Tolu Oloruntoba
@toluini.bsky.social
2.4K followers 1.3K following 1.8K posts
Bumbler, quitter of things, poet, and project management person (in that order). New Collection: UNRAVEL (McClelland & Stewart, 2025). Opinions mine. https://bio.site/tolu.ca he/him
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toluini.bsky.social
Wow look at this typo. “I’m already feel bad.” 🤦🏾‍♂️
toluini.bsky.social
With alt text
(and I hope this isn’t AI)
Chicago - A 31-year-old Domino's delivery driver was arrested late Friday after what police described as a "pepperoni standoff" over the
30-minute delivery guarantee.
According to neighbors, Jessica Ramirez arrived at an apartment complex 12 minutes late with a large pizza order. When the customer asked for a discount, Ramirez allegedly dropped the boxes on the sidewalk and shouted, "I race traffic, not time machines!"
Witnesses say she then opened one of the pizzas, plucked off slices of pepperoni, and began flinging them like Frisbees while chanting,
"Thirty minutes or less is corporate propaganda!"
Officers say Ramirez refused to hand over the remaining pizzas until someone "signed a petition to abolish delivery deadlines."
Reactions were mixed-some residents called her "a warrior against unrealistic expectations," while others said she had taken "hot and ready" a little too literally. Mugshot-style photo of a white person in a black zip-up hoodie with one shoulder bared.
toluini.bsky.social
Yes I know the reposted story is not real.
toluini.bsky.social
Wait I dig this remake of Neal Stephenson’s SNOW CRASH.
toluini.bsky.social
(Don’t worry I’m already feel bad for being prideful. Christian shame is hard to unlearn.)
toluini.bsky.social
I’ve been doing the dam thing, it would seem.
toluini.bsky.social
Just finished creating my slides for the MacEwan reading on Wednesday and I find myself quite proud of myself.

It’s a strange feeling (since I struggle with self-worth issues) but reviewing 6 years of published work has given me a good zoomed-out view.
toluini.bsky.social
lol this is perfect description. Needs to be seen to be fully understood.
toluini.bsky.social
Back to the dreadful and delightful Jackson Lamb. His hair looks even smellier this season.
Reposted by Tolu Oloruntoba
upfromsumdirt.bsky.social
kyla houbolt
ONE FROG

from her chapbook collection, But Then I Thought
One Frog

Tonight one frog sings outside. It's no country for rain. I live far away.
but I can hear this one frog, it's a loud frog, alone in some creek or
other. in a county of two lane roads that twist in the dark. Still there is
comfort here because somewhere glimmering among the darkened
trees is a lighted window. An old man and his nephew sit inside,
whittling. They're making toys. One makes a small cart with rolling
wheels: the other makes a dog with a wagging tail. There are no
children nearby, not even in the neighboring counties, so one might
wonder who the toys are for. But the old man and his nephew don't
seem concerned: they iust keep whittling. Occasionally one of them
smiles. The shavings go into the fire. The frog sings. The roads twist in
the dark. The creek is low. One day it might rain.
toluini.bsky.social
It was a good post! I hope you can find some sleep.
toluini.bsky.social
does this…does this mean insomnia won this round? 🙂
toluini.bsky.social
Or the neurodivergent ability to compute very diffuse signals into ✨knowing✨
toluini.bsky.social
“nephmew” is the best word I’ve read today.
toluini.bsky.social
Is waking up in tears a sign of life stress? Asking for a friend.
Reposted by Tolu Oloruntoba
robinjohnson.bsky.social
(Bob Marley writing drafts)
I'm gonna be steel like an eel in Biel

I'm gonna be tin like a pangolin in Turin

I'm gonna be lead like a hammerhead in Hampstead

I'm gonna be zincy like a minke in Helsinki
toluini.bsky.social
Or Mahaila Smith’s SEED BEETLE.
toluini.bsky.social
Or Franny Choi’s SOFT SCIENCE.
toluini.bsky.social
Or a full-length collection. David Fincher and/or Lana Wachowski need to option @paulvermeersch.bsky.social ‘s NMLCT.
prairievixen.bsky.social
When is Netflix going to start adapting poetry chapbooks into limited series?
toluini.bsky.social
I’ll post the SFU Lunch Poems flyer once I have it. I’m really glad to be visiting Edmonton for the first time!
toluini.bsky.social
Trio of upcoming events:

1. October 9, 7 PM, MDT: Flywheel Reading Series, with Beth Everest & Doug Waite. Pages Books, Calgary.

2. October 15, 12:30 PM MDT: MacEwan U Visiting Authors Series. Room 7-265, MacEwan University Edmonton.

3. November 19, 12 PM PST: SFU Lunch Poems, with Karen Solie.
Orange flyer with white text within a black border. Text reads:
"October 9, 2025
Flywheel
Tolu Oloruntoba
Beth Everest
Music by Doug Wasite
Pages Books on Kensington
7:00 PM" White flyer with the MacEwan University logo in the upper left corner, and a large orange-shadowed yellow speech bubble pointing to a logo in the bottom left corner. The logo has the text "Visiting Authors Series" across an open book. There is a circular inset in the right lower corner with a photo of the author, a black man in a brown faux leather jacket, black t-shirt, and locs.

The speech bubble has the following text:

"A Literary Reading and Q&A
Featuring Tolu Oloruntoba

Tolu Oloruntoba won the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize for his debut collection, The Junta of Happenstance. He is the author of two other poetry collections, Each One a Furnace and Unravel. He studied medicine and surgery at the University of Ibadan, and health care management at the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School. He has been a peer assessor for the Governor General’s Literary Award and a judge of the CBC Poetry Prize. He delivered the 2022 League of Canadian Poets Anne Szumigalski Lecture, and is a Civitella Ranieri Fellow. He lives in Calgary.

Day: Wednesday, October 15th
Time: 12:30PM - 1:50PM
Room: 7-265

Free and open to everyone!"
toluini.bsky.social
I’m only 25% in but I’ve been savouring it.
toluini.bsky.social
As a poet living in the (environmental and social) Derangement the narrator of the book looks back upon, it has been prompting deep reflection on legacy and how we should be responding to the crises we’re living through.
toluini.bsky.social
Ian McEwan’s WHAT WE CAN KNOW is set in the year 2119, and follows an academic’s research of archival material in his investigation of the life and work of a legendary poet. It is a very effective proxy for examining the late Anthropocene and how large our folly must loom to future generations.