this admin. This, itself, isn't news or new. I am just, good god,...

I'm still going strong and love this message from Susan Choi. 4496 words and counting. A tremendous accomplishment for the sloth. 🦥 #1000wordsofsummer

If you write more than #1000wordsofsummer the first two days and then subtract 500+ revising on the third, but then add 600 more later that afternoon, is it a deficit? This writer sloth needs a nap. 🦥

Same, "after the dance" lady, same.

The sloth is off! Today's haul: 1006 words + a morning freewrite. Friends, don't expect me to keep up this pace. #1000wordsofsummer 🦥

Third collection of poems, DOUBLETAKE, officially has an order and TOC. I've been sitting on this manuscript forever. Guess it's past time.

I'm in. Because somebody needs to rep the writer-sloths. 🦥

For years, I, too, wept,

in secret,

and so did not weep at all.

—Jennifer Chang, from "The Death of Socrates"

So it begins. Today's draft: an essay about rivers. Kaweah (California), Isis (England), Jordan (al Maghtas). Grief and doubt, falling away and returning. Wish me luck.

Thanks so much, Burgi! I really appreciate it. Trying to reach people with this one.

"Let Me Whisper in Your Ear: A Craft Essay" by Shara Lessley Shara Lessley on the craft of writing about family secrets in literary nonfiction

I'm no longer letting fear, shame, or power holders police my writing. Thanks @lisaampleman.bsky.social at @cincinnatireview.bsky.social for the invitation to say something about creative #nonfiction & disclosure. Craft #essay includes models & reading list. 💜
tinyurl.com/5f5dhs7x

Your periodic reminder that one way to think about privilege is: who's allowed to make mistakes?

a woman is riding on the back of a pink horse ALT: a woman is riding on the back of a pink horse

If yr teaching meter, here are some lines from "Pink Pony Club" that are in iambs:

"I'm having wicked dreams of leaving Tennessee."

"I can't ignore the crazy visions of me in LA."

My students scanned their sonnet lines by singing them to the tune of these @chappellroanbr.bsky.social lines. Dope.