Davi Gray (she/they)

Notebook page that says "Do what you love and you'll work super hard all the time with no separations or any boundaries and also take everything extremely personally."

Feeling this. 📝

Better Things is a series of events sponsored by the ReEntry Lab, in partnership with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop (MPWW) and Moon Palace Books. The ReEntry Lab is an organization working to connect writers and other artists leaving incarceration to a community that’s ready to receive them.

Lamar Renville, Eli Simmons, Douglas Kearney, and Nell Ubbelohde.

Both reading and open mic will feature ASL interpretation.

Light refreshments will be served; masks are required at Moon Palace Books and are available on-site. This is a free event.

Lamar Renville (they/them) is a two-spirit author, musician, Dakota language teacher and poet descended from the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate.

🎤

Please join us on Tuesday, August 5th, at 7:00pm, at Moon Palace Books, for our next 5×5 Reading, featuring five fantastic artists: Ollie Schminkey,

I want to be clear: this is what American prisons are like.

I spent years posting about the humanitarian crisis in U.S. prisons. The criminal legal system consigns Americans who are incarcerated to live like this FOR YEARS. DECADES.

Pitch-perfect answer. 10/10, zero notes.

the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop (MPWW) and Moon Palace Books. The ReEntry Lab is an organization working to connect writers and other artists leaving incarceration to a community that’s ready to receive them.

#TCPoetry #TCOpenMics #BetterThings #ReEntryLab #MPWW

followed by an open mic.

Both reading and open mic will feature ASL interpretation.

Light refreshments will be served; masks are required at Moon Palace Books and are available on-site. This is a free event.
Better Things is a series of events sponsored by the ReEntry Lab, in partnership with

To take a class or to see more of their work, check out ollieschminkey.com.
🎤
Please join us on Tuesday, August 5th, at 7:00pm, at Moon Palace Books, for our next 5×5 Reading, featuring five fantastic artists: Ollie Schminkey, Lamar Renville, Eli Simmons, Douglas Kearney, and Nell Ubbelohde,

its 3rd year.  They are also a recipient of a 2025 Arts Impact for Individuals grant through the Minnesota Regional Arts Council.  You can also find them making pottery, dancing alone in their kitchen, or playing with their cat Pete, who is always trying to eat things he shouldn’t.

Where I Dry the Flowers (Button Poetry, 2024) and Dead Dad Jokes (Button Poetry, 2021), which was shortlisted for both the Midwest Independent Publishers Association and the Eric Hoffer Grand Prize. They are founder and director of Midwest Poetry Mash-Up, a national slam poetry tournament entering

which serves primarily queer and trans writers. Their work has been featured everywhere from Poets.org to Upworthy, and they’ve performed poems in 21 states, with their work garnering over 3 million views on YouTube. They are the author of four chapbooks and two full-length collections:

Photograph of Ollie Schminkey, a smiling white nonbinary poet with shoulder-length hair tucked under a green knit hat; they are wearing large glasses and a brown sweatshirt and are posed in front of a blurred background of trees.

Ollie Schminkey (they/them) has spent the past decade coaching, mentoring, teaching classes, and running workshops for poets.

Ollie Schminkey (they/them) has spent the past decade coaching, mentoring, teaching classes, and running workshops for poets.  They facilitate, direct, coach, and host many organizations, including a decade-long weekly writing workshop called Well-Placed Commas,

I was never able to recover whatever the idea was. Must have been good, though - I drew *two* stars! 😆🫠🧚🏼‍♀️

Or, you know, bluesky can show it in full. Couldn't tell from the preview 🤷🏼‍♀️.

Partial page of notebook with lots of handwriting; the last line says, in the margin, "Poem Start," with two hand-drawn five-pointed stars. The line next to this marginal notation is empty.

I try very hard to capture poem ideas in the moment, because every thought is evanescent.
I opened one of my notebooks and found this (view full photo to see margin):

Ahh, ADHD, let me count the ways....

Thank you. This is a wondrous way to propagate love. ❤️‍🩹

A reminder today, what would have been @saaramyrene.bsky.social's 50th birthday, that I'm raising money in her name for the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop this month

Drenched in Reflection Cause we’re not allowed in public, not really.My mom thinks everyone is enamored with my beauty,But I know they are surprised to see one of usLiving. Outside is a stage & I’m a pretty player.I love wh...

This is a banger:
poets.org/poem/drenche...

Agreed 💯
Like, seek real intimacy with *yourself*, people. If or when you have someone else as a partner, everyone will be better off.

Congratulations! 🙌🏼🔥🙌🏼

When AI is allowed, developers spend less time actively coding and searching for information, and instead spend time prompting AI, waiting on/reviewing AI outputs, and idle. We find no single reason for the slowdown—it’s driven by a combination of factors.

poet davi gray performing at buckslam at indeed brewing

a full house for this month’s Buckslam poetry slam in its new venue (Indeed Brewing in MPLS). Here’s the great @davigray.bsky.social.

Also any excuse to reshare my @racketmn.com piece about WHY these kinds of spaces matter, and persist through spoken word stereotypes: racketmn.com/slam-poetry-...

How does the right tear down progressive societies? It starts with a joke | George Monbiot Whether it’s bloodshed at Glastonbury or starving people on benefits, their ‘irony poisoning’ seeps obscene ideas into the range of the possible, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

'Researchers see the use of jokes to break taboos and reduce the thresholds of hate speech as a form of “strategic mainstreaming”. When people become desensitised by ironic calls for violence, the difference between humor and ideological conviction can begin to break down.'

tinyurl.com/Ironicpoison

Did National Weather Service cuts lead to the Texas flood disaster? We don’t know | Rebecca Solnit We all need to be careful about how we get information and reach conclusions – especially now

1/ Rebecca Solnit: "The desire to have an explanation, & the desire for that explanation to be tidy & aligned w/ one’s politics, easily becomes a willingness to accept what fits. But knowing we don’t know, knowing the answers are not yet in, or there are multiple causes ...

No pay wall.

More like Go Go Go 😆

Experience ADHD | Web.Lab | Wix Studio Get a small taste of what it's like to see things differently. Experience the ups and downs of ADHD, including hyperactvity, impulsivity, and time blindness.

Great design & example of web-mediated art (sorry, fellow sufferers):
www.adhdexperience.com

Better Things flyer overlaid with text, "Worst. July. Ever. At least we've got Better Things every now and then." Another overlay reads, "DM to subscribe to my newsletter. Or visit news.davigray.com."

New news in the usual place! Feel like you're missing out? LMK & I'll add you to my newsletter! 🥰

TL;DR - Better Things August 5th (see @reentrylab for more on that). And what I've been up to (lots).

Donate to Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop :: Powered by Aplos Donate to Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop

This month, I’ll match the first $50 of donations to MPWW that mention Saara’s name, up to a total of $500. Donate at the link and put Saara’s name in the notes section. Or mail checks to MPWW, PO Box 7262, Minneapolis, MN 55407 and write Saara’s name in the memo. You can also share this post. Thx!