Christopher Patton

1. A plague-year reader Another from Horsetail Rhizome. I wrote it about Dumuzi, my 2020 book of poems, for a reader Gaspereau Press made in lieu of the in-person promotions – launches & tours & the like – that ha…

Another from Horsetail Rhizome, written for Gaspereau Press about Dumuzi, my 2020 book of poems, on the presenthood of myth & the happenstances of poetic form.
artofcompost.ca/2025/07/30/1...

Typographia I Asterisk In the summer of 2022, as Guest Curator at the Centre for Renaissance & Reformation Studies, I curated a small physical exhibition of handpress-printed books, Typographia, exploring six distinctive glyphs found on the early modern page. I also began a digital version of Typographia, coding it on Twine, an open-source platform for interactive, non-linear games. The first part, on the history…

The first part of Typographia, a digital exhibition on the typography of the early modern page, is now live at an interweb near you.

Photos: 'No Kings' Protests Across America Yesterday, according to estimates by event organizers, millions marched in protest against the Trump administration, including its recent controversial immigration-enforcement raids. Hundreds of “No K...

Did my heart good to see these pics today.

www.theatlantic.com/photography/...

So sad. But he and his wife are still close. At least he has that.

American Spring? How nonviolent protest in the US is accelerating Contrary to conventional wisdom, anti-Trump protests this year have dwarfed 2017 in size, and they have been extraordinarily peaceful.

wagingnonviolence.org/2025/06/amer...

Shame on ABC. Kudos to Moran.

Dress rehearsal for a coup, with Stephen Miller as stage manager. Here's an excellent statement of his aesthetics.

Moran should be applauded, not suspended, for seeing and saying it, so more of the rest of us can see it, and say it.

0. Horsetail rhizome In high school I was called by one boy, he’s a family doctor now, and also, thanks to a low charisma you often see in autocrats in the news, by many others there, Horse.

An excerpt from my forthcoming book, Horsetail Rhizome.

Gotta just note, succession ≠ secession, though the conflation opens all sorts of interesting lines of inquiry.

But of course!

Where I come from (academia) that's a sign of generative AI.

At least he has a sense of humour about it? I mean, he means to be funny here, right?

Generative AI is the cognitive equivalent of high fructose corn syrup. Forget the printing press, forget the steam engine. High fructose corn syrup. By the time we have a name for the cognitive diabetes we're courting, it'll be too late to reverse it.

Derailed tonight from grading and documenting to write this. I guess this is what Mother's Day means to me these days.

YouTube video by Toronto Sun WATCH: Carney's response to Trump saying "never say never" to 51st state

Watch PM Mark Carney quote Shakespeare in silent answer to Trump's "never say never." And King Lear no less (V.3.372)! A grandiose senescent tyrant on his way out.

youtu.be/8yDo49k0JAg?...

Agh! Seemed too good to be true.

And not – in case the subtext didn't come through – on Democrats who don't.

Well, this is what the slide from democracy to dictatorship looks like. History will look kindly on Democrats who say so.

Save Our Votes From Abroad! Rally and March-Toronto Democrats Abroad strives to provide Americans abroad a Democratic voice in our government and elect Democratic candidates by mobilizing the overseas vote.

Americans in Toronto! Protect your vote! The votes of millions of others! Here's a small but real thing we can do to fight the tyranny taking shape in our home country.

www.democratsabroad.org/juliabuchana...

YouTube video by PBS NewsHour WATCH: Trump ‘simply floated’ idea of deporting U.S. citizens, White House’s Leavitt says

The slope gets slipperier. We need mass action, millions in the streets, general strike, every nonviolent action in the arsenal.

youtu.be/Cs32oUJPXWU?...

I fear we may be ahead of you on that score in Toronto.

Hey Paul. Do you not find tho that the rise of generative AI makes it harder to get students to do their thinking entirely for themselves? E.g., Grammarly is now AI-assisted and will edit your rough draft sentence by sentence. As for reading ... oops, got distracted, forgot what I was going to say.

Thanks Stacy. I hear you.

Love letters to the oligarchs A day after the national and global Hands Off protests – we were maybe 300 in Toronto – all the honks & waves & shouts in support were especially gratifying – I got round to writing these love letters.

Love letters to the oligarchs

A day after the national and global Hands Off protests – we were maybe 300 in Toronto – all the honks & waves & shouts in support were especially gratifying – I got round to writing these love letters.

Prepped and pumped for tomorrow's rally with Democrats Abroad Toronto. We're meeting at 1:30 pm at 361 University Avenue – across the street from the US Consulate – if you're in TO and would like to join us.

Also in Toronto.

White House Correspondents’ Association cancels comedian headliner for annual dinner The group's board unanimously decided it would no longer feature a comedic performance, WHCA President Eugene Daniels wrote in an email Saturday

Never before in the history of this nation have so many self-serving cowards banded together united in their resolve to not do anything risky when their country called on them in its hour of need.

www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

Columbia’s capitulation Sent this off the other day. I encourage my fellow Columbians to do likewise. Dear President Armstrong, I am writing to express my disappointment and anger that my alma mater has capitulated to the bullying and coercion of the Trump Administration. I understand how worrisome a threat to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in funding must be. I recognize how complex and contested issues of free speech and peaceful protest on Columbia's and other American campuses are in these fraught times.

Columbia’s capitulation

Sent this off the other day. I encourage my fellow Columbians to do likewise. Dear President Armstrong, I am writing to express my disappointment and anger that my alma mater has capitulated to the bullying and coercion of the Trump Administration. I understand how…

Don't be fooled by the merely scandalous lead. HCR lays out the blueprint Trump and cronies are using. Coup, dictatorship, fascism, the words aren't hyperbole anymore (if they ever were).

"If there is a plan, shock is part of the plan. We have to get through the surprise and the shock to see the design and the risk. We don't have much time." Snyder posted this on 15 November 2024. We have even less time now.