josé olivarez

Jose Olivarez in defense of gold

Jose Olivarez

José Olivarez in defense of gold i know it's unnecessary, but hear me out: as a kid, even the gold kept in the mall was fake. chains that would leave metallic stains on our oversized white tees. when you're broke, everything you touch is artificial. our Christmas trees: plastic. puffy coats: polyester. our dreams: synthetic. we didn't come up with spinning rims: we saw it on television. hand-me-downs. one of my homies used to love saying: just cuz you're breathing doesn't mean you're alive. okay. i feel that. mouthing along to MF DOOM in my basement, i was just breathing. just playing karaoke. but let me show you some alchemy: i took the steel mill smoke, car exhaust, Kix cereal, bootleg CDs, flea market fashion, oak trees, & the real eviction warnings hanging over our heads & i spun it into something better than gold: but i still wear a gold chain around my neck. i like the weight. this life: heavier than i imagined.

Another perfect poem for February from @joseolivarez.bsky.social.

Get the book, Promises of Gold, here: bit.ly/promisesofgold

#poem #booksky #writing

Poem for February.

From @joseolivarez.bsky.social's book, Promises of Gold: bookshop.org/a/862/9781250878496

#poem #books #writing

If I were from Chicago I’d still die for Caleb Williams good lord

lit.newcity.com/2026/01/15/l...

The cover of "Lingering Inland: A Literary Tour of the Midwest," with an overhead picture of a car driving down a country road between fields.

Themes of place & legacy, and of celebration & erasure, resonate throughout “Lingering Inland,” a new anthology of 70+ essays exploring how Midwestern locales have inspired American letters. Editor @andyoler.bsky.social & forward by @joseolivarez.bsky.social. More in my Newcity feature linked below!

Sunday Love, by José Olivarez this life gives us only so many hours to share & how we share, i worry, is wasteful—Sunday night & the tv on, so we don't look at each other. on screen some reality tv stars threaten to choke each other out. my love, we are bad television, happy as we are to hold hands & eat greasy pizza together during these small breaths before Monday arrives like a fist.

Reading @joseolivarez.bsky.social’s Promises of Gold today and this one matches how it feels today, even though it’s already Monday.

Dear Bluesky, I am teaching a workshop tomorrow. It’s pay what you can and open to all skill levels. Email NOLOVEWITHOUTTEETH AT GMAIL DOT COM to register.

From @joseolivarez.bsky.social's book, Promises of Gold: bookshop.org/a/862/9781250878496

#poem #booksky #writing

the pope dipping into that cabinet where he hides the extra blood of christ

Okay. Here are the rules. If the Chicago Bears win, I’d like to talk about football for the next millennium. If they lose, I’ve never heard of football and I’m not interested at all

read a bunch of new poems at last night's house reading

American Tragedy given your circumstances you become mouthless there- fore voiceless therefore your movements require translation given steel and made art objects given art objects the audience made noise the noise was harmless to the state therefore the state reciprocated with grants it did not matter that my art objects were prison bars bent into letters to spell the word abolition it did not matter that my art objects said fuck ronald reagan said all presidents suck the state cannot dis- tinguish between art objects barbed wire and roses are equal to the state the state loves art objects until the art objects are demolition crews outside police headquarters given dem- olition crews in front of police headquarters the state will murder artist artists don’t destroy police therefore the state feeds artists the state allows artists to sit on its lap given the constraints of capitalism given rent due every month, given family members in need given insulin prices the art- ists will accept the lap of the state therefore those proclaim- ing to speak for the voiceless are being translated by the state therefore a microphone is the state’s constant art object like a kaleidoscope it refracts the speaker’s voice into the same patriotic nonsense some artists don’t know they are being used by the state this makes them better compensated representation doesn’t matter for the children being held by the state whatever they say isn’t fit for art given applause isn’t an option given the exhibit is permanent given its ugl- iness it’s steel its pickled breath unfit for postcard therefore, it is easier to listen to an artist outside detention capable of spinning the secret into a coin we can share at a dinner party where everyone will sign and look contemplatively that’s their part in this American tragedy

José Olivarez / @joseolivarez.bsky.social

Nvm. Rishi deserves what he gets

JUSTICE FOR RISHI!!!! #industry

Gorilla by Little Simz is my favorite song rn

It’s always cool to see people sharing my poems. Grateful ❤️🙏🏼

From @joseolivarez.bsky.social's book, Promises of Gold: bookshop.org/a/862/9781250878496

#poem #booksky #writing

Lingering Inland A Literary Tour of the Midwest Author: Edited by Andy Oler Foreword by José Olivarez

Interior pages about Gwendolyn Brooks

Interior pages about John Joseph Mathews

Interior pages about Sojourner Truth

Happy Pub Date to LINGERING INLAND: A Literary Tour of the Midwest edited by @andyoler.bsky.social, with a foreword by @joseolivarez.bsky.social!
www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p0...

#LiteraryStudies #Midwest

Do you play with multiple languages in your writing? Join award-winning author @joseolivarez.bsky.social for a poetry course exploring themes of hybridization, multiplicity, form, and the breaking of form. Register before January 8 for an early-bird discount (while space remains!): bit.ly/4phRdc2

A large CBP presence is back in Chicago this morning, with sightings and arrests reported across the southwest side and Cicero. Bovino is also here.

If you need three pages and like 900 words of bittersweet nostalgia this morning Jose Olivarez has got you

Lingering Inland

And this month, just under the wire, brings @andyoler.bsky.social's edited collection LINGERING INLAND, a set of 73 original short essays riffing on the places of Midwestern literature, with a foreword by @joseolivarez.bsky.social www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p0...

Photo shared by Christina Nguyen on December 04, 2025 tagging @naomi.marie__, @nathanmiller612, @rubyscher, @holaarepa, @birksg, @chefjholig, and @haihaimpls. May be an image of text that says 'AS SOME OF YOU MAY HAVE HEARD, I.C.E. PAID US A VISIT AT AREPA YESTERDAY. OUR GM NAOMI & TEAM MEMBERS FOLLOWED OUR ICE PROTOCOL PERFECTLY, THE AGENTS LEFT & NO ONE WAS DETAINED. tO WHOEVER NEEDS THIS: KNOW YOUR RIGHTS WHEN IT COMES TO I.C.E. (1/5)'. christinanguyenmpls 11h We had an ICE scare yesterday and even though we’re afraid of the repercussions of being vocal, we feel that it’s also important to inform people that this is right at our front door. ICE is not some far away boogeyman. They are here right now, spreading fear in our community. We’re so grateful to our entire staff and their bravery. They did the right things and couldn’t have dealt with this situation in a better way. We are grateful to our community activists that came to support us from @miracmn @litosonlake and Monarcha. We hope that if you find yourself in the same situation, that you find these resources helpful. Peace and take care of each other ❤️

Photo by Christina Nguyen on December 04, 2025. May be an image of text that says 'IF I.C.E. COMES TO YOUR RESTAURANT: UNLESS THE AGENTS HAVE A SIGNED JUDICIAL WARRANT, THEY CANNOT ENTER A PRIVATE AREA LIKE THE KITCHEN WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION EVEN IF THEY LIE AND SAY THY DON'T NEED A WARRANT, STAND YOUR GROUND AND INSIST THAT YOU NEED PAPERWORK (2/5)'.

Photo by Christina Nguyen on December 04, 2025. May be an image of text that says 'IF I.C.E. COMES TO YOUR RESTAURANT: HAVE OTHER STAFF OR PEOPLE PRESENT RECORD THEM AND EVERYTHING THEY ARE SAYING. (PEOPLE DOING UNLAWFUL THINGS HATE BEING CAUGHT IN TH ACT) YOU HAVE THE RIGHT to REFUSE SERVICE & YOU CAN ASK M tO LEAVE YOUR PRIVATE PROPERTY IF THY DON'T HAVE A WARRANT. (3/5)'.

WE ARE HEARTBROKEN THAT OUR IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES IN THE TWIN CITIES ARE BEING TARGETED AND TERRORIZED BY THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION. THESE ARE REAL PEOPLE THAT ARE BEING USED AS POLITICAL PAWNS AND IT'S APPALLING. REGARDLESS OF THEIR LEGAL STATUS, THERE ARE SO MANY LATINOS & SOMALIANS WHO ARE AFRAID OF BEING DETAINED DUE TO MISTAKEN IDENTITY BECAUSE THEY KNOW THEY MIGHT NOT GET DUE PROCESS & A FAIR TRIAL. THEY WILL JUST END UP IN DETENTION CENTERS & A LEGAL PROCESS THAT HAS BEEN DESCRIBED AS A BLACK HOLE. WE STAND IN SUPPORT OF OUR IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY, WHO ARE THE BACKBONE OF THIS COUNTRY. WITHOUT IMMIGRANTS, AMERICA IS NOT THE SAME PLACE. STAY SAFE OUT THERE & TAKE CARE OF YOUR NEIGHBORS. LOVE, HOLA AREPA & HAI HAI (5/5)

ICE raided a James Beard award winning restaurant & because the chef/owner was prepared, left emptyhanded:

Join author @joseolivarez.bsky.social for an upcoming poetry workshop. You'll be messing the language up on purpose towards musicality and clarity. Writers working with any languages welcome! Register now for 20% off—while space remains! bit.ly/4phRdc2

Promises of Gold by José Olivarez — Brew & Forge Henry Holt, 2023. ““My people I am poly with the tortillas” might be my favorite single sentence I have ever read in a poem. Get the book for that line alone. Promises of Gold is a heartfelt and hila...

PROMISES OF GOLD by @joseolivarez.bsky.social: a groundbreaking collection of poems by José Olivarez that "shines bright as the gold that got us into all this colonial mess." (Nate Marshall)

Find a signed copy at the Brew&Forge Book Fair through 12/3!

www.brewandforge.com/bookfair/p/p...

Store — Brew & Forge

Last call at Brew&Forge Book Fair 2025!!! Browse thru 11:59 PM to buy a book and support community organizing!

📚 all books $20–free shipping in the US
❣️ help raise funds for @arocbayarea.bsky.social
🧵 below is a thread of amazing signed books you can find tonight at www.brewandforge.com/bookfair!

A sneak peek of our winter classes—register while space remains! at.pw.org/classes

@joseolivarez.bsky.social
@mauricenow.bsky.social
@marcelohcastillo.bsky.social
@namratapoddar.bsky.social
@alissonwood.bsky.social
@jailthepoets.bsky.social

they doubted / your lungs. claimed you hid lakes / in your spine