Philip Metres
@philipmetres.bsky.social
Poet, writer, translator
Coming to Brooklyn November 20th @poetrysociety.org !!! poetrysociety.org/events/psa-r...
PSA Reading Series: Gregory Pardlo & Philip Metres
Placing poetry at the crossroads of American life since 1910.
poetrysociety.org
November 14, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Coming to Brooklyn November 20th @poetrysociety.org !!! poetrysociety.org/events/psa-r...
Reposted by Philip Metres
Reposted by Philip Metres
It’s another deeply engaging addition to the Poets on Poetry Series, @philipmetres.bsky.social – and a great companion to your latest, DISPATCHES FROM THE LAND OF ERASURE:
press.umich.edu/Books/D/Disp...
press.umich.edu/Books/D/Disp...
Dispatches from the Land of Erasure
Drawn from a decade of writing and conversations by Arab American poet and writer Philip Metres, Dispatches from the Land of Erasure redefines the writer’s role as a catalyst for justice and a resiste...
press.umich.edu
November 12, 2025 at 11:33 PM
It’s another deeply engaging addition to the Poets on Poetry Series, @philipmetres.bsky.social – and a great companion to your latest, DISPATCHES FROM THE LAND OF ERASURE:
press.umich.edu/Books/D/Disp...
press.umich.edu/Books/D/Disp...
Reposted by Philip Metres
When does a poem become more than art?
Frontline workers writing pandemic haiku. Layli Long Soldier rewriting congressional resolutions.
YOUR HISTORICAL LOVELINESS asks what happens when poetry stops being about witness and becomes action itself.
press.umich.edu/Books/Y/Your...
Frontline workers writing pandemic haiku. Layli Long Soldier rewriting congressional resolutions.
YOUR HISTORICAL LOVELINESS asks what happens when poetry stops being about witness and becomes action itself.
press.umich.edu/Books/Y/Your...
November 12, 2025 at 1:35 PM
When does a poem become more than art?
Frontline workers writing pandemic haiku. Layli Long Soldier rewriting congressional resolutions.
YOUR HISTORICAL LOVELINESS asks what happens when poetry stops being about witness and becomes action itself.
press.umich.edu/Books/Y/Your...
Frontline workers writing pandemic haiku. Layli Long Soldier rewriting congressional resolutions.
YOUR HISTORICAL LOVELINESS asks what happens when poetry stops being about witness and becomes action itself.
press.umich.edu/Books/Y/Your...
Reposted by Philip Metres
"Always the same story: two people, one tree, not enough land or light or love." —Philip Metres @philipmetres.bsky.social
thelandcle.org/stories/a-li...
thelandcle.org/stories/a-li...
A life characterized by verse: How one Cleveland poet found himself through writing – The Land
When Cleveland poet Philip Metres was a senior in AP English at Wilmette, Illinois’ Loyola Academy in 1987, he was assigned a poem that would change the course of his life.
thelandcle.org
November 11, 2025 at 10:16 AM
"Always the same story: two people, one tree, not enough land or light or love." —Philip Metres @philipmetres.bsky.social
thelandcle.org/stories/a-li...
thelandcle.org/stories/a-li...
Reposted by Philip Metres
Physicists at CERN told Amy Catanzano they can use quantum theory but find it "counterintuitive.” She recognized immediately: quantum logic IS poetic logic.
THE IMAGINARY PRESENT explores how poetry can reshape scientific understanding.
@uofmpress.bsky.social
press.umich.edu/Books/T/The-...
THE IMAGINARY PRESENT explores how poetry can reshape scientific understanding.
@uofmpress.bsky.social
press.umich.edu/Books/T/The-...
October 29, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Physicists at CERN told Amy Catanzano they can use quantum theory but find it "counterintuitive.” She recognized immediately: quantum logic IS poetic logic.
THE IMAGINARY PRESENT explores how poetry can reshape scientific understanding.
@uofmpress.bsky.social
press.umich.edu/Books/T/The-...
THE IMAGINARY PRESENT explores how poetry can reshape scientific understanding.
@uofmpress.bsky.social
press.umich.edu/Books/T/The-...
Reposted by Philip Metres
Can you document trauma without exploiting it?
@utopiaminus.bsky.social warns that the “representation of violence can produce its own kind of violence.”
In @philipmetres.bsky.social’s DISPATCHES, poets debate what documentary poetry can and can’t do for justice – and whether writing is enough.
@utopiaminus.bsky.social warns that the “representation of violence can produce its own kind of violence.”
In @philipmetres.bsky.social’s DISPATCHES, poets debate what documentary poetry can and can’t do for justice – and whether writing is enough.
October 20, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Can you document trauma without exploiting it?
@utopiaminus.bsky.social warns that the “representation of violence can produce its own kind of violence.”
In @philipmetres.bsky.social’s DISPATCHES, poets debate what documentary poetry can and can’t do for justice – and whether writing is enough.
@utopiaminus.bsky.social warns that the “representation of violence can produce its own kind of violence.”
In @philipmetres.bsky.social’s DISPATCHES, poets debate what documentary poetry can and can’t do for justice – and whether writing is enough.
Reposted by Philip Metres
Learn more about @philipmetres.bsky.social’s book and order your copy here:
press.umich.edu/Books/D/Disp...
press.umich.edu/Books/D/Disp...
October 20, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Learn more about @philipmetres.bsky.social’s book and order your copy here:
press.umich.edu/Books/D/Disp...
press.umich.edu/Books/D/Disp...
Reposted by Philip Metres
When Israeli forces captured Jaffa in 1948, the municipal archives vanished, erasing Palestinians' legal proof of land ownership.
@philipmetres.bsky.social's DISPATCHES FROM THE LAND OF ERASURE shows how Arab poets have sought to preserve this disappeared history.
press.umich.edu/Books/D/Disp...
@philipmetres.bsky.social's DISPATCHES FROM THE LAND OF ERASURE shows how Arab poets have sought to preserve this disappeared history.
press.umich.edu/Books/D/Disp...
October 4, 2025 at 4:55 PM
When Israeli forces captured Jaffa in 1948, the municipal archives vanished, erasing Palestinians' legal proof of land ownership.
@philipmetres.bsky.social's DISPATCHES FROM THE LAND OF ERASURE shows how Arab poets have sought to preserve this disappeared history.
press.umich.edu/Books/D/Disp...
@philipmetres.bsky.social's DISPATCHES FROM THE LAND OF ERASURE shows how Arab poets have sought to preserve this disappeared history.
press.umich.edu/Books/D/Disp...
Reposted by Philip Metres
“Sitting close to the center, not very high in the branches, / I heard it hitting the high leaves, and I was happy, // watching it happen without it happening to me.” —Marie Howe, “The Copper Beech” www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48561/...
The Copper Beech
Immense, entirely itself, it wore that yard like a dress, with limbs low enough for me to enter it and climb the crooked ladder to where I could lean against the trunk and practice being alone. One...
www.poetryfoundation.org
September 19, 2025 at 11:25 AM
“Sitting close to the center, not very high in the branches, / I heard it hitting the high leaves, and I was happy, // watching it happen without it happening to me.” —Marie Howe, “The Copper Beech” www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48561/...
Reposted by Philip Metres
When poets debate whether metaphor itself perpetuates harm, every image becomes an ethical choice.
@philipmetres.bsky.social's DISPATCHES FROM THE LAND OF ERASURE captures these heated conversations, changing how we approach poems that engage cultural difference.
press.umich.edu/Books/D/Disp...
@philipmetres.bsky.social's DISPATCHES FROM THE LAND OF ERASURE captures these heated conversations, changing how we approach poems that engage cultural difference.
press.umich.edu/Books/D/Disp...
September 6, 2025 at 9:37 PM
When poets debate whether metaphor itself perpetuates harm, every image becomes an ethical choice.
@philipmetres.bsky.social's DISPATCHES FROM THE LAND OF ERASURE captures these heated conversations, changing how we approach poems that engage cultural difference.
press.umich.edu/Books/D/Disp...
@philipmetres.bsky.social's DISPATCHES FROM THE LAND OF ERASURE captures these heated conversations, changing how we approach poems that engage cultural difference.
press.umich.edu/Books/D/Disp...
Grateful for this work and the work of the work
When poets debate whether metaphor itself perpetuates harm, every image becomes an ethical choice.
@philipmetres.bsky.social's DISPATCHES FROM THE LAND OF ERASURE captures these heated conversations, changing how we approach poems that engage cultural difference.
press.umich.edu/Books/D/Disp...
@philipmetres.bsky.social's DISPATCHES FROM THE LAND OF ERASURE captures these heated conversations, changing how we approach poems that engage cultural difference.
press.umich.edu/Books/D/Disp...
September 7, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Grateful for this work and the work of the work
Reposted by Philip Metres
Nobody who voted to confirm RFK is fit to hold public office
September 4, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Nobody who voted to confirm RFK is fit to hold public office
Reposted by Philip Metres
Host: There are new calls this morning for RFK Jr.'s resignation, and those calls coming from inside HHS itself. More than 1,000 current and former HHS workers are making this demand in a letter released this morning. They say his leadership has "put the health of all Americans at risk"
September 3, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Host: There are new calls this morning for RFK Jr.'s resignation, and those calls coming from inside HHS itself. More than 1,000 current and former HHS workers are making this demand in a letter released this morning. They say his leadership has "put the health of all Americans at risk"
Reposted by Philip Metres
Concerned that we are losing the necessary ratio. 15% of teachers/faculty should be irretrievably strange eccentrics. Every learning experience should have some element where in later life you can reflect with former classmates about how bizarre at least one (1) class per year was.
August 30, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Concerned that we are losing the necessary ratio. 15% of teachers/faculty should be irretrievably strange eccentrics. Every learning experience should have some element where in later life you can reflect with former classmates about how bizarre at least one (1) class per year was.
Reposted by Philip Metres
Old Soviet joke for today:
A man walks into a newsstand every day, looks around, and leaves.
After a long time of this, the owner says “Can I help you find something?”
“I’m looking for the obituaries.”
“The obituaries are in the back of the newspaper, comrade.”
“Not the one I’m looking for.”
A man walks into a newsstand every day, looks around, and leaves.
After a long time of this, the owner says “Can I help you find something?”
“I’m looking for the obituaries.”
“The obituaries are in the back of the newspaper, comrade.”
“Not the one I’m looking for.”
August 30, 2025 at 5:06 AM
Old Soviet joke for today:
A man walks into a newsstand every day, looks around, and leaves.
After a long time of this, the owner says “Can I help you find something?”
“I’m looking for the obituaries.”
“The obituaries are in the back of the newspaper, comrade.”
“Not the one I’m looking for.”
A man walks into a newsstand every day, looks around, and leaves.
After a long time of this, the owner says “Can I help you find something?”
“I’m looking for the obituaries.”
“The obituaries are in the back of the newspaper, comrade.”
“Not the one I’m looking for.”
Reposted by Philip Metres
The NRA buys off Congress. No action on guns.
The oil industry buys off Congress. No action on climate.
Insurance companies buy off Congress. No action on health care.
The list goes on and on.
Money in politics is the root of our dysfunction.
The oil industry buys off Congress. No action on climate.
Insurance companies buy off Congress. No action on health care.
The list goes on and on.
Money in politics is the root of our dysfunction.
August 29, 2025 at 9:45 PM
The NRA buys off Congress. No action on guns.
The oil industry buys off Congress. No action on climate.
Insurance companies buy off Congress. No action on health care.
The list goes on and on.
Money in politics is the root of our dysfunction.
The oil industry buys off Congress. No action on climate.
Insurance companies buy off Congress. No action on health care.
The list goes on and on.
Money in politics is the root of our dysfunction.
Reposted by Philip Metres
Starbucks’ CEO made 6,666x more than the company's median employee in 2024.
This was the widest CEO-to-Worker pay gap in the entire S&P 500.
Remember this before you order your next pumpkin spice latte.
This was the widest CEO-to-Worker pay gap in the entire S&P 500.
Remember this before you order your next pumpkin spice latte.
August 27, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Starbucks’ CEO made 6,666x more than the company's median employee in 2024.
This was the widest CEO-to-Worker pay gap in the entire S&P 500.
Remember this before you order your next pumpkin spice latte.
This was the widest CEO-to-Worker pay gap in the entire S&P 500.
Remember this before you order your next pumpkin spice latte.
Reposted by Philip Metres
On settler colonialism, the illusion of progress, and what actually resulted from the Oslo Accords.
How the Oslo Accords Fragmented Palestine and Uprooted a People
“Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories.” –Amílcar Cabral, Tell No Lies, Claim No Easy Victories * From the foundationa…
buff.ly
August 27, 2025 at 6:30 PM
On settler colonialism, the illusion of progress, and what actually resulted from the Oslo Accords.
Reposted by Philip Metres
“When I first arrived in Belfast, I saw both Palestinian and Israeli flags, but in different neighborhoods—the Palestinian ones in Irish nationalist areas, and Israeli ones in Protestant loyalist areas.” @philipmetres.bsky.social on Northern Irish solidarity with Palestine.
The Paddystinians of Belfast: On the Palestinian Solidarity Movement in Northern Ireland
I couldn’t believe my eyes: not one, but bunches of Palestinian flags kept appearing, every time we turned onto another Belfast street—waving at me, beckoning, inviting me into their story. It was …
buff.ly
August 27, 2025 at 2:30 PM
“When I first arrived in Belfast, I saw both Palestinian and Israeli flags, but in different neighborhoods—the Palestinian ones in Irish nationalist areas, and Israeli ones in Protestant loyalist areas.” @philipmetres.bsky.social on Northern Irish solidarity with Palestine.
Reposted by Philip Metres
"Only when the last tree has been cut, the last river has been poisoned & the last fish been caught will they realize that they can't eat money" old Cree proverb
August 25, 2025 at 10:02 PM
"Only when the last tree has been cut, the last river has been poisoned & the last fish been caught will they realize that they can't eat money" old Cree proverb
Reposted by Philip Metres
In a small town in County Cork, Ireland, a monument stands in appreciation to the American Choctaw Indian Tribe.
Although impoverished, shortly after being forced to walk the Trail of Tears, the tribe somehow gathered $170 to send to Ireland for famine relief in 1847 [Historic Vids]
Although impoverished, shortly after being forced to walk the Trail of Tears, the tribe somehow gathered $170 to send to Ireland for famine relief in 1847 [Historic Vids]
August 26, 2025 at 8:23 AM
In a small town in County Cork, Ireland, a monument stands in appreciation to the American Choctaw Indian Tribe.
Although impoverished, shortly after being forced to walk the Trail of Tears, the tribe somehow gathered $170 to send to Ireland for famine relief in 1847 [Historic Vids]
Although impoverished, shortly after being forced to walk the Trail of Tears, the tribe somehow gathered $170 to send to Ireland for famine relief in 1847 [Historic Vids]
Reposted by Philip Metres
Find this film. Watch this film. It’s as great a scripted film as you will see this decade. It shows at Telluride this weekend. Seek it out. Like NoOther Land, the doc which won an Oscar last year, the distribution in the US will be impeded. Fight that. Support it.
deadline.com/2025/08/osca...
deadline.com/2025/08/osca...
Oscars: Jordan Submits Cherien Dabis’ ‘All That’s Left Of You’ For 2026 Best International Feature Film Category
Oscars: Jordan Submits Cherien Dabis’ ‘All That’s Left Of You’ For 2026 Best International Feature Film Category
deadline.com
August 26, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Find this film. Watch this film. It’s as great a scripted film as you will see this decade. It shows at Telluride this weekend. Seek it out. Like NoOther Land, the doc which won an Oscar last year, the distribution in the US will be impeded. Fight that. Support it.
deadline.com/2025/08/osca...
deadline.com/2025/08/osca...
Reposted by Philip Metres
Texas is a majority-minority state, yet Republicans drew maps that make white votes carry 2-3 times more political power than Black or Hispanic votes.
That’s what gerrymandering does: it cracks and packs communities of color so their growing numbers translate into less representation.
That’s what gerrymandering does: it cracks and packs communities of color so their growing numbers translate into less representation.
August 24, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Texas is a majority-minority state, yet Republicans drew maps that make white votes carry 2-3 times more political power than Black or Hispanic votes.
That’s what gerrymandering does: it cracks and packs communities of color so their growing numbers translate into less representation.
That’s what gerrymandering does: it cracks and packs communities of color so their growing numbers translate into less representation.
Reposted by Philip Metres
By @mosabbluesky.bsky.social:
"This boy is Abdullah Abu Zarqa(5...)... Abdullah was a cancer patient who missed his treatment... because of #Israel ’s inhumane siege.
A few days he was evacuated.
Today he passed away in a hospital in Turkey.
It was too late for him."
www.threads.com/@mosab_abuto...
"This boy is Abdullah Abu Zarqa(5...)... Abdullah was a cancer patient who missed his treatment... because of #Israel ’s inhumane siege.
A few days he was evacuated.
Today he passed away in a hospital in Turkey.
It was too late for him."
www.threads.com/@mosab_abuto...
August 19, 2025 at 5:12 AM
By @mosabbluesky.bsky.social:
"This boy is Abdullah Abu Zarqa(5...)... Abdullah was a cancer patient who missed his treatment... because of #Israel ’s inhumane siege.
A few days he was evacuated.
Today he passed away in a hospital in Turkey.
It was too late for him."
www.threads.com/@mosab_abuto...
"This boy is Abdullah Abu Zarqa(5...)... Abdullah was a cancer patient who missed his treatment... because of #Israel ’s inhumane siege.
A few days he was evacuated.
Today he passed away in a hospital in Turkey.
It was too late for him."
www.threads.com/@mosab_abuto...