Joel Calahan
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joelcalahan.com
Joel Calahan
@joelcalahan.com
Apprentice philologist. Poetry translation and history teaching. Chair-leg hero.

Emeritus: Signal to Noise, Chicago Review
reader-in-chief of Caliber, an occasional newsletter of translation and reading
[ask at calibernewsletter at gmail dot com]
Pinned
Very proud to announce the publication of my chapbook The Bees, out now from Verge Books. It’s a translation of Book IV of Vergil’s Georgics, full of practical tips for beekeepers, and lovely lyric depictions of hive life.

Purchase, repost, spread the word!

www.vergebooks.com#/joel-calaha...
Verge Books
www.vergebooks.com
we’ll do instrumental jazz for this, the real reason i ever got into side ones

title track from maiden voyage
title track from the sidewinder
hat and beard from out to lunch
india from impressions
so low from the jimmy giuffre clarinet
Top 5 Side 1, Track 1s
November 27, 2025 at 2:08 AM
My little book The Bees (a new translation of Book IV of Vergil’s Georgics) is still generating buzz.

A few copies left with the publisher at the link below, and I have a few myself. Query me if interested.

www.vergebooks.com#/joel-calaha...
November 27, 2025 at 1:11 AM
Reposted by Joel Calahan
Grandma Moses
To Grandma's House We Go on Thanksgiving Day, 1942
oil and glitter on masonite
40.6 x 57.2 cm.
November 26, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Reposted by Joel Calahan
People will die, and are currently dying, because RFK was granted one of the most powerful megaphones in the country. Two people who could have thrown barriers in front of his climb decided not to; there's a sex scandal here but it is not the biggest scandal.
November 26, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Reposted by Joel Calahan
Hell with it, I'm just going to post the whole thing here via screencap and alt text. It's Kaleb Horton, man, his writing always deserves the second read, especially since it could have just easily been lost forever like so much else. Read it, share it.
November 26, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Reposted by Joel Calahan
Need everyone to see my purchase from the bookstore at the Emily Dickinson house
November 26, 2025 at 8:07 PM
My wife elbowing me to shut up as I pass the creamed corn at Thanksgiving meal, whispering "garmonbozia" in a reversed speech inflection.
November 26, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Reposted by Joel Calahan
November 26, 2025 at 6:21 PM
A truly moving and beautiful essay about reading by an old friend. I couldn’t recommend it higher to begin your morning.
November 26, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Reposted by Joel Calahan
Gavagaï!
November 26, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Reposted by Joel Calahan
It’s blowing my mind that schools, universities, public services would run headlong into this. We spent 15 years documenting black boxes. This is a black box in a black hole!
I don't understand how anyone can watch how blatantly Grok is manipulated to answer the way ownership desires it to and then act like the other LLM chatbots couldn't possibly be similarly but less obviously compromised to produce responses in whatever way corporate interests and priorities dictate.
November 23, 2025 at 11:16 PM
post a famous bathroom scene
November 26, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Reposted by Joel Calahan
Nancy By Ernie Bushmiller
November 25,1953
November 26, 2025 at 1:10 AM
[quietly scooping up all 11th eds now marked down since the 12th dropped]
Got dictionary-pilled by an internet influencer and now I’m making my daughter read it
November 26, 2025 at 1:11 AM
For real, though, a bit of leftover cranberry sauce with chèvre on a water cracker 👌🏻
took my chèvre to the lèvre but my cracker was dry
November 26, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Get Hawke and Delpy on that script for the next Before movie, pronto.
If you were a despotic president, what movie would you force Hollywood to make? I want to see Quentin's Star Trek movie or maybe Kill Bill Vol 3.
November 25, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Morning synchronisms
November 25, 2025 at 7:11 PM
My kids are starting their Christmas listicles, “65 Gifts Your Parents Could Never Afford or Store But You Want Anyway”
November 25, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Update: I have been folding in a slice of the plum torte into my morning oatmeal. Highest level of recommendation.
The plum torte is what’s up today
November 25, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Reposted by Joel Calahan
We’re accepting applications for our (paid! remote!) summer internship! professors who follow me please share with any students interested in writing
Would You Like To Be Defector’s Sixth-Ever Editorial Intern? | Defector
Big news: Defector is looking to hire editorial interns for the summer of 2026. Wow! That could be you! How could it be you? I am here to answer that question, and many more. What will a Defector inte...
defector.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Best Buy? More like…Worst Buy

got em
November 25, 2025 at 12:12 AM
Reposted by Joel Calahan
Today’s xkcd made me cry.

In a good way.

xkcd.com/3172/
November 24, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Reposted by Joel Calahan
Man Who Thought Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’ Was Over In For Thrill Of His Fucking Life https://theonion.com/man-who-thought-fleetwood-macs-the-chain-was-over-in-for-thrill-of-his-fucking-life/
November 24, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Morning Hey
November 24, 2025 at 6:49 PM