Michael Hessel-Mial
@mrpoemguy.bsky.social
Poet and scholar, college writing instructor, wife guy, dad to Melody. I’m an editor at specpoverse.org. Science fiction, PDFs, socialism, Jewish mysticism. Free Palestine 🇵🇸
Pinned
Alright speculative poetry fans! It’s time for my end of 2025 awards eligibility post! This is my first year publishing in speculative markets and I have ten poems out, which are eligible for the Rhysling, poetry Hugo, Best of the Net, and others. Let’s get started!
Instead of “grimdark” they should call it “ren faire realism”
December 9, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Instead of “grimdark” they should call it “ren faire realism”
Of the new songs I heard this year, “The King of Rock n Roll” by Prefab Sprout is my favorite
December 8, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Of the new songs I heard this year, “The King of Rock n Roll” by Prefab Sprout is my favorite
I want to learn analytic philosophy so I can take an example from a broad category and, by carefully defining the category, exclude that example from it to annoy people
December 8, 2025 at 2:57 AM
I want to learn analytic philosophy so I can take an example from a broad category and, by carefully defining the category, exclude that example from it to annoy people
It’s very strange to go on LinkedIn, see the brilliant artists and academics I knew a while back now promoting their marketing analytics and brand strategy and AI solutions
I don’t see it as a “selling out” thing so much as I worry that their dreams might be buried underneath it all
I don’t see it as a “selling out” thing so much as I worry that their dreams might be buried underneath it all
December 8, 2025 at 1:54 AM
It’s very strange to go on LinkedIn, see the brilliant artists and academics I knew a while back now promoting their marketing analytics and brand strategy and AI solutions
I don’t see it as a “selling out” thing so much as I worry that their dreams might be buried underneath it all
I don’t see it as a “selling out” thing so much as I worry that their dreams might be buried underneath it all
If you see this, repost with your model of positive masculinity
December 7, 2025 at 1:47 PM
If you see this, repost with your model of positive masculinity
Sci fi poetry update: this week I’m taking a break from the Bigger Project to knock out a few shorter experiments. Next up I’m gonna try to see what a far-future Baudelaire would sound like.
December 5, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Sci fi poetry update: this week I’m taking a break from the Bigger Project to knock out a few shorter experiments. Next up I’m gonna try to see what a far-future Baudelaire would sound like.
We watched The Family Stone, and it’s funny how a movie can be simultaneously pretty bad and a beautiful viewing experience. It’s both a half-baked romcom, plot beats that make no sense and also has some of the more daring and vulnerable moments I’ve seen in movies in a while
December 5, 2025 at 4:56 AM
We watched The Family Stone, and it’s funny how a movie can be simultaneously pretty bad and a beautiful viewing experience. It’s both a half-baked romcom, plot beats that make no sense and also has some of the more daring and vulnerable moments I’ve seen in movies in a while
I just imagined someone saying in the Trump cadence, “We sure love the energy efficiency of heat pumps, don’t we folks”
December 3, 2025 at 7:24 PM
I just imagined someone saying in the Trump cadence, “We sure love the energy efficiency of heat pumps, don’t we folks”
It’s remarkable how quickly Israel defenders will trash anti Zionist or anti occupation Jewish people. I experienced it as a child often and viciously from leaders in my synagogue.
Hillary Clinton blames TikTok and “totally made up” videos for young people’s views on Israel and Palestine.
She says social media influenced “not just the usual suspects” but also “young Jewish Americans who don’t know the history and don’t understand.”
She says social media influenced “not just the usual suspects” but also “young Jewish Americans who don’t know the history and don’t understand.”
December 3, 2025 at 12:34 AM
It’s remarkable how quickly Israel defenders will trash anti Zionist or anti occupation Jewish people. I experienced it as a child often and viciously from leaders in my synagogue.
Specpoverse, the speculative poetry magazine I co-edit with @miguelmitchell.bsky.social is not a for profit entity and is a total labor of love. Your support goes directly to author payments and keeping the website up!
specpoverse.org
specpoverse.org
December 2, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Specpoverse, the speculative poetry magazine I co-edit with @miguelmitchell.bsky.social is not a for profit entity and is a total labor of love. Your support goes directly to author payments and keeping the website up!
specpoverse.org
specpoverse.org
I’m so taken by places with Knob in the title that I’m gonna add a dead-end star system called Fair Knob to my science fiction universe
I am reading a book that has a town called Gobbler's Knob as a location and I am delighted to report that it's a real place.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobbler...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobbler...
Gobbler's Knob - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
December 2, 2025 at 2:25 PM
I’m so taken by places with Knob in the title that I’m gonna add a dead-end star system called Fair Knob to my science fiction universe
Doing the Macarena at the 1996 Democratic National Convention must have hit harder than any drug
December 2, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Doing the Macarena at the 1996 Democratic National Convention must have hit harder than any drug
They should invent a snowplow that does all the streets in my neighborhood
December 2, 2025 at 11:08 AM
They should invent a snowplow that does all the streets in my neighborhood
“All I Want for Christmas Is You” isn’t responsible for being overplayed, it can’t help being that good!
December 2, 2025 at 1:28 AM
“All I Want for Christmas Is You” isn’t responsible for being overplayed, it can’t help being that good!
Alright speculative poetry fans! It’s time for my end of 2025 awards eligibility post! This is my first year publishing in speculative markets and I have ten poems out, which are eligible for the Rhysling, poetry Hugo, Best of the Net, and others. Let’s get started!
December 1, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Alright speculative poetry fans! It’s time for my end of 2025 awards eligibility post! This is my first year publishing in speculative markets and I have ten poems out, which are eligible for the Rhysling, poetry Hugo, Best of the Net, and others. Let’s get started!
I’m sure the Good Place is an awesome show, I trust the judgment of everyone who recommends it, I will watch it sometime and probably love it, but for whatever reason there is no stupider show ever made than the Good Place *in my head*
December 1, 2025 at 1:55 PM
I’m sure the Good Place is an awesome show, I trust the judgment of everyone who recommends it, I will watch it sometime and probably love it, but for whatever reason there is no stupider show ever made than the Good Place *in my head*
Based on certain relatives’ statements, there is a nonzero probability I ate my first dish from an AI-generated recipe
December 1, 2025 at 3:05 AM
Based on certain relatives’ statements, there is a nonzero probability I ate my first dish from an AI-generated recipe
I’m reading The City and the City and totally engrossed, it’s really scratching a good itch for me
November 29, 2025 at 12:08 AM
I’m reading The City and the City and totally engrossed, it’s really scratching a good itch for me
The thing that’s so awesome about Miss Piggy is after all the other great things about her (beautiful, glamorous, confident, pushes her nerdy boyfriend to stand up for himself), she also sometimes does karate
November 28, 2025 at 4:50 AM
The thing that’s so awesome about Miss Piggy is after all the other great things about her (beautiful, glamorous, confident, pushes her nerdy boyfriend to stand up for himself), she also sometimes does karate
D’Angelo
Of Montreal
Ravi Shankar
Sheila E.
Antony and the Johnsons
Of Montreal
Ravi Shankar
Sheila E.
Antony and the Johnsons
Alanis Morrisette
Tori Amos
GWAR
Ghost
The Mountain Goats
Tori Amos
GWAR
Ghost
The Mountain Goats
Introduce yourself with five concerts you've seen
The Cure
GWAR
Dropkick Murphys
Prince
Elvis Costello & the Imposters
The Cure
GWAR
Dropkick Murphys
Prince
Elvis Costello & the Imposters
November 28, 2025 at 2:58 AM
D’Angelo
Of Montreal
Ravi Shankar
Sheila E.
Antony and the Johnsons
Of Montreal
Ravi Shankar
Sheila E.
Antony and the Johnsons
I’ve crossed over to five hundred followers. I understand this to mean that five hundred people think I’m the greatest poet to ever live, and if asked, would give me ten thousand dollars without any strings attached
November 27, 2025 at 5:28 PM
I’ve crossed over to five hundred followers. I understand this to mean that five hundred people think I’m the greatest poet to ever live, and if asked, would give me ten thousand dollars without any strings attached
1. Poetry is fundamentally plastic, can take any form to make new meaning.
2. Form is a tool for world-building in speculative poetry.
Read these thoughts and more in my column up at Angry Gable Press!
angrygablepress.com/2025/11/26/t...
2. Form is a tool for world-building in speculative poetry.
Read these thoughts and more in my column up at Angry Gable Press!
angrygablepress.com/2025/11/26/t...
The Angry Gable #28
Featuring Michael Hessel-Mial
angrygablepress.com
November 27, 2025 at 4:30 PM
1. Poetry is fundamentally plastic, can take any form to make new meaning.
2. Form is a tool for world-building in speculative poetry.
Read these thoughts and more in my column up at Angry Gable Press!
angrygablepress.com/2025/11/26/t...
2. Form is a tool for world-building in speculative poetry.
Read these thoughts and more in my column up at Angry Gable Press!
angrygablepress.com/2025/11/26/t...
There’s something very vulnerable about writing something you’re passionate about. The first person to be moved by a work is the creator themself, but then comes the question: “Will other people see and feel it too? Or is it just me?”
Gonna work as hard as I can to try to make that thing work!
Gonna work as hard as I can to try to make that thing work!
November 27, 2025 at 3:45 PM
There’s something very vulnerable about writing something you’re passionate about. The first person to be moved by a work is the creator themself, but then comes the question: “Will other people see and feel it too? Or is it just me?”
Gonna work as hard as I can to try to make that thing work!
Gonna work as hard as I can to try to make that thing work!
For those of you following my science fiction poetry, this essay is a statement on the poetics side of it all. If you’re interested in form/style questions, I hope this gives you some cool expansive ideas about them! Hoping to write more essays about speculative poetics & would love your questions!
Michael Hessel-Mial’s “Speculative Poetry and The Plasticity of Form” is our Angry Gable #28! angrygablepress.com/2025/11/26/t...
The Angry Gable #28
Featuring Michael Hessel-Mial
angrygablepress.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:57 PM
For those of you following my science fiction poetry, this essay is a statement on the poetics side of it all. If you’re interested in form/style questions, I hope this gives you some cool expansive ideas about them! Hoping to write more essays about speculative poetics & would love your questions!