Toby Altman
@browatch.bsky.social
I teach at MSU and run the RCAH Center for Poetry. Recently: Discipline Park (Wendy's Subway, 2023). Soon: Jewel Box (Essay Press, 2025). Not very online.
We are thrilled to welcome the new Michigan Poet Laureate, Melba Joyce Boyd, to Lansing next week. She'll give a reading on Friday, November 14th at 7pm at the East Lansing Public Library, and a workshop the following morning at the Library of Michigan as part of the Poet's Roundtable conference.
November 5, 2025 at 8:13 PM
We are thrilled to welcome the new Michigan Poet Laureate, Melba Joyce Boyd, to Lansing next week. She'll give a reading on Friday, November 14th at 7pm at the East Lansing Public Library, and a workshop the following morning at the Library of Michigan as part of the Poet's Roundtable conference.
This week at the RCAH Center for Poetry! Join us for readings from Esther Belin and Jo Troxell, and help us welcome Esther to town!
October 6, 2025 at 8:37 PM
This week at the RCAH Center for Poetry! Join us for readings from Esther Belin and Jo Troxell, and help us welcome Esther to town!
The RCAH Center for Poetry at MSU is BACK! With old friends and new laureates, mathematicians and performance artists, we are here to demand, to insist, that poetry is a living thing! (See the following posts for a complete rundown of events)
September 4, 2025 at 8:33 PM
The RCAH Center for Poetry at MSU is BACK! With old friends and new laureates, mathematicians and performance artists, we are here to demand, to insist, that poetry is a living thing! (See the following posts for a complete rundown of events)
Tonight!
Summer Series is back this week—w/readings from Suban Nur Cooley, Korey Deans, Bianca Rae Messinger, and Adam Mitt!
August 22, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Tonight!
Summer Series is back this week—w/readings from Suban Nur Cooley, Korey Deans, Bianca Rae Messinger, and Adam Mitt!
August 18, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Summer Series is back this week—w/readings from Suban Nur Cooley, Korey Deans, Bianca Rae Messinger, and Adam Mitt!
Reposted by Toby Altman
We are hiring a tenure track poet! I’m so excited / spread the word… wesleyan.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/career...
Assistant Professor of English
The Department of English at Wesleyan University seeks a published poet for a tenure-track appointment beginning July 1, 2026. Teaching responsibilities include two courses per semester in introductor...
wesleyan.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com
July 16, 2025 at 11:42 AM
We are hiring a tenure track poet! I’m so excited / spread the word… wesleyan.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/career...
Tari is unable to join us tonight, but fortunately the great Ruelaine Stokes is going to read in her stead! Don't miss this—
INTRODUCING: Summer Series, a set of relaxed, off-campus readings from the The RCAH Center for Poetry at MSU, featuring local and national poetic luminaries. Summer Series I, featuring Sarah Carson and Tari Muñiz will be July 12th at 7pm at Hooked Lansing!
July 12, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Tari is unable to join us tonight, but fortunately the great Ruelaine Stokes is going to read in her stead! Don't miss this—
Tomorrow night!
INTRODUCING: Summer Series, a set of relaxed, off-campus readings from the The RCAH Center for Poetry at MSU, featuring local and national poetic luminaries. Summer Series I, featuring Sarah Carson and Tari Muñiz will be July 12th at 7pm at Hooked Lansing!
July 11, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Tomorrow night!
INTRODUCING: Summer Series, a set of relaxed, off-campus readings from the The RCAH Center for Poetry at MSU, featuring local and national poetic luminaries. Summer Series I, featuring Sarah Carson and Tari Muñiz will be July 12th at 7pm at Hooked Lansing!
June 30, 2025 at 10:27 AM
INTRODUCING: Summer Series, a set of relaxed, off-campus readings from the The RCAH Center for Poetry at MSU, featuring local and national poetic luminaries. Summer Series I, featuring Sarah Carson and Tari Muñiz will be July 12th at 7pm at Hooked Lansing!
George Oppen, with news that stays news
June 13, 2025 at 6:54 AM
George Oppen, with news that stays news
Given that we seem to be in a moment of crisis for literary organizations and literary funding more broadly, which organizations do you see responding to the moment in radical / interesting ways? Brainstorming for a ~thing~
June 4, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Given that we seem to be in a moment of crisis for literary organizations and literary funding more broadly, which organizations do you see responding to the moment in radical / interesting ways? Brainstorming for a ~thing~
huge thanks to phil kostov for this elegant and thoughtful review of Discipline Park: rhinopoetry.org/reviews/toby...
June 2, 2025 at 11:39 AM
huge thanks to phil kostov for this elegant and thoughtful review of Discipline Park: rhinopoetry.org/reviews/toby...
"Music is simply trying things"—Alice Notley, from the first poem of her Iowa MFA Thesis, 1970. Thinking of her, and all of those who were lifted by her—
May 20, 2025 at 2:38 PM
"Music is simply trying things"—Alice Notley, from the first poem of her Iowa MFA Thesis, 1970. Thinking of her, and all of those who were lifted by her—
some ppl are really still living in the 20th century
May 14, 2025 at 1:38 PM
some ppl are really still living in the 20th century
I'll be in New York on Friday to read with Laura Jaramillo & Aristilde Kirby! hope to see you there— poetrysociety.org/events/make-...
Make Room: A New Voices Salon with Toby Altman, Laura Jaramillo & Aristilde Kirby
Placing poetry at the crossroads of American life since 1910.
poetrysociety.org
May 13, 2025 at 8:30 PM
I'll be in New York on Friday to read with Laura Jaramillo & Aristilde Kirby! hope to see you there— poetrysociety.org/events/make-...
the pope is from chicago
May 9, 2025 at 2:38 PM
the pope is from chicago
Reposted by Toby Altman
Increasingly Powerful Trans Person Capable Of Using Every Single Bathroom At Once
Increasingly Powerful Trans Person Capable Of Using Every Single Bathroom At Once
EVERYWHERE—As the influence of the nation’s transgender individuals continues to encroach on the freedoms of the U.S. populace, sources confirmed Tuesday that increasingly powerful trans person Tori R...
theonion.com
May 7, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Increasingly Powerful Trans Person Capable Of Using Every Single Bathroom At Once
Reposted by Toby Altman
Today's Featured Poem:
"One acquires an especially lush gender." by Toby Altman (@browatch.bsky.social), from Issue 1 of Rampage Party.
Read here:
poems.com/poem/one-acq...
"One acquires an especially lush gender." by Toby Altman (@browatch.bsky.social), from Issue 1 of Rampage Party.
Read here:
poems.com/poem/one-acq...
One acquires an especially lush gender.
A romance, the stranger and his roommate
naked in the lake.
poems.com
May 7, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Today's Featured Poem:
"One acquires an especially lush gender." by Toby Altman (@browatch.bsky.social), from Issue 1 of Rampage Party.
Read here:
poems.com/poem/one-acq...
"One acquires an especially lush gender." by Toby Altman (@browatch.bsky.social), from Issue 1 of Rampage Party.
Read here:
poems.com/poem/one-acq...
I'm back in @poetrydaily.bsky.social with a poem I wrote wandering around in Target:
poems.com/poem/one-acq...
poems.com/poem/one-acq...
One acquires an especially lush gender.
A romance, the stranger and his roommate
naked in the lake.
poems.com
May 7, 2025 at 12:41 PM
I'm back in @poetrydaily.bsky.social with a poem I wrote wandering around in Target:
poems.com/poem/one-acq...
poems.com/poem/one-acq...
One thing I admired about Joshua Clover: the absolute clarity of his thinking, irregardless of the object—even Spring Breakers. We need that clarity now, at a moment when we need to be mercilessly honest about what is—and isn't—a revolutionary poetics thenewinquiry.com/high-as-fina...
High as Finance
All this coke, and not a credit card in sight
thenewinquiry.com
April 28, 2025 at 12:11 PM
One thing I admired about Joshua Clover: the absolute clarity of his thinking, irregardless of the object—even Spring Breakers. We need that clarity now, at a moment when we need to be mercilessly honest about what is—and isn't—a revolutionary poetics thenewinquiry.com/high-as-fina...
New York! I'm reading with Laura Jaramillo & Aristilde Kirby in a few weeks—
Make Room: A New Voices Salon with Toby Altman, Laura Jaramillo & Aristilde Kirby
Placing poetry at the crossroads of American life since 1910.
poetrysociety.org
April 24, 2025 at 2:21 PM
New York! I'm reading with Laura Jaramillo & Aristilde Kirby in a few weeks—
This Saturday! Our spring festival concludes with Summer Slam 5, curated by Masaki Takahashi. This lineup is STACKED
April 15, 2025 at 1:06 PM
This Saturday! Our spring festival concludes with Summer Slam 5, curated by Masaki Takahashi. This lineup is STACKED
Reposted by Toby Altman
come out to the New Orleans Healing Arts Center tomorrow for a collaborative poetry event with Tyger Quarterly at the NOPF! Featuring @browatch.bsky.social, kathy wu, Alyssa Moore, Emily Pittinos, Shira Dentz, and Emily Barton Altman
April 12, 2025 at 5:55 AM
come out to the New Orleans Healing Arts Center tomorrow for a collaborative poetry event with Tyger Quarterly at the NOPF! Featuring @browatch.bsky.social, kathy wu, Alyssa Moore, Emily Pittinos, Shira Dentz, and Emily Barton Altman
Reposted by Toby Altman
Came here after a while to repost bc I saw this on insta! As a librarian especially I believe that the poetry world should function more equitably & be less enmeshed in capitalism--would be happy to support this organizing (which many are doing in different ways)
A small consideration, given the scale of the devastation we've seen in the early months of the new Trump administration, but—I have found myself thinking about how all this will affect the economy (such as it is) of the poetry world. An economy which depends heavily on universities and foundations.
April 9, 2025 at 1:38 AM
Came here after a while to repost bc I saw this on insta! As a librarian especially I believe that the poetry world should function more equitably & be less enmeshed in capitalism--would be happy to support this organizing (which many are doing in different ways)