Derek Pollard, PhD
LightNews LightNews
banner
doc-pollard.bsky.social
Derek Pollard, PhD
@doc-pollard.bsky.social
1.3K followers 2.7K following 170 posts
• Helping writers get into print since 1991.
• Poets on Poetry Series Editor (Univ. of Michigan Press): https://poets-on-poetry.carrd.co
• Author of ‘On the Verge of Something Bright and Good’ (Barrow Street) & ‘Inconsequentia’ (BlazeVOX).
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
doc-pollard.bsky.social
Derek Pollard, PhD @doc-pollard.bsky.social · Nov 10
Interested in having a book published in the Writers on Writing, Under Discussion, or Poets on Poetry Series at the University of Michigan Press?

Tune in to learn more from our current editors and several recent authors, who share their experience, along with tips and insights into the process:
On Words & Onward
Why does creative writing matter so deeply to so many people today? Who are the authors who have made and are making a lasting impression on the literary wor...
www.youtube.com
Reposted by Derek Pollard, PhD
philipmetres.bsky.social
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
Reposted by Derek Pollard, PhD
johnlurie.bsky.social
November 15, 2025 at 6:30 PM
doc-pollard.bsky.social
"If everything is politics, then nothing is politics."

Jason Schneiderman's NOTHINGISM makes a bold, unexpected case: what if contemplation and privacy are poetry's most subversive acts?

press.umich.edu/Books/N/Noth...

@uofmpress.bsky.social

#Poetry #Books #BookSky
Book cover for NOTHINGISM by Jason Schneiderman, published in the Poets on Poetry Series edited by Derek Pollard. The background is deep purple. The title, NOTHINGISM, appears as large, light purple text running vertically down the left side of the cover. On the right side, in gold text that contrasts with the purple background, is the subtitle POETRY AT THE END OF PRINT CULTURE. The author's name, JASON SCHNEIDERMAN, appears in white text below the subtitle. In the bottom right corner is a simple illustration of a tan cardboard box. The overall design is minimal and contemporary, using typographic elements as the main visual focus.
November 15, 2025 at 2:10 PM
doc-pollard.bsky.social
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...
Book cover for ‘Your Historical Loveliness Knows No Bounds’ by Wendy Xu. The book is part of the Poets on Poetry Series, published by the University of Michigan Press and edited by Derek Pollard. The cover image is a striking, full frame close-up photograph of a bronze sculpture of a man's head, angled to fill most of the page. The sculpture is highly dramatic: the man's face is contorted with intense emotion, and his mouth is wide open, as if shouting or screaming. The metal has a dark, mottled verdigris patina. All text is positioned across the lower third of the cover. The title, ‘YOUR HISTORICAL LOVELINESS KNOWS NO BOUNDS,’ and the author's name, WENDY XU, m are printed in light gray/off-white text. The subtitle, "FORM, FUTURITY, AND DOCUMENTARY DESIRE," is centered beneath the title and printed in a distinctive pale yellow text.
November 12, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Reposted by Derek Pollard, PhD
pw.org
The Time Is Now to spark your writing! This week we recommend an anthology of concrete poetry edited by Nancy Perloff and #PWWritingPrompts on limitations, attic finds, and trends in etiquette. Read more: at.pw.org/TTIN
November 7, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Reposted by Derek Pollard, PhD
pw.org
Housed in the trunk of a car, AUTO Books travels throughout Los Angeles, bringing art, photography, and poetry books to readers across the city. “…being mobile allows us to…[reach] new audiences without being tied to a fixed location,” says co-owner/curator Sarah Taylor-Winch. at.pw.org/AUTOBooks
November 9, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Reposted by Derek Pollard, PhD
bookshop.org
This holiday season, give Jeff Bezos and Amazon the gift of zero dollars. 🥰
November 10, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Reposted by Derek Pollard, PhD
lyndacarter.bsky.social
Hey!
Calling all Wonder Women!
We all are sisters…pulling together with one spirit.
50 years ago today the first episode of the series Wonder Woman aired.
November 8, 2025 at 1:33 AM
doc-pollard.bsky.social
In GHOSTS AND THE OVERPLUS, Christina Pugh traces how Jean Valentine shifts the meaning of a simple word, "eyeshadow," from cosmetics to one of Job's daughters.

In doing so, she reminds us that poetry isn’t just the art of expression, it’s the art of transformation.

press.umich.edu/Books/G/Ghos...
Book cover of ‘Ghosts and the Overplus: Reading Poetry in the Twenty-First Century’ by Christina Pugh, published in the Poets on Poetry Series by the University of Michigan Press, edited by Derek Pollard. The cover features a minimalist design with the title and author name in elegant typography. The visual element shows a mixed media collage with watercolor elements in blue and purple tones on the left side, juxtaposed with a black and white seascape showing rough waters and what appears to be partially submerged wooden posts. The overall aesthetic combines abstract and representational elements in a contemplative, artistic composition.
November 6, 2025 at 12:08 PM
doc-pollard.bsky.social
@careysalerno.bsky.social's reading at the book launch for THE HUNGRIEST STARS made it clear:

This is a must-read collection.

Copies are available direct from the publisher at: www.perseabooks.com/hungriest-st...

You can also order online at @bookshop.org: bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
The cover art for 'The Hungriest Stars' by Carey Salerno. A woman's manicured hand is centered, adorned with numerous oversized, ornate rings, including a turquoise stone, a gold flower, and a ring shaped like an eye. The hand is set against a large, detailed full moon, with a dark, starry sky surrounding the central image.
November 1, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Reposted by Derek Pollard, PhD
poetrydaily.bsky.social
Today’s Featured Poem:

“Summer in Biddle City, 2001” by Marianne Chan from Leaving Biddle City published by Sarabande Books

Read here:
poems.com/poem/summer-...
Summer in Biddle City, 2001
Our family talked all the time about the end of the world. Our father would say, During the Three Days of Darkness, if you hear your mother outside, don't open the door, okay? It isn't your mother, ok...
poems.com
October 30, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Derek Pollard, PhD
bookshop.org
Amazon is helping fund a $300 million build of a ballroom for the White House.

Independent bookstores are donating to food banks and organizations that help with food insecurity.

They are not the same.
October 30, 2025 at 4:01 PM
doc-pollard.bsky.social
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-...
Book cover for ‘The Imaginary Present: Essays in Quantum Poetics’ by Amy Catanzano, published in the Poets on Poetry Series by the University of Michigan Press. The cover features a pixelated, glitch-art style background in shades of pink, purple, rose, and teal. The title and author name appear in bright pink text on white rectangular l blocks that seem to float over the abstract digital pattern. The subtitle appears in white text on a rose-colored banner.
October 29, 2025 at 5:34 PM
doc-pollard.bsky.social
Can you inherit someone else's loneliness? Wendy Xu's parents gave her a poem about feeling foreign, words she'd need before she knew why. YOUR HISTORICAL LOVELINESS asks what poetry carries across generations, and why certain words find us exactly when we need them.

press.umich.edu/Books/Y/Your...
Book cover for ‘Your Historical Loveliness Knows No Bounds’ by Wendy Xu. The book is part of the Poets on Poetry Series, published by the University of Michigan Press and edited by Derek Pollard. The cover image is a striking, full-frame close-up photograph of a bronze sculpture of a man's head, angled to fill most of the page. The sculpture is highly dramatic: the man's face is contorted with intense emotion, and his mouth is wide open, as if shouting or screaming. The metal has a dark, mottled verdigris patina. All text is positioned across the lower third of the cover. The title, ‘YOUR HISTORICAL LOVELINESS KNOWS NO BOUNDS,’ and the author's name, WENDY XU, are printed in light gray/off-white text. The subtitle, "FORM, FUTURITY, AND DOCUMENTARY DESIRE," is centered beneath the title and printed in a distinctive pale yellow text.
October 27, 2025 at 2:10 AM
Reposted by Derek Pollard, PhD
poetrydaily.bsky.social
Today’s Feature:

What Sparks Poetry: Matthew Rohrer on "Poem for Friends” published by Poetry Magazine

Read here:
poems.com/poem/poem-fo...
Poem for Friends
How beautiful to lie down not to be the dead ones there their eye sockets filled with dirt nothing is theirs anymore
poems.com
October 20, 2025 at 3:01 PM
doc-pollard.bsky.social
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.
Book cover for ‘Dispatches from the Land of Erasure: Essays and Conversations’ by Philip Metres. The cover features an abstract geometric composition of overlapping rectangular blocks in various colors including blues, reds, greens, yellows, purples, and browns against a light gray background. The blocks appear layered and fragmented, creating a mosaic-like pattern that suggests themes of fragmentation and reconstruction. The title and author name are displayed in clean, dark typography at the top of the cover.
October 20, 2025 at 12:55 PM
doc-pollard.bsky.social
In NOTHINGISM (@uofmpress.bsky.social),
Jason Schneiderman explores the poetic friendship between James Merrill and Agha Shahid Ali.

Though "the loved one may always leave," their correspondence reveals how poetry sustains intimacy across cultures and loss.

press.umich.edu/Books/N/Noth...
Book cover for NOTHINGISM by Jason Schneiderman. The background is deep purple. The title, NOTHINGISM, appears as large, light purple text running vertically down the left side of the cover. On the right side, in gold text that contrasts with the purple background, is the subtitle POETRY AT THE END OF PRINT CULTURE. The author's name, JASON SCHNEIDERMAN, appears in white text below the subtitle. In the bottom right corner is a simple illustration of a tan cardboard box. The overall design is minimal and contemporary, using typographic elements as the main visual focus.
October 11, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Reposted by Derek Pollard, PhD
slowdownshow.org
“The future is full of possibility. Some of life’s surprises are heartbreaking, yes—but some are heart-repairing," shares host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social in today’s episode.

Read "At Last the New Arriving" by @gabbat.bsky.social and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/4mShV9s

📖: Persea Books
graphic featuring a portion of Gabrielle Calvocoressi's poem a photograph of poet Gabrielle Calvocoressi
October 10, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Reposted by Derek Pollard, PhD
pw.org
#ClipOfTheDay: In this video, George Takei, honorary chair of Banned Books Week 2025, talks about how “access to books and knowledge is essential to democracy” and how reading provides a way to see ourselves reflected in stories and to discover the stories of others. at.pw.org/TakeiBannedBooks
October 7, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Reposted by Derek Pollard, PhD
bookshop.org
Can’t decide what to buy on Prime Day?

Try: absolutely nothing, and then go support indie bookstores instead 📚
October 7, 2025 at 2:23 PM
doc-pollard.bsky.social
“Let’s make room for many modes of survival.”

@khadijahqueen.com’s RADICAL POETICS asks: what would our literary spaces look like if we actually meant this?

Her book challenges us to expand what we consider possible – in our teaching, our writing, our communities.

press.umich.edu/Books/R/Radi...
Front cover of the book ‘Radical Poetics’ by Khadijah Queen. The cover features a Black woman sitting barefoot in a dimly lit, eclectic space surrounded by books and fabric drapes. The atmosphere is reminiscent of steampunk with a Southern gothic twist. The woman is wearing a pink dress and sitting on a floral patterned surface. The subtitle reads ‘Essays on Literature & Culture.’
October 7, 2025 at 1:40 PM
doc-pollard.bsky.social
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...
Book cover for ‘Dispatches from the Land of Erasure: Essays and Conversations’ by Philip Metres. The cover features an abstract geometric composition of overlapping rectangular blocks in various colors including blues, reds, greens, yellows, purples, and browns against a light gray background. The blocks appear layered and fragmented, creating a mosaic-like pattern that suggests themes of fragmentation and reconstruction. The title and author name are displayed in clean, dark typography at the top of the cover.
October 4, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Reposted by Derek Pollard, PhD
bookshop.org
I hear *someone* is having a sale next week.

I guess they have to try and recoup some of that $2.5 billion they’re forking over for *checks notes* being deceptive? Who would’ve thought?

Feels like Oct 7 & 8 will be prime days to support independent bookstores. 😌
September 29, 2025 at 8:54 PM
doc-pollard.bsky.social
@longrules.bsky.social reads Scarbrough's line about loneliness arriving "like a bouquet out of the evening," then watches his kids reach toward fleeing guinea fowl, finding poetry and parenting in the same impossible gesture.

Joy (Or Something Darker, but Like It)

press.umich.edu/Books/J/Joy-...
Book cover for ‘Joy (Or Something Darker, but Like It)’ by Nathaniel Perry, published in the Poets on Poetry Series by the University of Michigan Press. Dark blue background with black organic shapes. "Joy" in colorful letters (yellow, coral, blue), subtitle in white. "POETRY & PARENTING" in yellow, and author's name in white at bottom.
September 22, 2025 at 3:01 AM
doc-pollard.bsky.social
@uofmpress.bsky.social author Ashley M. Jones in conversation with @pw.org about her latest collection of poems, published by @hubcitypress.bsky.social:

www.hubcity.org/books/poetry...

#Booksky #Poetry #Books
pw.org Poets & Writers @pw.org · Sep 16
"I wish all writers the audiences they desire and the acclaim they deserve." In this week's #TenQuestions, Ashley M. Jones shares a behind-the-scenes look at the writing process for her new collection, Lullaby for the Grieving, out now from @hubcitypress.bsky.social. Read more: at.pw.org/10qjones
September 18, 2025 at 11:05 AM