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Mitchell Nobis

@mitchnobis.bsky.social

3.8K followers 610 following 6.9K posts

Writer. Doofus. Old man hooper. http://mitchnobis.com. Metro Detroit. Posts are my own, obviously—that's why I said it & not my employer, parents, dog, or whoever.
Also:
WNS: @wns-at-ksf.bsky.social
NAWP: @notatawp.bsky.social

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Mitchell Nobis

@mitchnobis.bsky.social

My brother-in-law's dog is somehow not named Big Mama, but she should be.

My brother-in-law's honking big English mastiff on her pink leash as I take her out for a walk after Thanksgiving dinner. It's already dark here. Thanksgiving rules.

November 27, 2025 at 10:25 PM

Mitchell Nobis

@mitchnobis.bsky.social

Other dog needed a walk. Multi-dog, like multi-ball, rules.

A stand of dried goldenrod (I think) turned golden brown in late fall with Pennsylvania hills beyond.

November 27, 2025 at 4:11 PM

Mitchell Nobis

@mitchnobis.bsky.social

Here, have a moment of zen, ya filthy animals.

November 27, 2025 at 1:23 PM

Mitchell Nobis

@mitchnobis.bsky.social

It's Thanksgiving with family in the Allegheny Hills, which means among other things I'm trying to explain to the dog how this pile of Amish road apples must be analog horseshit.

Don't worry, the photo of the rolling hills and the road I'm walking the dog down. I did not include the pile of turds. You're welcome, and happy Thanksgiving, you crazy kids.

November 27, 2025 at 1:20 PM

Mitchell Nobis

@mitchnobis.bsky.social

(The cover of Sleep Well Beast by The National)

November 26, 2025 at 11:31 PM

Mitchell Nobis

@mitchnobis.bsky.social

Arrived where I'm going, which is apparently where that one album by The National was recorded.

A large house at night with a brightly lit door. It looks a little like the cover of Sleep Well Beast by the National.

November 26, 2025 at 11:29 PM

Mitchell Nobis

@mitchnobis.bsky.social

Book reviews are starting to come in.

(No, not really. Please don't sue me, whoever owns the rights to Alfred E. Neuman.)

bookshop.org/shop/nwp

Don't tell whoever owns the rights to MAD Magazine, but I found a jpeg of Alfred E. Neuman dressed as Santa, and using my exceptionally poor skills, edited it so he's holding my poetry book, The Size of the Horizon, or, I Explained Everything to the Trees. I inserted a word balloon, so Alfred Santa is saying "My review? It has poems in it, but you can still buy it."

November 25, 2025 at 4:21 PM

Mitchell Nobis

@mitchnobis.bsky.social

My short poems bring all the booty bots to the yard.

My short poem post with one of those automated phishing sex bot things replying with "Hey".

November 23, 2025 at 3:50 PM

Mitchell Nobis

@mitchnobis.bsky.social

This @asherperlman.bsky.social comic hits way too close to home...

New Yorker comic by Asher Perlman. Woman tells her banker "My retirement plan is for the global economic system to completely collapse and for something more equitable to rise from its ashes by the time I'm old enough to retire"

November 22, 2025 at 2:47 PM

Mitchell Nobis

@mitchnobis.bsky.social

Hell yeah! A rare & awesome case where I can say "yeah!" Still possibly the coolest I've ever felt as a writer. (The Night Heron Barks, 2021) nightheronbarks.com/fall-2021/

Section one of contributors to The Night Heron Barks fall 2021 issue with Sharon Olds in the leadoff spot and me batting 10th.

November 20, 2025 at 5:36 PM

Mitchell Nobis

@mitchnobis.bsky.social

In the name of shouting out great stuff, I don't think I shared this one yet. I finished Cody Smith's River Hymnal a week or so ago and absolutely loved it.

Cover of the poetry collection river hymnal by Cody Smith

An Invitation to Say Your Wedding Vows Despite the Broken World

—FOR MICHELLE & JOE RISH

Even now the dying are born, their first feeling
not their mother's breasts but rather the spank
of a stranger's hand against their back or foot's sole.
Even now, the lawyers clear their voicemails, dot
the T's and I's in what will be the erasure
of someone's contracted promise of death
doing them part. Even now, the refugees
fail in the Aegean Sea that will fill their lungs
while the sun warms the sand on the beach
of Karpathos. Even now, a brother and sister
spend most of their breath arguing for the sake
of it while a wife and husband are two ships flying
no flags as they clean their home for company
that won't come. Even now, someone throws away
last week's lasagna. Even now, a dog pees
on the bathroom rug. Even now, someone makes
their way past their I dos and into the life
that demands they choose something they love
and hate. The mayonnaise will spoil. The hurricane
will rip the screen door. You will raise your voice.
You will grow in your silence. You'll be too busy
for your thirty-seventh birthday. Even now, a father loses
his wallet that held the folded note from his daughter
that read, in misspelled words, I lov u dady. Even now
you know you're not the person you were at twenty
and cannot know the person you'll be at forty. Say yes, in spite of it all. Yes, while the news reports coups
in Russia. Yes, as the earth grows its grass

across red dirt at the feet of headstones. Yes. Say it.
And keep saying it. Because what else is there to say?
How does no change any of this? Say yes, and I will praise
this hard world that still leaves room for my son to wrestle
me down to the rug, for my daughter to chase a butterfly
through the bushes of still-green tomatoes, for my wife
to rub my shoulders as I stoop over the dirty dishes.
Say yes, and I will celebrate my own love that thins
and thickens these latter days, love that is just a lizard's tail
amputated in my garage rotting while also regenerating
the body whole like this, our life, that breaks before it blooms.

November 20, 2025 at 5:04 PM

Mitchell Nobis

@mitchnobis.bsky.social

Shout out to my middle schooler who paid good attention to some ideas that were pretty advanced for a sixth grader. We had some great conversation on the drive home.

The back of my kid's head (really all you see is his Pistons hat he's wearing backwards ) as he leans his elbow on his knee and listens to the speakers

November 20, 2025 at 2:55 AM

Mitchell Nobis

@mitchnobis.bsky.social

I was able to catch @tressiemcphd.bsky.social & Jason Reynolds in conversation tonight downtown and it was outstanding. That's no surprise, but still, a wonderful night. I wish I had taken note. So many good ideas & comments.