D. A. Hosek
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dahosek.bsky.social
D. A. Hosek
@dahosek.bsky.social
690 followers 480 following 7.3K posts
Dad»Writer of fiction&poetry»🦻🏻»Utopian socialist»Catholic Woke Marxist»Chicago boy»it’s November, back to the boring display name»He/him

https://dahosek.com
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dahosek.bsky.social
The cover of Exacting Clam showing a mouse in a bottle with a clown on the front over a background of “Dada” in a decorative texture of type The poem, Corpse in the Mirror Corpse in the mirror I look in the mirror and see this corpse I am becoming: hair thinning and limp, beard stubbling flecks of white on this corpse. I am becoming sallow skin and dry and parched stubble. Flecks of white on my eyes dulled by decades. Sallow skin—dry, and parched ears hearing less and less my eyes dulled by decades so I’ll not notice death’s approach. Ears hearing less and less, I look in the mirror and see I’ll not notice death’s approach when I look in the mirror and see.
December 2, 2025 at 11:27 PM
dahosek.bsky.social
Shrinkflation in the literary world: Ten years ago the anthology from @pushtheneedle.bsky.social was Pushcart Prize XL and now it’s merely Pushcart Prize L. Eventually we’ll be seeing Pushcart Prize M, just watch.
The 2016 Pushcart Anthology titled “Pushcart Prize XL” on top of the 2025 Pushcart Anthology titled “Pushcart Prize L.” Photographic evidence of the literary shrinkflation.
December 2, 2025 at 10:37 PM
dahosek.bsky.social
Captain Kirk from Wrath of Khan, except instead of screaming KHANNN!!! he’s screaming FRANZENNNNN!
November 27, 2025 at 3:06 AM
dahosek.bsky.social
Two hounds meet two hounds
My late beagle, Franklin, meets a larger hound outside the 7-eleven.
November 21, 2025 at 4:06 PM
dahosek.bsky.social
#66 in After Hours
#66 D. A. Hosek I write my poems on the bus crushed against the window next to Mikey Two-dogs who lost his license driving drunk, two drugged schnauzers in the trunk of a stolen ’78 El Dorado. I write about nature, or at least I try but the sixty-six bus sees no nature but sidewalk trees, unleashed dogs nosing cigarette butts and pigeons filching French fries from butterfingered children. Perhaps I should write about Mikey Two-dogs, fourth-class wise guy, stealing bait dogs from suburban backyards only to find no buyers so he releases them in west side alleys where maybe they find their way home just like all of us on this bus creeping towards sunset.
November 21, 2025 at 5:04 AM
dahosek.bsky.social
Jubilate Mammonæ in California Quarterly
Jubilate Mammonæ D. A. Hosek Let us praise wealthy men, our LORDs from conception to death For from them we find our own worth without them we are naught. Let us laud them, love them, let them take the riches of the land For they may never have enough. Let us thank them for the scraps they bequeath us from their great bounty For by their grace do we live. Let us pardon their iniquities and their small mortal sins For their perfection is like God’s. Let us respect their right to rule to bind us with their rules For there is no rule without rulers. Let us suffer and be thankful. Let them take and not give thanks. Let all the world resound with our hymn of praise. For the wealthy live beyond law. For the wealthy live beyond justice. For the wealthy live beyond fear except the fear of death.
November 21, 2025 at 5:04 AM
dahosek.bsky.social
Chicago Sonnet #42 in Big Score Lit
Chicago Sonnet #42 by D. A. Hosek The seller of pornography, a man misplaced in time, alone inside his booth. He always is there. Newsweek, Time, Money provide his sheen of respectability and decorum while behind the glass you will find Playboy, Penthouse, Hustler, sure, and also Tits, Jugs, Ass, Over Thirty and Skanky Ho. For every kink a magazine to fulfill the aching desires of every fetish. The web makes him antique, anachronistic, yet he remains on the corner with his wares. Who are his customers? Who seeks Miss Feb- ruary on his shelves? Who needs to get his desires fulfilled by the man beneath the stairs?
November 21, 2025 at 5:04 AM
dahosek.bsky.social
Liberalism on the other hand… (I’m twenty years older than that dude)
Selfie of me, a 57-year-old white guy wearing glasses and a hat looking younger than the chronologically younger fascist that began this thread.
November 13, 2025 at 11:34 PM
dahosek.bsky.social
Doing my best
Selfie of me, a middle-aged white guy wearing a black pin-stripe suit, blue shirt, purple tie, sunglasses and a blue straw pork pie hat while in a convertible in Los Angeles traffic.
November 9, 2025 at 5:37 PM
dahosek.bsky.social
My personal favorite is the orange-spined Penguin paperbacks of Graham Greene with watercolor illustrations by Paul Hogarth.

I don’t care for the contemporary trend of a lot of modern covers to default to stock photography or colored blobs behind a wall of text. At least those have bespoke art.
An example of a Paul Hogarth cover for the Penguin Paperbacks of Greene’s novels, this shows an illustration of the titular character of The Honorary Consul, a grey-haired white man wearing a blindfold with a pair of armed guerrillas visible behind him.
October 29, 2025 at 2:02 AM
dahosek.bsky.social
"Friends" is a beloved American sitcom that aired from 1994 to 2004, following six young adults—Rachel, Ross, Monica, Chandler, Joey, and Phoebe—living in New York City. The show explores their friendships, romances, careers, and personal growth over ten seasons.
The cast of Living Single, a show with a similar premise to friends which preceded that show and featured Black professionals living in Brooklyn instead of white folks most of whom had jobs that couldn’t realistically support their lifestyle in an alternate universe Manhattan almost entirely devoid of people of color.
October 23, 2025 at 2:13 PM
dahosek.bsky.social
A crowd shot in Grant Park People walking up Jackson into Grant Park A person wearing a dragon costume with a sign reading, “Dragon deez nuts against fascism” The crowd was big enough to crash access to T-Mobile multiple times so the only service I had would have been to do a satellite-based SOS text.
October 18, 2025 at 9:49 PM
dahosek.bsky.social
The crowd during the rally portion of the event A few signs: “Who is my neighbor? The immigrant is. Love, Jesus.” being the most prominent in the shot A sign reading “This is the only king I serve!” with arrows pointing at a picture of a cat wearing a crown, My own sign, reading “You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens in the land of Egypt” Exodus 22:20
October 18, 2025 at 9:49 PM
dahosek.bsky.social
All my #nokings #chicago pictures now that I’m no longer suffering from overloaded internet in Grant Park:
A dinosaur and a woman riding a dragon on Michigan Avenue The crowd walking up Michigan Avenue. All lanes, northbound and southbound were full, apparently stretching over a mile I left the march in Grant Park since it was still stationary where I was and was going to go home, slipping out the back and discovered that the march was moving on Michigan Avenue where I joined it for a little while before dropping out when I had the opportunity to get some mango and sandía with chili from a fruterero on the sidewalk The march in Grant Park, everyone standing still because there were so many people ready to walk.
October 18, 2025 at 9:49 PM
dahosek.bsky.social
Went for the left-wing Catholic thing in my attire today
Selfie showing my magnificat t-shirt with Mary, wearing boots, trampling on a serpent with a skull under one foot and a fist raised in the air. Around the outside are the words: Cut down the Mighty - Send the Rich Away - Fill the hungry - Lift the lowly
October 18, 2025 at 9:31 PM
dahosek.bsky.social
The march begins. No alt text but it’s a picture of a few thousand people.
October 18, 2025 at 6:27 PM
dahosek.bsky.social
If you’re at no kings grant park say hi. I’m the tall guy with the blue straw pork pie hat straight back from the band shell. I
Crowd photo showing my view of the bandshell Selfie of me with a blue hat and i My sign, reading “You shall not molest or oppressed an alien for you were once aliens in the land of Egypt. “
October 18, 2025 at 6:00 PM
dahosek.bsky.social
I found this amusing
Screenshot of account page for the department of homeland security with the message: “user blocked by ‘far right accounts’”
October 17, 2025 at 10:57 PM
dahosek.bsky.social
Three new poems in the latest California Quarterly, “Museum of Broken Hearts,” “Jubilate Mammonæ” and “Carmen Philomaicum” (this last is my first published translation).
A photograph of the text of one of my poems, Jubilate Mammonæ: Let us praise wealthy men, our LORDs from conception to death For from them we find our own worth without them we are naught. Let us laud them, love them, let them take the riches of the land For they may never have enough. Let us thank them for the scraps they bequeath us from their great bounty For by their grace do we live. Let us pardon their iniquities and their small mortal sins For their perfection is like God’s. Let us respect their right to rule to bind us with their rules For there is no rule without rulers. Let us suffer and be thankful. Let them take and not give thanks. Let all the world resound with our hymn of praise. For the wealthy live beyond law. For the wealthy live beyond justice. For the wealthy live beyond fear except the fear of death. The cover of California Quarterly Volume 51, Number 3 (Autumn 2025) showing a painting by Andrzej Kołodziej
October 14, 2025 at 10:45 PM
dahosek.bsky.social
Hope for humanity
Screenshot of a Bluesky interaction where I wrote, “Touch my monkey. TOUCH IT!” And the other poster responded with a pair of emoji showing a pointing finger next to a monkey head.
October 13, 2025 at 3:52 PM
dahosek.bsky.social
Someone asked me if I had plans for the fall. It took me a moment to realize they meant "autumn" , not the collapse of civilization.
October 6, 2025 at 7:31 PM
dahosek.bsky.social
There used to be a kid who lived near me that I’d see walking his pig. I thought that was the strangest pet thing I’d see on the streets of Oak Park.

I was wrong.
Photo of a lady walking her cat. I thought it was a dog until I was almost on top of it the way it walked on the leash. And yes, I asked permission before taking the picture.
October 1, 2025 at 4:09 PM
dahosek.bsky.social
Duolingo getting freaky
I’m asked to translate “have your parents ever done it in front of you?” Into Czech
September 29, 2025 at 11:47 PM
dahosek.bsky.social
Me first thing in the morning with my scraggly hair wandering in all directions and showing off its length. As I’ve been going bald, I’ve decided to stop getting haircuts. I’ve saved literally DOZENS of dollars
September 27, 2025 at 5:32 AM
dahosek.bsky.social
I think this is possibly the most awesome form rejection text ever. @kickingyourass.bsky.social
Not quite my tempo. Best of luck placing these elsewhere. sincerely kicking your ass
September 24, 2025 at 10:06 PM