Tim Singleton

Insomnia’s frenemy, rain on the skylight glass.

Good lord, they had cats back when!

The desk has almost thawed. That’s exciting.

Key West treasures from Books & Books. Not languoring at the moment. That warm spell was before the freeze and steadfast snow.

Spent the day in Annapolis talking to politicians (who happen to get it) about arts funding. Not a bad day. The Walking Monks were in proximity. I believe we were chorus by presence for each other.

It astounds me how ‘everyone’ thinks they are normal and wriggles questions at the behavior of others.

A new entertainment: watching water clear and shimmy in various ways instead of its cautionary white and blue motionlessness. And then there is the going from dullness to sparkle as it takes on what to do with light.

Looking out the window to see the deer, also fed up with the frozen water ground cover, taking the plowed bike path through the woods. Nine of them. Looks ridiculous, but smart. Maybe they are evolving.

Living under snow-covered skylights has been like being in a spider’s silk cocoon, prey captured and unable to look out. Does one escape such? Today, there’s a half circle of thawed hope most of a penny wide. I can almost make out something, the memory of being alive.

Christopher Quirk | TUSSLE

Two friends chat a bit. The artist
@christopherquirk.bsky.social and the novelist Zachary Lazar. Have a look: www.tusslemagazine.com/christopher-...

Would the link share one of the paintings instead of a logo, sigh. More reason to click. You are so close to so much. Click and look and read.

Scream FIRE and warn Icarus, here comes the sun! And —say it/be it— forty degrees! Was afraid the day was only to be heat-infused, covered in clouds and, yes, warmer, but lacking the sparkle of ’round-the-corner Spring. Watch for falling feathers as the day wears on.

I love the Etch A Sketch dreams, the ones that come with a half hour extra to sleep, short bursts of trying-to-organize confusion, then the quick dissolving into another and again another. They are not refreshing, but they are interesting. Confusions abandoning themselves.

Two weeks solid, this snow, blue and heavy by the light of later day shadows, but bright, now, with the morning, bright and all that facet sparkle. It's almost light itself, and, yes, lightness.

We’re delighted to welcome Caoilinn Hughes, acclaimed author of The Wild Laughter and The Alternatives, as our featured guest for the Annual Celebration of Irish Writing & Music.

🗓️ Saturday, February 7th, 7:30 p.m.
📍 Smith Theater-HCC Campus-Columbia, Maryland
🎟️ hocopolitso.org/irish-evening/

Warrior.

These shiteaters are playing video games with the people of the Americas. That’s all the training they have had at being ‘human’.

The sky (God’s, you choose yours and I’ll go with it) shrouds America with snow.

Wondering there was a TikTok on French Onion Soup ‘cause the pile of a thousand onions at the store was down to none.

Wow. When?

In 2025, most Americans read fewer than four books. According to a YouGov poll released at year’s end, American reading habits stay in the toilet. Four in ten Americans didn’t read a single book during our last spin around the sun. And o…

"If you’re still looking for a New Year’s resolution, 'read more books' could well be good for national morale." —Brittany Allen, @literaryhub.bsky.social lithub.com/in-2025-most...

Font of ‘wasteful’ diversity: Trump’s state department orders return to Times New Roman Memo from Marco Rubio reportedly said cutting Calibri from official communication would ‘abolish yet another wasteful DEIA program’

Let’s spill all the ink and let the Rorschachs rage protest.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Does the tinnitus of leaf blowing ever end?

You kept telling us. We kept looking in the wrong place. Thanks for your persistence. The ghost of last year's contest that has been haunting our website has now been exercised. Sincere apologies for that inconvenience. You can now visit HoCoPoLitSo.org for a no-ghosts go at entering the contest.

Are you the next Ellen Conroy Kennedy Poetry Prize winner? We are looking forward to seeing your work!

For all you need to know and to enter, visit:

hocopolitso.org/2025/08/08/t...

Ross Gay comes to Columbia on November 7th.

America likes to be the best at things. These days it’s living up to that stature, being the best at being stupid.

The morals of corporate America are non existent. Profit over everything. And this isn’t even an important example. Use your imagination and scale up.

Two opportunities to see Safia Elhillo -- author of the acclaimed Bright Red Fruit -- for #FREE tomorrow on the campus of Howard Community College.

12:30 p.m. Monteabaro Hall & streamed via Vimeo (link below).
6:00 p.m. Monteabaro Hall

All you need to know:
www.howardcc.edu/discover/art...