Derek JG Williams
@derekjgwilliams.bsky.social
expat American writer, PhD
Reading Water (Lightscatter, 2025)
Poetry Is A Disease (Greying Ghost, 2022)
http://www.derekjgwilliams.com/
Reading Water (Lightscatter, 2025)
Poetry Is A Disease (Greying Ghost, 2022)
http://www.derekjgwilliams.com/
Reposted by Derek JG Williams
No darkness lasts forever. And even there, there are stars.
November 14, 2025 at 4:15 AM
No darkness lasts forever. And even there, there are stars.
Reposted by Derek JG Williams
daydreaming about baseball cards
November 13, 2025 at 2:09 PM
daydreaming about baseball cards
just realized I somehow thought Lady Bird and Frances Ha were the same film? no clue how that happened...
November 13, 2025 at 9:03 AM
just realized I somehow thought Lady Bird and Frances Ha were the same film? no clue how that happened...
Reposted by Derek JG Williams
Yesterday's No Kings protests were apparently the largest since the first Earth Day in 1970
The NYT covered that story with a six column headline across the top of the paper and two full pages inside
Today, two small pics below the fold and a story on page A23
They constantly let America down
The NYT covered that story with a six column headline across the top of the paper and two full pages inside
Today, two small pics below the fold and a story on page A23
They constantly let America down
October 19, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Yesterday's No Kings protests were apparently the largest since the first Earth Day in 1970
The NYT covered that story with a six column headline across the top of the paper and two full pages inside
Today, two small pics below the fold and a story on page A23
They constantly let America down
The NYT covered that story with a six column headline across the top of the paper and two full pages inside
Today, two small pics below the fold and a story on page A23
They constantly let America down
Reposted by Derek JG Williams
pretty sad, not even listening to D'Angelo - I've got Frightened Rabbit on instead, which is also sad
October 15, 2025 at 10:59 AM
pretty sad, not even listening to D'Angelo - I've got Frightened Rabbit on instead, which is also sad
"America I used to be a communist when I was a kid I’m not sorry. / I smoke marijuana every chance I get. / I sit in my house for days on end and stare at the roses in the closet. / My mind is made up there’s going to be trouble." - AG -
Amazing Emergency Naked Ride. Here’s the moment thousands of riders rolled through the protests at the ICE facility and cheers erupted. 😮💯
October 13, 2025 at 12:41 PM
"America I used to be a communist when I was a kid I’m not sorry. / I smoke marijuana every chance I get. / I sit in my house for days on end and stare at the roses in the closet. / My mind is made up there’s going to be trouble." - AG -
Reposted by Derek JG Williams
"I'm not paying your fee.
Give the grant, the residency,
that place in a journal, that job
to someone else.
I'll be here under the Bodhi tree with Tu Fu.
He's sold a sheaf of poems."
shopoetryjournal.com/sean-thomas-...
Give the grant, the residency,
that place in a journal, that job
to someone else.
I'll be here under the Bodhi tree with Tu Fu.
He's sold a sheaf of poems."
shopoetryjournal.com/sean-thomas-...
Sean Thomas Dougherty – Hanzi in the Rain - Shō Poetry Journal
I think I'm tiring of auditioning. / I'm not dancing for bread anymore.
shopoetryjournal.com
October 6, 2025 at 9:21 AM
"I'm not paying your fee.
Give the grant, the residency,
that place in a journal, that job
to someone else.
I'll be here under the Bodhi tree with Tu Fu.
He's sold a sheaf of poems."
shopoetryjournal.com/sean-thomas-...
Give the grant, the residency,
that place in a journal, that job
to someone else.
I'll be here under the Bodhi tree with Tu Fu.
He's sold a sheaf of poems."
shopoetryjournal.com/sean-thomas-...
so I haven't submitted work to journals in a few years, not with the publication of the book & the prose manuscript I've been writing, but holy wow everyone charges sub fees now--what a bummer
October 3, 2025 at 12:47 PM
so I haven't submitted work to journals in a few years, not with the publication of the book & the prose manuscript I've been writing, but holy wow everyone charges sub fees now--what a bummer
I've been sick and kind of depressed that I had to cancel a bunch of readings in the US this fall. I couldn't make the dates work with some family commitments. BUT, I'm excited to teach this workshop in Geneva in a few weeks!
genevawriters.org/event-6341404
genevawriters.org/event-6341404
Geneva Writers Group - Radical Revision: A Poetry Workshop
genevawriters.org
September 29, 2025 at 12:59 PM
I've been sick and kind of depressed that I had to cancel a bunch of readings in the US this fall. I couldn't make the dates work with some family commitments. BUT, I'm excited to teach this workshop in Geneva in a few weeks!
genevawriters.org/event-6341404
genevawriters.org/event-6341404
Reposted by Derek JG Williams
Saw Mark Ruffalo eating a messy hoagie on Task and now I want a messy hoagie. Now that's prestige TV
September 24, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Saw Mark Ruffalo eating a messy hoagie on Task and now I want a messy hoagie. Now that's prestige TV
Reposted by Derek JG Williams
Reposted by Derek JG Williams
Removing information about slavery at Harper’s Ferry is like removing information about hydroelectric power at the Hoover Dam. “John Brown went to Harper’s Ferry because he was so infected by the woke mind virus that he had a pathological hatred of states rights.”
September 15, 2025 at 11:41 PM
Removing information about slavery at Harper’s Ferry is like removing information about hydroelectric power at the Hoover Dam. “John Brown went to Harper’s Ferry because he was so infected by the woke mind virus that he had a pathological hatred of states rights.”
my response to most things
September 12, 2025 at 7:56 AM
my response to most things
Great piece by Hofmann on Crush in the new @yalereview.bsky.social - I somehow have never spent much time with Siken. I aim to remedy that very soon!
yalereview.org/article/rich...
yalereview.org/article/rich...
Richie Hofmann: How Richard Siken's Crush Changed American Poetry
An analysis of two waves of the Richard Siken craze, beginning with the 2004 publication of his first collection of poetry, Crush.
yalereview.org
September 9, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Great piece by Hofmann on Crush in the new @yalereview.bsky.social - I somehow have never spent much time with Siken. I aim to remedy that very soon!
yalereview.org/article/rich...
yalereview.org/article/rich...
Reposted by Derek JG Williams
YES someone else noticed the hysterical phrasing of those Penguin books
(yes I did a whole thread at the time because I just couldn't get over it) bsky.app/profile/youn...
(yes I did a whole thread at the time because I just couldn't get over it) bsky.app/profile/youn...
This frontispiece in my book just made me laugh a lot. Is this Buddhist reincarnation, or some other form of afterlife?
September 8, 2025 at 1:19 PM
YES someone else noticed the hysterical phrasing of those Penguin books
(yes I did a whole thread at the time because I just couldn't get over it) bsky.app/profile/youn...
(yes I did a whole thread at the time because I just couldn't get over it) bsky.app/profile/youn...
I did an extensive interview with CutBank about the book. Lisa Kouroupis really nailed it in our conversation. Which you can check out here:
www.cutbankonline.org/interview-de...
www.cutbankonline.org/interview-de...
July 2025 Interview with Derek JG Williams and CutBank Poetry Editor Lisa Kouroupis — CutBank Literary Magazine
www.cutbankonline.org
August 13, 2025 at 1:42 PM
I did an extensive interview with CutBank about the book. Lisa Kouroupis really nailed it in our conversation. Which you can check out here:
www.cutbankonline.org/interview-de...
www.cutbankonline.org/interview-de...
I've been summering, which means I haven't been online as much. But summering involves much writing. May summer last forever.
August 13, 2025 at 1:40 PM
I've been summering, which means I haven't been online as much. But summering involves much writing. May summer last forever.
Reposted by Derek JG Williams
The material of poems is energy itself, not even language. Words come later.
Eileen Myles, Inferno
Eileen Myles, Inferno
August 10, 2025 at 2:38 AM
The material of poems is energy itself, not even language. Words come later.
Eileen Myles, Inferno
Eileen Myles, Inferno
in France, by the beach, smelling the lilacs, refreshing Reddit to see if the Yankees are going to get some pitching help--I'm a real sicko
#baseball
#baseball
July 31, 2025 at 2:05 PM
in France, by the beach, smelling the lilacs, refreshing Reddit to see if the Yankees are going to get some pitching help--I'm a real sicko
#baseball
#baseball
Reposted by Derek JG Williams
Manifesto, 2023
Typed on my trusty Lettera 22
Typed on my trusty Lettera 22
June 16, 2025 at 6:50 AM
Manifesto, 2023
Typed on my trusty Lettera 22
Typed on my trusty Lettera 22
Reposted by Derek JG Williams
the mango so ripe it's sprung a leak
July 14, 2025 at 7:44 AM
the mango so ripe it's sprung a leak
Reposted by Derek JG Williams
Chicago Over Everything
July 25, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Chicago Over Everything