Joel Calahan
@joelcalahan.com
Apprentice philologist. Poetry translation and history teaching. Chair-leg hero.
Emeritus: Signal to Noise, Chicago Review
reader-in-chief of Caliber, an occasional newsletter of translation and reading
[ask at calibernewsletter at gmail dot com]
Emeritus: Signal to Noise, Chicago Review
reader-in-chief of Caliber, an occasional newsletter of translation and reading
[ask at calibernewsletter at gmail dot com]
Pinned
Joel Calahan
@joelcalahan.com
· Dec 17
Verge Books
www.vergebooks.com
Very proud to announce the publication of my chapbook The Bees, out now from Verge Books. It’s a translation of Book IV of Vergil’s Georgics, full of practical tips for beekeepers, and lovely lyric depictions of hive life.
Purchase, repost, spread the word!
www.vergebooks.com#/joel-calaha...
Purchase, repost, spread the word!
www.vergebooks.com#/joel-calaha...
Reposted by Joel Calahan
my wife and i saw you from across the bar and were wondering if you always chew your food like that
August 8, 2024 at 8:20 PM
my wife and i saw you from across the bar and were wondering if you always chew your food like that
Austen and it’s not even close
You can only pick one. I’m sorry.
Jane Austen or Mary Shelley
Jane Austen or Mary Shelley
November 11, 2025 at 4:08 AM
Austen and it’s not even close
Reposted by Joel Calahan
Did you hear that they’re having a 10K race to raise funds for the Samuel Morse Society?
They’re calling it the Dot-Dash-Dash -Dash-Dash Dash-Dash-Dash-Dash-Dash Dash-Dot-Dash
They’re calling it the Dot-Dash-Dash -Dash-Dash Dash-Dash-Dash-Dash-Dash Dash-Dot-Dash
November 9, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Did you hear that they’re having a 10K race to raise funds for the Samuel Morse Society?
They’re calling it the Dot-Dash-Dash -Dash-Dash Dash-Dash-Dash-Dash-Dash Dash-Dot-Dash
They’re calling it the Dot-Dash-Dash -Dash-Dash Dash-Dash-Dash-Dash-Dash Dash-Dot-Dash
Art Nouveau…Art Deco…Art Garfunkel
November 9, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Art Nouveau…Art Deco…Art Garfunkel
The Quince Ensemble’s Dust Bowl is an incredible album of American songs. Highest recommendation for this on a Sunday afternoon.
quinceensemble.bandcamp.com/album/dust-b...
quinceensemble.bandcamp.com/album/dust-b...
Dust Bowl, by Quince Ensemble
13 track album
quinceensemble.bandcamp.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:26 PM
The Quince Ensemble’s Dust Bowl is an incredible album of American songs. Highest recommendation for this on a Sunday afternoon.
quinceensemble.bandcamp.com/album/dust-b...
quinceensemble.bandcamp.com/album/dust-b...
The n+1 bookmatch quiz is a delight as usual but is just a bit too accurate, in that I own three and have read two others of the recommended books this year 😬
November 9, 2025 at 6:11 PM
The n+1 bookmatch quiz is a delight as usual but is just a bit too accurate, in that I own three and have read two others of the recommended books this year 😬
Reposted by Joel Calahan
This how I find out I have a son??
Loving today's news that the mysterious "fedora man" outside the Louvre heist was actually a 15-year-old museum visitor who dresses like a 1940s French detective all the time, just because. apnews.com/article/louv...
Fedora man unmasked: Meet the teen behind the Louvre mystery photo
Fifteen-year-old Pedro Elias Garzon Delvaux has become an internet sensation after an Associated Press photo captured him outside the Louvre on the day of a crown jewels heist.
apnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 5:13 PM
This how I find out I have a son??
Reposted by Joel Calahan
Reposted by Joel Calahan
if you see this, post an album cover with a motor vehicle on it.
November 8, 2025 at 7:46 PM
if you see this, post an album cover with a motor vehicle on it.
Woke up this morning as the parent of an 18-year-old. Proud as can be but I’m gonna need some time to process.
November 8, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Woke up this morning as the parent of an 18-year-old. Proud as can be but I’m gonna need some time to process.
Reposted by Joel Calahan
Reposted by Joel Calahan
SOCRATES: No god is a philosopher or seeker after wisdom, for he is wise already; nor does any man who is wise seek after wisdom.
PLATO: Neither do the ignorant seek after wisdom.
DARRYL, SOCRATES AND PLATO’S FRIEND: well well well if it isn’t the blowjob brothers
PLATO: Neither do the ignorant seek after wisdom.
DARRYL, SOCRATES AND PLATO’S FRIEND: well well well if it isn’t the blowjob brothers
November 8, 2025 at 1:45 AM
SOCRATES: No god is a philosopher or seeker after wisdom, for he is wise already; nor does any man who is wise seek after wisdom.
PLATO: Neither do the ignorant seek after wisdom.
DARRYL, SOCRATES AND PLATO’S FRIEND: well well well if it isn’t the blowjob brothers
PLATO: Neither do the ignorant seek after wisdom.
DARRYL, SOCRATES AND PLATO’S FRIEND: well well well if it isn’t the blowjob brothers
Reposted by Joel Calahan
virtue signalling is good actually
Performative decency is actually *so* important for this reason.
It tricks the 10% of ghouls into thinking that there are only 1% of ghouls.
And it makes the 30% of people that don't care one way or another follow the mostly decent crowd
It tricks the 10% of ghouls into thinking that there are only 1% of ghouls.
And it makes the 30% of people that don't care one way or another follow the mostly decent crowd
November 7, 2025 at 7:59 PM
virtue signalling is good actually
1990s: “I’m going to build a business successful enough for an IPO”
2010s: “I’m going to build a business innovative enough to be purchased for my patents”
2020s: “I’m going to build a business big enough that the government has no choice but to bail it out”
2010s: “I’m going to build a business innovative enough to be purchased for my patents”
2020s: “I’m going to build a business big enough that the government has no choice but to bail it out”
"I'm making billions, and, if it fails, taxpayers will bail me out"
November 7, 2025 at 8:06 PM
1990s: “I’m going to build a business successful enough for an IPO”
2010s: “I’m going to build a business innovative enough to be purchased for my patents”
2020s: “I’m going to build a business big enough that the government has no choice but to bail it out”
2010s: “I’m going to build a business innovative enough to be purchased for my patents”
2020s: “I’m going to build a business big enough that the government has no choice but to bail it out”
Reposted by Joel Calahan
did you know the Mountain Goats have a new album out today and you can buy it or stream it and dance to it in your living room or while driving or on the subway and it's a whole vibe? well now you know that 30tgrs.ffm.to/ttfafpb
The Mountain Goats - Through This Fire Across from Peter Balkan
Choose your preferred music service
30tgrs.ffm.to
November 7, 2025 at 1:28 PM
did you know the Mountain Goats have a new album out today and you can buy it or stream it and dance to it in your living room or while driving or on the subway and it's a whole vibe? well now you know that 30tgrs.ffm.to/ttfafpb
Reposted by Joel Calahan
There are no words for how evil this is
November 7, 2025 at 1:36 AM
There are no words for how evil this is
Trader Joe’s brand meatless meat has been discontinued…. 😩 I blame RFK
November 7, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Trader Joe’s brand meatless meat has been discontinued…. 😩 I blame RFK
“Depends on the definition of ‘bodily ham’…HARM, I mean ‘bodily harm.’”
November 6, 2025 at 8:27 PM
“Depends on the definition of ‘bodily ham’…HARM, I mean ‘bodily harm.’”
Reposted by Joel Calahan
Reposted by Joel Calahan
this looks like a trick daffy duck would put up to get bugs bunny into "the oval office"
November 5, 2025 at 11:04 PM
this looks like a trick daffy duck would put up to get bugs bunny into "the oval office"
Reposted by Joel Calahan
I wrote a sonnet about scaring my kid about Zohran Mamdani:
November 5, 2025 at 9:47 PM
I wrote a sonnet about scaring my kid about Zohran Mamdani: