H. M. Cotton
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hmcotton.bsky.social
H. M. Cotton
@hmcotton.bsky.social
1.1K followers 1.3K following 85 posts
Poet. Teacher. Naturalist. Four-leaf clover finder. Editor at Birmingham Poetry Review and NELLE. In love with the Alabama outdoors. MFA student at Warren Wilson. TheCahabaProject.substack.com
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hmcotton.bsky.social
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March 11, 2025 at 12:50 PM
hmcotton.bsky.social
Brick Road Poetry Press is thrilled to announce our 2024 contest winner as Christopher Shipman for his manuscript “Mortar” which will hit bookshelves this fall. Congratulations, Christopher!
A decorative image announcing Christopher Shipman as the winner of the 2024 Brick Road Poetry Press Contest. The swooping brick road logo of a brick road features at the bottom of the image. A photo of Christopher in black and white fills the center of the image.
March 4, 2025 at 9:34 PM
hmcotton.bsky.social
A spider built a web between the ice and the bucket
A black bucket with a solid block of ice in it. A gap has formed between the ice and the bucket. In this gap a tangled mass of spiderweb has formed.
January 23, 2025 at 6:49 PM
hmcotton.bsky.social
Tonight’s sky on fire
January 22, 2025 at 12:16 AM
hmcotton.bsky.social
Heyooo poetry fam! Come join @bham-poetry-review.bsky.social for our annual zoom reading Wed Dec 18th at 6pm central featuring Dr. Erica Dawson, Dr. Beth Gylys, Dr. J. Bruce Fuller, and Dr. Henry Hart. I look forward to this every year!

Register: uab.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
December 3, 2024 at 4:02 PM
hmcotton.bsky.social
Cattails for your Saturday
A picture of cattail plant stalks illuminated by a golden-hour sun against a backdrop of a clear blue sky, pine trees, and dry shrubbery.
November 30, 2024 at 10:13 PM
hmcotton.bsky.social
Found in this morning’s reading assignment:
“English, strictly speaking, is not my first language by the way. I haven’t yet discovered what my first language is so for the time being I use English words in order to say things. I expect I will always have to do it that way; regrettably I don’t think my first language can be written down at all. I’m not sure it can be made external you see. I think it has to stay where it is; simmering in the elastic gloom betwixt my flickering organs.” —Claire-Louise Bennett, Pond
November 28, 2024 at 3:20 AM
hmcotton.bsky.social
A lil friend to brighten your day.
November 25, 2024 at 6:07 PM
hmcotton.bsky.social
A rare find for November—two 5-leaf clovers.
November 25, 2024 at 12:39 AM
hmcotton.bsky.social
Because you’ve probably earned a surly cat photo this morning. Here:
November 23, 2024 at 3:36 PM
hmcotton.bsky.social
A poem for your evening: “The Way We Love Something Small” by Kimberly Blaeser.

poets.org/poem/way-we-...
The translucent claws of newborn mice this pearl cast of color, the barely perceptible like a ghosted threshold of being: here not here. The single breath we hold on the thinnest verge of sight: not there there. A curve nearly naked an arc of almost, a wisp of becoming a wand— tiny enough to change me.
November 23, 2024 at 12:38 AM
hmcotton.bsky.social
Good morning you beautiful poets! Here’s a love poem for an Alabaman accent coming to you from @rayehendrix.bsky.social and if you dig this, go buy their new collection: www.tamupress.com/book/9781680...
Apology-Ode to My Accent sweetslow as sorghum vowels gorgeous peaches fuzzing in the mouth thick as a thicket of kudzu smooth as buttered grits bright hot iron of Birmingham soft without the g (it’s fuckin charming how I differentiate my pens and pins: ink pen stick pin pen for a rooster or dog) language lush & low in the throat magnolias tossing their heavy blooms in the breeze (forgive me my shame, those years of trying to outrun the honeygold shape you make of my tongue)
November 21, 2024 at 3:08 PM
hmcotton.bsky.social
Today I got to see the ledger in person that recorded the deaths of Maye, Emma, & Irene Hawes brutally murdered by their father/husband Richard Hawes in 1888. It was the first time Birmingham went under martial law as a mob stormed the jail for justice. www.bhamwiki.com/w/Hawes_murd...
November 21, 2024 at 1:35 AM
hmcotton.bsky.social
It’s hawking season again and it won’t be long before I’m back in the field with my falconry friends. @storysouth.bsky.social published this essay last year about my first time with the sport.

storysouth.com/stories/talk...
November 20, 2024 at 1:02 PM
hmcotton.bsky.social
Officially done with my first semester at Warren Wilson. Here’s the stack.
November 17, 2024 at 6:45 PM
hmcotton.bsky.social
Encountered a wild albino deer yesterday. @ccs0082swiftiessoc.bsky.social says this means I’m fated to be ruler of something now. Currently taking suggestions for micro-kingdoms I should assume power of. First thought: hard cheeses. What say you?
November 17, 2024 at 4:26 PM
hmcotton.bsky.social
The sassiest tea pot I’ve ever seen
November 16, 2024 at 7:28 PM
hmcotton.bsky.social
Allowables by Nikki Giovanni for your morning.
November 14, 2024 at 3:50 PM
hmcotton.bsky.social
I awake this morning to find my friend and neighbor has been immortalized at the local park with a decidedly unauthorized sign. To be fair, it IS a massive bass. Thank you to @miriamcalleja.bsky.social for documenting this momentous occasion.
November 14, 2024 at 2:52 PM
hmcotton.bsky.social
Cat with morning Rilke. “One has to be able at every moment to place one’s hand on the earth like the first human being.”
November 13, 2024 at 2:25 PM
hmcotton.bsky.social
Twinning
November 12, 2024 at 4:28 PM