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...
I put on the film of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Opus in the background so I could do some paperwork, but I’m just sitting here transfixed, teary eyed, a complete wreck.
February 10, 2026 at 4:42 PM
I put on the film of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Opus in the background so I could do some paperwork, but I’m just sitting here transfixed, teary eyed, a complete wreck.
lmao I did this to do French Duolingo, and never turned it off, I find it hilarious too
February 10, 2026 at 4:16 PM
lmao I did this to do French Duolingo, and never turned it off, I find it hilarious too
Reposted by Joel Calahan
I can't stop thinking about Yukiko Motoya's stories in The Lonesome Bodybuilder.
www.joelcalahan.com/shelf-life-y...
www.joelcalahan.com/shelf-life-y...
Shelf Life: Yukiko Motoya, The Lonesome Bodybuilder
Yukiko Motoya, The Lonesome Bodybuilder. Trans. Asa Yoneda. Soft Skull Press, 2018. 224pp. Link.
Source: borrowed from San Diego County Library, Poway branch
There are many droll conceits: a neglecte...
www.joelcalahan.com
February 10, 2026 at 6:21 AM
I can't stop thinking about Yukiko Motoya's stories in The Lonesome Bodybuilder.
www.joelcalahan.com/shelf-life-y...
www.joelcalahan.com/shelf-life-y...
capture the flag was my obsession
February 10, 2026 at 3:00 PM
capture the flag was my obsession
I can't stop thinking about Yukiko Motoya's stories in The Lonesome Bodybuilder.
www.joelcalahan.com/shelf-life-y...
www.joelcalahan.com/shelf-life-y...
Shelf Life: Yukiko Motoya, The Lonesome Bodybuilder
Yukiko Motoya, The Lonesome Bodybuilder. Trans. Asa Yoneda. Soft Skull Press, 2018. 224pp. Link.
Source: borrowed from San Diego County Library, Poway branch
There are many droll conceits: a neglecte...
www.joelcalahan.com
February 10, 2026 at 6:21 AM
I can't stop thinking about Yukiko Motoya's stories in The Lonesome Bodybuilder.
www.joelcalahan.com/shelf-life-y...
www.joelcalahan.com/shelf-life-y...
this is why football is the worst designed sport, since it’s both turn- and time-based, leading to preposterous outcomes and completely artificial drama
February 10, 2026 at 4:32 AM
this is why football is the worst designed sport, since it’s both turn- and time-based, leading to preposterous outcomes and completely artificial drama
Reposted by Joel Calahan
CALL FOR PITCHES
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
February 9, 2026 at 1:56 PM
CALL FOR PITCHES
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
Reposted by Joel Calahan
Now I've heard there was a secret floor
That ICE made squalid just as before
But you don't really care for rulings, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor falls, our neighbors sick
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
That ICE made squalid just as before
But you don't really care for rulings, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor falls, our neighbors sick
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
ICE officials under a judge’s order to clean up squalid conditions on the 10th floor of 26 Federal Plaza detained migrants on a secret floor where they decided that ruling didn’t apply, attorneys for the Trump administration said Monday.
www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/09/2...
www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/09/2...
ICE Moved Detainees to Previously Undisclosed Floor of 26 Federal Plaza
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reduce overcrowding and squalid conditions at a Manhattan holding room. Months later, he finds ICE merely shifted floors.
www.thecity.nyc
February 10, 2026 at 3:09 AM
Now I've heard there was a secret floor
That ICE made squalid just as before
But you don't really care for rulings, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor falls, our neighbors sick
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
That ICE made squalid just as before
But you don't really care for rulings, do you?
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor falls, our neighbors sick
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Reposted by Joel Calahan
Ebo Taylor, who did for Ghanaian music what his friend Fela Kuti did for Nigeria, has been called the greatest rhythm guitarist in history.
His son Kweku Taylor:
“The world has lost a giant, a colossus of African music, leaving behind an unmatched artistry legacy. Dad, your light will never fade.”
His son Kweku Taylor:
“The world has lost a giant, a colossus of African music, leaving behind an unmatched artistry legacy. Dad, your light will never fade.”
Ebo Taylor, Ghanaian highlife pioneer and guitarist, dies age 90
Taylor, who did for Ghanaian music what his friend Fela Kuti did for Nigeria, has been called the greatest rhythm guitarist in history
www.theguardian.com
February 10, 2026 at 1:11 AM
Ebo Taylor, who did for Ghanaian music what his friend Fela Kuti did for Nigeria, has been called the greatest rhythm guitarist in history.
His son Kweku Taylor:
“The world has lost a giant, a colossus of African music, leaving behind an unmatched artistry legacy. Dad, your light will never fade.”
His son Kweku Taylor:
“The world has lost a giant, a colossus of African music, leaving behind an unmatched artistry legacy. Dad, your light will never fade.”
Norway Hurt in the Family Juuls
February 9, 2026 at 11:30 PM
Norway Hurt in the Family Juuls
“I wouldn’t want to be part of any club that would have me as a member”
February 9, 2026 at 6:47 PM
“I wouldn’t want to be part of any club that would have me as a member”
Reposted by Joel Calahan
The Georgian pair is operating on a level I might not be ready for
a selection of songs that will be used in the today's ice dance competition at the Winter Olympics, where competitors are required to use "music of the 1990s" for their rhythm dance programs
February 9, 2026 at 6:20 PM
The Georgian pair is operating on a level I might not be ready for
My first car was a 1990 Pontiac Grand Prix which I drove for five years, just the classic 90s look
gotta be the Grand Am
February 9, 2026 at 4:18 PM
My first car was a 1990 Pontiac Grand Prix which I drove for five years, just the classic 90s look
Hell, yes, I like my sporty sedan ribbed for her pleasure
February 9, 2026 at 4:17 PM
Hell, yes, I like my sporty sedan ribbed for her pleasure
Reposted by Joel Calahan
Macbeth: SHIT
February 9, 2026 at 2:50 AM
Macbeth: SHIT
Reposted by Joel Calahan
The Sermon on the Mount, by Beryl Lewis, before 1965, 📸 by @ScottStrazzante
February 9, 2026 at 2:16 AM
The Sermon on the Mount, by Beryl Lewis, before 1965, 📸 by @ScottStrazzante
Reposted by Joel Calahan
City Scene with Nuns, by Robert William Addison (American, 1924–1988)
c. 1947
More info: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/216534
c. 1947
More info: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/216534
February 8, 2026 at 7:39 PM
City Scene with Nuns, by Robert William Addison (American, 1924–1988)
c. 1947
More info: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/216534
c. 1947
More info: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/216534
Samosas are one of the world’s great appetizers, they absolutely do complete whatever game you think is big
February 8, 2026 at 3:54 AM
Samosas are one of the world’s great appetizers, they absolutely do complete whatever game you think is big
OPINION: A HOT DOG IS A SANDWICH, BUT ONLY IF IT HAS BUTTER
February 7, 2026 at 11:26 PM
OPINION: A HOT DOG IS A SANDWICH, BUT ONLY IF IT HAS BUTTER
Wine tasting in Mexico for the day
February 7, 2026 at 8:33 PM
Wine tasting in Mexico for the day
Reposted by Joel Calahan
Public libraries are essential for many reasons. One of the simplest and most subtly important is modeling a transactional system that is almost completely outside of capitalism. Without such models it can be hard to see how the rest of our world operates, because of its ubiquity and pervasiveness.
February 7, 2026 at 4:54 PM
Public libraries are essential for many reasons. One of the simplest and most subtly important is modeling a transactional system that is almost completely outside of capitalism. Without such models it can be hard to see how the rest of our world operates, because of its ubiquity and pervasiveness.
yep, couldn’t agree more. also even more so since the trend of eliminating late fines. feels so good to borrow something, then return it for someone else to use.
February 7, 2026 at 4:56 PM
yep, couldn’t agree more. also even more so since the trend of eliminating late fines. feels so good to borrow something, then return it for someone else to use.
February 7, 2026 at 4:49 PM