Jstheater
@jstheater.bsky.social
Author of some books & more, professor, translator, artist+ 🏳️🌈 🖤💚❤️ 🏳️⚧️ (Avatar: c/o I.D. Mag/photo © Mario Sorrenti)
I admit to being a 1-person PR spox for #JayWright but I'm glad to see his *Transfigurations* (aka Collected Poems Pt 1) is finally out now in the UK. Though he's 1 of the greatest living poets in the English language/greatest living Black poets this didn't happen until he'd reached 91 years of age!
November 1, 2025 at 6:28 PM
I admit to being a 1-person PR spox for #JayWright but I'm glad to see his *Transfigurations* (aka Collected Poems Pt 1) is finally out now in the UK. Though he's 1 of the greatest living poets in the English language/greatest living Black poets this didn't happen until he'd reached 91 years of age!
So wonderful to see #EssexHemphill featured in the MTA's Arts & Design "#Poetry in Motion" series! The poem, "Thread," is from *Love Is a Dangerous Word* (@NewDirections, 2025), ed. by Robert Reid-Pharr & yours truly! (h/t photo by Tynan Kogane, ND)
November 1, 2025 at 4:53 PM
So wonderful to see #EssexHemphill featured in the MTA's Arts & Design "#Poetry in Motion" series! The poem, "Thread," is from *Love Is a Dangerous Word* (@NewDirections, 2025), ed. by Robert Reid-Pharr & yours truly! (h/t photo by Tynan Kogane, ND)
Let's try this again, w/ me spelling her name correctly: The scammer-spammers are getting ridiculous now. Did they really think I thought I'd been sent $ or invited to a wedding--or anything--involving MacKenzie Scott? I promptly sent it to the fraud/phishing folks at my service provider.
August 30, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Let's try this again, w/ me spelling her name correctly: The scammer-spammers are getting ridiculous now. Did they really think I thought I'd been sent $ or invited to a wedding--or anything--involving MacKenzie Scott? I promptly sent it to the fraud/phishing folks at my service provider.
A reminder: "Public approval of Donald Trump’s presidency has dropped by 6 percentage points since April and his approval rating is now 20 points underwater, 38-58, according to a new national University of Massachusetts Amherst Poll of 1,000 respondents conducted July 25-30." Including immigration👇
August 5, 2025 at 10:10 PM
A reminder: "Public approval of Donald Trump’s presidency has dropped by 6 percentage points since April and his approval rating is now 20 points underwater, 38-58, according to a new national University of Massachusetts Amherst Poll of 1,000 respondents conducted July 25-30." Including immigration👇
Dear Politicians, sending me SMS texts like this make me *less* likely to support you. The deluge of these has to stop. & Apple needs to take blocking these numbers seriously.
July 18, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Dear Politicians, sending me SMS texts like this make me *less* likely to support you. The deluge of these has to stop. & Apple needs to take blocking these numbers seriously.
Reading this entry, in addition to a number of scholarly works on figures like Burroughs I thought of Denée Benton's excellent portrayal of writer & activist Peggy Scott on @hbo.bsky.social's *The Gilded Age*. Rarely do we see figures like Burroughs/Scott depicted in US fictional media.
July 17, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Reading this entry, in addition to a number of scholarly works on figures like Burroughs I thought of Denée Benton's excellent portrayal of writer & activist Peggy Scott on @hbo.bsky.social's *The Gilded Age*. Rarely do we see figures like Burroughs/Scott depicted in US fictional media.
Remembering #EricGarner, sharing this poem by Ross Gay, posted by poet Othuke Umokoro, from TwX:
July 17, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Remembering #EricGarner, sharing this poem by Ross Gay, posted by poet Othuke Umokoro, from TwX:
A few more books I was able to find in Lisbon. (I saw someone reading *Afropean* back in 2021 outside Chelsea Marker & have been meaning to pick it up & I’ve been translating Aleixo for a few years now.) I mailed everything back so fingers crossed they all arrive!
July 5, 2025 at 6:09 AM
A few more books I was able to find in Lisbon. (I saw someone reading *Afropean* back in 2021 outside Chelsea Marker & have been meaning to pick it up & I’ve been translating Aleixo for a few years now.) I mailed everything back so fingers crossed they all arrive!
I also got to hear the translator, scholar & biographer Richard Zenith speak last week. A few years ago I wrote an essay on this Pessoa book, using 2 older translations of his, as well as 3 other translators’ versions & the 1982 original & now he’s issued a new edition (cf below).
June 27, 2025 at 6:24 PM
I also got to hear the translator, scholar & biographer Richard Zenith speak last week. A few years ago I wrote an essay on this Pessoa book, using 2 older translations of his, as well as 3 other translators’ versions & the 1982 original & now he’s issued a new edition (cf below).
Today’s book haul; the bookstore cashier noted the books I was buying & urged me to get an additional one (by Agualusa), since the 4 authors I’d chosen were all Brazilian or Lusophone African.
June 27, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Today’s book haul; the bookstore cashier noted the books I was buying & urged me to get an additional one (by Agualusa), since the 4 authors I’d chosen were all Brazilian or Lusophone African.
Opening tomorrow, Life-a group show, curated by artist & poet Arnold J. Kemp, at Artists Space in NYC!
(I'll have 2 poems in the exhibit, which features work by visual artists, poets, performers & more)
May 29-August 9, 2025
artistsspace.org/exhibitions/...
(I'll have 2 poems in the exhibit, which features work by visual artists, poets, performers & more)
May 29-August 9, 2025
artistsspace.org/exhibitions/...
May 28, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Opening tomorrow, Life-a group show, curated by artist & poet Arnold J. Kemp, at Artists Space in NYC!
(I'll have 2 poems in the exhibit, which features work by visual artists, poets, performers & more)
May 29-August 9, 2025
artistsspace.org/exhibitions/...
(I'll have 2 poems in the exhibit, which features work by visual artists, poets, performers & more)
May 29-August 9, 2025
artistsspace.org/exhibitions/...
Coming up tomorrow, in NYC ==>
May 3, 2025 at 3:40 AM
Coming up tomorrow, in NYC ==>
Tomorrow evening, at the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church, in conjunction with @NewDirections, the book launch for #EssexHemphill's *Love Is a Dangerous Word: Selected Poems* (2025), 8 pm doors open, RSVP required
www.poetryproject.org/events/love-...
www.poetryproject.org/events/love-...
April 22, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Tomorrow evening, at the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church, in conjunction with @NewDirections, the book launch for #EssexHemphill's *Love Is a Dangerous Word: Selected Poems* (2025), 8 pm doors open, RSVP required
www.poetryproject.org/events/love-...
www.poetryproject.org/events/love-...
Tonight, to celebrate the launch of Ben Gantcher's new collection *Coronation of the Ghost* at Unnameable Books in Brooklyn! => 7 pm & it's free!
April 11, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Tonight, to celebrate the launch of Ben Gantcher's new collection *Coronation of the Ghost* at Unnameable Books in Brooklyn! => 7 pm & it's free!
#SteveMcQueen & #PaulGilroy at @GC_CUNY tonight (they’re streaming too)!
April 4, 2025 at 11:24 PM
#SteveMcQueen & #PaulGilroy at @GC_CUNY tonight (they’re streaming too)!
Tonight, on St. Patrick's Day, a reading at the New School to celebrate the 100th birthday of the late Kenneth Koch ==>
March 17, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Tonight, on St. Patrick's Day, a reading at the New School to celebrate the 100th birthday of the late Kenneth Koch ==>
Today is the publication day for Essex Hemphill's *Love Is a Dangerous Word: Selected Poems," out from @NewDirections, which Robert Reid-Pharr & I coedited!
Essex Hemphill's work speaks both to its time & compellingly to our current moment. Please order a copy!
www.ndbooks.com/author/essex...
Essex Hemphill's work speaks both to its time & compellingly to our current moment. Please order a copy!
www.ndbooks.com/author/essex...
March 4, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Today is the publication day for Essex Hemphill's *Love Is a Dangerous Word: Selected Poems," out from @NewDirections, which Robert Reid-Pharr & I coedited!
Essex Hemphill's work speaks both to its time & compellingly to our current moment. Please order a copy!
www.ndbooks.com/author/essex...
Essex Hemphill's work speaks both to its time & compellingly to our current moment. Please order a copy!
www.ndbooks.com/author/essex...
International #poetry on a Saturday, courtesy of @wwborders.bsky.social: www.eventbrite.com/x/1142898503...
January 25, 2025 at 8:45 PM
International #poetry on a Saturday, courtesy of @wwborders.bsky.social: www.eventbrite.com/x/1142898503...
January 20, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Some images from the New Year's Day Marathon Reading at St. Mark's Poetry Project.
January 7, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Some images from the New Year's Day Marathon Reading at St. Mark's Poetry Project.
St. Mark’s Poetry Project 51st Annual New Year’s Day Marathon Reading, happening now! Happy New Year!
January 1, 2025 at 6:56 PM
St. Mark’s Poetry Project 51st Annual New Year’s Day Marathon Reading, happening now! Happy New Year!
The snow is falling….
December 24, 2024 at 1:09 PM
The snow is falling….