Michael VanCalbergh
@mvcpoet.bsky.social
Poet, Writer, Incredible Hulk Enthusiast, Father, Comic Lover, Obsessive Reader, SRPR Reader, Trying to get 1st manuscript picked up.
Monthly writing on books/reading/writing at: https://widely-read.ghost.io/
Monthly writing on books/reading/writing at: https://widely-read.ghost.io/
Pinned
Michael VanCalbergh
@mvcpoet.bsky.social
· Jan 19
Reading thread 2025:
I'm going to try my best to post all the books I've read this year here. Tried to do this on T*itter, maybe I'll have more success here. Gonna try to do this on Sundays where I've finished books which I'm hoping is every Sunday (hahaha).
I'm going to try my best to post all the books I've read this year here. Tried to do this on T*itter, maybe I'll have more success here. Gonna try to do this on Sundays where I've finished books which I'm hoping is every Sunday (hahaha).
Reposted by Michael VanCalbergh
Sam Altman: hey I made a machine that stole literally all your stuff in order to make CSAM of your child actors, sometimes it encourages people to kill themselves
Disney: Holy shit here's a billion dollars
Altman: the machine loses more than that each week but thank you. Soon it will become god.
Disney: Holy shit here's a billion dollars
Altman: the machine loses more than that each week but thank you. Soon it will become god.
December 12, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Sam Altman: hey I made a machine that stole literally all your stuff in order to make CSAM of your child actors, sometimes it encourages people to kill themselves
Disney: Holy shit here's a billion dollars
Altman: the machine loses more than that each week but thank you. Soon it will become god.
Disney: Holy shit here's a billion dollars
Altman: the machine loses more than that each week but thank you. Soon it will become god.
At the car dealership sipping
credit card anxiety and half
decent coffee. I think
I dont want to grade or read or
pay any more bills
so I refill the coffee, add a little cream,
wonder if this is what I dreamed
when I said "teacher!"
to my kindergarten class
and my father's new video camera.
credit card anxiety and half
decent coffee. I think
I dont want to grade or read or
pay any more bills
so I refill the coffee, add a little cream,
wonder if this is what I dreamed
when I said "teacher!"
to my kindergarten class
and my father's new video camera.
December 12, 2025 at 3:01 PM
At the car dealership sipping
credit card anxiety and half
decent coffee. I think
I dont want to grade or read or
pay any more bills
so I refill the coffee, add a little cream,
wonder if this is what I dreamed
when I said "teacher!"
to my kindergarten class
and my father's new video camera.
credit card anxiety and half
decent coffee. I think
I dont want to grade or read or
pay any more bills
so I refill the coffee, add a little cream,
wonder if this is what I dreamed
when I said "teacher!"
to my kindergarten class
and my father's new video camera.
Reposted by Michael VanCalbergh
Co-hosting this charity reading on Thursday! Join us! There will be nine readers, hundreds of books from various presses, wine, tote bags, and much more. 100% of the proceeds benefit immigrant & refugee rights. Please amplify if you can ❤️
December 9, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Co-hosting this charity reading on Thursday! Join us! There will be nine readers, hundreds of books from various presses, wine, tote bags, and much more. 100% of the proceeds benefit immigrant & refugee rights. Please amplify if you can ❤️
Reposted by Michael VanCalbergh
This is your seasonal reminder that Bookshop.org and libro.fm exist as local-supporting not-Amazon options for all your physical and audiobook needs! Bookshop even gives you the option to add a card and a pretty fabric bag and ship it directly to your giftee!
Bookshop.org: Buy books online. Support local bookstores.
A better way to buy books online. Every purchase financially supports local independent bookstores.
Bookshop.org
December 12, 2025 at 12:44 AM
This is your seasonal reminder that Bookshop.org and libro.fm exist as local-supporting not-Amazon options for all your physical and audiobook needs! Bookshop even gives you the option to add a card and a pretty fabric bag and ship it directly to your giftee!
I received my first rejection in a while and it means im actually submitting again which is great.
Weird to feel excited about a rejection lol
Weird to feel excited about a rejection lol
December 12, 2025 at 12:13 AM
I received my first rejection in a while and it means im actually submitting again which is great.
Weird to feel excited about a rejection lol
Weird to feel excited about a rejection lol
Im not sure if this makes me too complainy but I dislike end of year book lists because Im still reading right now. I dont know which books are the best from this year! The year isnt over! Let me read into the new year and spend all Jan 1st contemplating 2025.
December 11, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Im not sure if this makes me too complainy but I dislike end of year book lists because Im still reading right now. I dont know which books are the best from this year! The year isnt over! Let me read into the new year and spend all Jan 1st contemplating 2025.
Talking shit about money is my 5th fav thing to do. Poetry is #2. This is a great confluence of things i love.
In the dream of money someone says,
capitalism is in our blood, and,
indeed the ground below us is stained with money.
— Henry Israeli, IN THE DREAM OF MONEY 💙
capitalism is in our blood, and,
indeed the ground below us is stained with money.
— Henry Israeli, IN THE DREAM OF MONEY 💙
December 11, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Talking shit about money is my 5th fav thing to do. Poetry is #2. This is a great confluence of things i love.
This is hilarious to me because Disney was so intense about Air Pirates.
Willing to bet that OpenAI went into that meeting saying they hate all art and artists and the executives at Disney started salivating so hard they needed to replace the first spit filled check.
Willing to bet that OpenAI went into that meeting saying they hate all art and artists and the executives at Disney started salivating so hard they needed to replace the first spit filled check.
BREAKING: Disney is making a $1 billion investment in OpenAI, and will allow its iconic characters to be on the company's Sora AI video generator.
December 11, 2025 at 6:13 PM
This is hilarious to me because Disney was so intense about Air Pirates.
Willing to bet that OpenAI went into that meeting saying they hate all art and artists and the executives at Disney started salivating so hard they needed to replace the first spit filled check.
Willing to bet that OpenAI went into that meeting saying they hate all art and artists and the executives at Disney started salivating so hard they needed to replace the first spit filled check.
Sneaking in some writing. Putting a lake in there so it becomes a poem. I hear you need some sort of water to make it a poem.
December 10, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Sneaking in some writing. Putting a lake in there so it becomes a poem. I hear you need some sort of water to make it a poem.
Yeeeaaap. Looks like Ive got to finish that essay on King's Supergirl run now. Very excited.
December 10, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Yeeeaaap. Looks like Ive got to finish that essay on King's Supergirl run now. Very excited.
Yesss!! Bring back mass markets!
I wrote about this earlier this year too:
widely-read.ghost.io/bring-back-m...
I wrote about this earlier this year too:
widely-read.ghost.io/bring-back-m...
December 10, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Yesss!! Bring back mass markets!
I wrote about this earlier this year too:
widely-read.ghost.io/bring-back-m...
I wrote about this earlier this year too:
widely-read.ghost.io/bring-back-m...
Every time I see Sam Altman I think back to bullies in Jr High who were just absolute loosers like me but couldnt accept it and just transformed into raving, unfunny, cruel monsters to compensate. He just sounds like he's a bag of shit wearing human skin.
December 10, 2025 at 4:01 AM
Every time I see Sam Altman I think back to bullies in Jr High who were just absolute loosers like me but couldnt accept it and just transformed into raving, unfunny, cruel monsters to compensate. He just sounds like he's a bag of shit wearing human skin.
Reposted by Michael VanCalbergh
This picture has been making the rounds again, and is being misidentified again.
This is a GOOSEFISH.
This is NOT a tasselled wobbegong shark.
It’s a great pic. I get why people are very excited about it. But it’s as easy to give it the right name as the wrong one.
fullfact.org/online/tasse...
This is a GOOSEFISH.
This is NOT a tasselled wobbegong shark.
It’s a great pic. I get why people are very excited about it. But it’s as easy to give it the right name as the wrong one.
fullfact.org/online/tasse...
December 8, 2025 at 12:30 PM
This picture has been making the rounds again, and is being misidentified again.
This is a GOOSEFISH.
This is NOT a tasselled wobbegong shark.
It’s a great pic. I get why people are very excited about it. But it’s as easy to give it the right name as the wrong one.
fullfact.org/online/tasse...
This is a GOOSEFISH.
This is NOT a tasselled wobbegong shark.
It’s a great pic. I get why people are very excited about it. But it’s as easy to give it the right name as the wrong one.
fullfact.org/online/tasse...
Someone publish my poetry book and grant me the authority to churn out Best Poetry and Best Comics anthologies until I physically can't hold em anymore.
December 9, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Someone publish my poetry book and grant me the authority to churn out Best Poetry and Best Comics anthologies until I physically can't hold em anymore.
Love having to pay for car service then pay for car service.
I just want more trains and buses. Thats all I want. Rebuild the train from peoria to champaign please.
I just want more trains and buses. Thats all I want. Rebuild the train from peoria to champaign please.
December 8, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Love having to pay for car service then pay for car service.
I just want more trains and buses. Thats all I want. Rebuild the train from peoria to champaign please.
I just want more trains and buses. Thats all I want. Rebuild the train from peoria to champaign please.
Reposted by Michael VanCalbergh
NEW from @flaminghydra.com: MAGAZINE WORLD
Subscribe now to receive a beautiful limited edition MAGAZINE twice a year, plus special online Broadsheets and more!
Our first issue, NEW FRONTIERS IN COMBUSTION, will post Spring 2026.
flaminghydra.com/magazine-wor...
Subscribe now to receive a beautiful limited edition MAGAZINE twice a year, plus special online Broadsheets and more!
Our first issue, NEW FRONTIERS IN COMBUSTION, will post Spring 2026.
flaminghydra.com/magazine-wor...
December 8, 2025 at 1:27 PM
NEW from @flaminghydra.com: MAGAZINE WORLD
Subscribe now to receive a beautiful limited edition MAGAZINE twice a year, plus special online Broadsheets and more!
Our first issue, NEW FRONTIERS IN COMBUSTION, will post Spring 2026.
flaminghydra.com/magazine-wor...
Subscribe now to receive a beautiful limited edition MAGAZINE twice a year, plus special online Broadsheets and more!
Our first issue, NEW FRONTIERS IN COMBUSTION, will post Spring 2026.
flaminghydra.com/magazine-wor...
You will be visited by three spirits
December 8, 2025 at 2:18 PM
You will be visited by three spirits
Reposted by Michael VanCalbergh
Silver surfer? Spidy? Weird messages about verifying youre am adult?
My essay has 2 outta three!
My essay has 2 outta three!
Feeling like reading a little something about superhero comics, writing resistance, and how its all hard as heck to do?
Well thats great! Because I wrote about it! I hope you enjoy :)
widely-read.ghost.io/books-of-our...
Well thats great! Because I wrote about it! I hope you enjoy :)
widely-read.ghost.io/books-of-our...
Books of Our Time: The Difficulty of Writing Resistance in the Comics Spider-Man: Reign and Death of the Silver Surfer
Welcome back to Widely Read’s Books of Our Time! This is an irregular look at things I’ve recently read that feel unusually prescient in today’s wild world. For this one, we’re looking at two differen...
widely-read.ghost.io
December 7, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Silver surfer? Spidy? Weird messages about verifying youre am adult?
My essay has 2 outta three!
My essay has 2 outta three!
Silver surfer? Spidy? Weird messages about verifying youre am adult?
My essay has 2 outta three!
My essay has 2 outta three!
Feeling like reading a little something about superhero comics, writing resistance, and how its all hard as heck to do?
Well thats great! Because I wrote about it! I hope you enjoy :)
widely-read.ghost.io/books-of-our...
Well thats great! Because I wrote about it! I hope you enjoy :)
widely-read.ghost.io/books-of-our...
Books of Our Time: The Difficulty of Writing Resistance in the Comics Spider-Man: Reign and Death of the Silver Surfer
Welcome back to Widely Read’s Books of Our Time! This is an irregular look at things I’ve recently read that feel unusually prescient in today’s wild world. For this one, we’re looking at two differen...
widely-read.ghost.io
December 7, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Silver surfer? Spidy? Weird messages about verifying youre am adult?
My essay has 2 outta three!
My essay has 2 outta three!
Feeling like reading a little something about superhero comics, writing resistance, and how its all hard as heck to do?
Well thats great! Because I wrote about it! I hope you enjoy :)
widely-read.ghost.io/books-of-our...
Well thats great! Because I wrote about it! I hope you enjoy :)
widely-read.ghost.io/books-of-our...
Books of Our Time: The Difficulty of Writing Resistance in the Comics Spider-Man: Reign and Death of the Silver Surfer
Welcome back to Widely Read’s Books of Our Time! This is an irregular look at things I’ve recently read that feel unusually prescient in today’s wild world. For this one, we’re looking at two differen...
widely-read.ghost.io
December 6, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Feeling like reading a little something about superhero comics, writing resistance, and how its all hard as heck to do?
Well thats great! Because I wrote about it! I hope you enjoy :)
widely-read.ghost.io/books-of-our...
Well thats great! Because I wrote about it! I hope you enjoy :)
widely-read.ghost.io/books-of-our...
Reposted by Michael VanCalbergh
there should be about 5 to 6 times as many magazines as there currently are for criticism and they should all pay on average 2 to 3 times as much as they currently do, and it should be easier to write for them. without that i think american literary culture is gonna continue to feel weirdly stagnant
December 6, 2025 at 2:05 AM
there should be about 5 to 6 times as many magazines as there currently are for criticism and they should all pay on average 2 to 3 times as much as they currently do, and it should be easier to write for them. without that i think american literary culture is gonna continue to feel weirdly stagnant
Will i sit in this pod at the library just staring at my grading without doing it until 5 or actually grade? This is my life now. I live in this pod.
December 5, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Will i sit in this pod at the library just staring at my grading without doing it until 5 or actually grade? This is my life now. I live in this pod.
Reposted by Michael VanCalbergh
"All is lost" narratives are popular because people generally do not want to take action. Taking action is tiring so if all is lost, you are off the hook. Nothing is more seductive than not having to do anything.
December 5, 2025 at 4:35 PM
"All is lost" narratives are popular because people generally do not want to take action. Taking action is tiring so if all is lost, you are off the hook. Nothing is more seductive than not having to do anything.
One thing about the enshitiffication of search engines is that years ago i could copy and paste quotes into the search bar that students lifted from sources and itd tell me where but now it sends me all over the place before giving me the actually thing i copied, if it does give me that thing.
December 4, 2025 at 7:15 PM
One thing about the enshitiffication of search engines is that years ago i could copy and paste quotes into the search bar that students lifted from sources and itd tell me where but now it sends me all over the place before giving me the actually thing i copied, if it does give me that thing.
Im reading comics then passing out like a champ.
December 3, 2025 at 2:49 AM
Im reading comics then passing out like a champ.