Shane McCrae

On Thursday, October 9th at 7PM I’ll be reading at the Book Culture on W 112th with Phillis Levin and Rosanna Warren in celebration of Rosanna’s brilliant new book, Hindsight. I hope hope hope to see you there! Info and registration here: www.bookculture.com/event/112th-...

American Poetry Review - John Berryman - "Long Distance" Published in American Poetry Review - Volume 54  |  No. 05

My gosh do I love the ending of this Dream Song from "Only Sing" (obliquely, one of Berryman's many Elegies for Delmore Schwartz). Thank you @elizabethscanlon.bsky.social and everybody at @ampoetryreview.bsky.social for publishing it. aprweb.org/poems/long-d...

Donate to Empower Nicholas: Education, Growth, & Career Fund, organized by Nicholas McCrae Hi, I’m Nicholas I’m 21 years old and have been trying to figur… Nicholas McCrae needs your support for Empower Nicholas: Education, Growth, & Career Fund

Howdy, y'all! So, I mentioned a few weeks ago that my son makes rad videos about weather. Well, he has now created a fundraiser to help him fund that work, as well as his life goals in general. Thanks for taking a look. www.gofundme.com/f/empower-ni...

It's nice to be reminded that the iambic pentameter line is one of the most beautiful things to have ever existed.

HUNDREDS of Fire Tornadoes: The Lightning-Sparked San Luis Obispo & Brea Oil Fires in California YouTube video by Nick Block

New, corrected version of the video: www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

YouTube video by Nick Block The California Oil Fire That Produced HUNDREDS of Fire Tornadoes

My son makes hella interesting videos about extreme weather events. Here's one about an outbreak of fire tornadoes, which I didn't even know were a thing before he told me: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWyZ...

I try to write poems. I’m working on it. And I’m very grateful to everybody at @newversereview.bsky.social, especially Steve Knepper and Mary Grace Mangano, for publishing, alongside many rad poems, this poem. I tried. I worked on it. And I hope you like it. www.newversereview.com/2-3-shane-mc...

Elizabethan Sonnet on He Recalls His Time as a Student Musician as He Talks About Bombing Iran A poem by Shane McCrae

A few months ago, I thought I was done writing these. But maybe not quite yet? I’m so grateful to @bdralyuk.bsky.social and everybody at @nimrodjournal.bsky.social for publishing this sonnet. I hope you like it. nimrodjournal.substack.com/p/elizabetha...

YouTube video by New York Times Podcasts A.O. Scott on the Joy of Close Reading Poetry

NYT: www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2JJ...
FT: www.ft.com/content/c3a6...

In the past few days, some extraordinary and heartening things have happened, and I’m feeling less down about my poems. The New York Times Book Review podcast recommended “New and Collected Hell,” and the Financial Times included it on their list of Best Summer Books of 2025! I am so, so grateful.

It's a good suggestion! But there's nothing I can do. My edition was guided by, in part, a remark Berryman made about it being up to readers to slot in with his complete edition any Dream Songs published after it. So "Only Sing" looks like previous editions, and, like them, includes no notes.

I'm afraid not. As far as I know, no such edition exists. Hopefully, if a complete, scholarly edition of Dream Songs is ever published, a complete, scholarly edition would include annotations.

A thing arrived in the mail today.

RIP Alice Notley

I guess I miss England pretty hard--I saw a Cadbury Twirl in a bodega this morning and almost started weeping.

This morning, for the first time in a long time--a decade?--I submitted to a journal that only accepts physical submissions (which is also a journal on my list of journals to which I'm afraid to submit), and wow it felt good and weird and good. The tactile! Communication via the mails!

The book comes out in December, but here, now, via the New Yorker, is “Henry’s Ode,” from “Only Sing: 152 Uncollected Dream Songs,” by John Berryman (edited by me). I am so grateful to everyone involved, especially Kevin Young and Hannah Aizenman. Woo, y’all! Woo! www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

The eye deliberate
May qualify the joy
And that which we create
We also may destroy.

Poetry in the Reading Room | The New York Historical Celebrate National Poetry Month with a special event in the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library's historic Reading Room.

Folks, I'm reading with @rika99.bsky.social on Friday, April 18th. Jason Schneiderman will be the host, and if you're around I hope you can make it if for no other reason than to hear what Erika and Jason have to say. www.nyhistory.org/programs/poe...

Shane McCrae - poetry — Action, Spectacle

Thank you everybody at Action, Spectacle for publishing a few of my poems alongside wonders: www.action-spectacle.com/winter-2025-...

John Berryman has been a central poet in my life for more than half my life. But I never imagined his name and mine would be on the same book cover. And yet here they are, together. The book will be published in December, and I hope you like it. I still can't believe I had anything to do with it.

I’m now live! Like and share to get this vital information out to people! #wxsky #tornado m.youtube.com/watch?v=R4g5...

"New and Collected Hell" is out today! If you read it, I hope you like it. I'm grateful to Melissa and my family and everyone at @fsgbooks.bsky.social. A decade of work, a decade of hells emerging and seeming to fade only to reveal themselves as indelible. In the poem, Trump is a demonic beetle.

Obviously boys should not be presidents.

Never again.

Just deleted my Twitter account! The joy! The freedom!

The Poet Shane McCrae Goes Back to Hell McCrae’s work obsessively retreads paths through Heaven, history, and eternal torment. What can we learn from his relentless investigation of suffering’s labyrinth?

"New and Collected Hell" is reviewed in the February 10th New Yorker holy moly I can hardly even think about it! I'm so grateful to Elisa Gonzalez and everybody at
@newyorker.com! Such a beautifully written review. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Only Sing The never-before-published poems of one of the greatest American poets, John Berryman. John Berryman’s Dream Songs are arguably the funniest, saddest, mo...

Friends, I'm so excited to tell you that I have edited the uncollected Dream Songs of John Berryman, and they will be published in December by FSG! "Only Sing" was a long joy to work on. I am so grateful to Berryman's family, and Jonathan Galassi, and Chris Richards! us.macmillan.com/books/978037...

Hey, y'all! I'll be reading at Poets House with the wonderful and best poets Carolina Ebeid, Sally Wen Mao, and Evie Shockley on the 30th! You come too. poetshouse.org/event/ebeid-...

Another revised poem, since we're back to where we were.