Rachel Loden
@rloden.bsky.social
Poet. Author of HOTEL IMPERIUM, DICK OF THE DEAD, poems in Journal of the Plague Years, Paris Review &c.
Pinned
Rachel Loden
@rloden.bsky.social
· Nov 21
A few years ago I filed a series of Freedom of Information Act requests for the SS-5 applications of a number of dead poets. The SS-5 is the form that individuals must fill out to obtain a Social Security card. (1/8)
Reposted by Rachel Loden
I was about seven when a teacher informed me that I mustn’t start sentences with “and.” I just smiled and said to myself “That’s what you think.” I didn’t start sentences with “and” in her class because I pitied her too much.
November 18, 2025 at 7:19 AM
I was about seven when a teacher informed me that I mustn’t start sentences with “and.” I just smiled and said to myself “That’s what you think.” I didn’t start sentences with “and” in her class because I pitied her too much.
@John Latta, you went to Cornell, yes? My older brother did too. Somehow I became acquainted and enamored with the work of Stuart Peterfreund (Cornell lit mags?). He was older than you but I wonder whether that name rings a bell?
November 17, 2025 at 1:20 PM
@John Latta, you went to Cornell, yes? My older brother did too. Somehow I became acquainted and enamored with the work of Stuart Peterfreund (Cornell lit mags?). He was older than you but I wonder whether that name rings a bell?
My third great-grandmother was Hephzibah Perry and her mother was Hephzibah Locke. Just saying.
November 17, 2025 at 12:01 PM
My third great-grandmother was Hephzibah Perry and her mother was Hephzibah Locke. Just saying.
Nipa walks in saying Hella rain. Weather says atmospheric river.
November 13, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Nipa walks in saying Hella rain. Weather says atmospheric river.
I--rather annoyed by a bad throat-- felt glad when the whole lot vanished. It is a strange thing that one cannot well live altogether without company, and that when you get it, you try hard to rid yourself of itself. (6 of 6)
November 4, 2025 at 1:29 AM
I--rather annoyed by a bad throat-- felt glad when the whole lot vanished. It is a strange thing that one cannot well live altogether without company, and that when you get it, you try hard to rid yourself of itself. (6 of 6)
to him so that mother and Tussy are signalling to each other all through supper. Finally Mr. Maitland arrived as well, fairly sober, and also had a wordy duel with his instructive table companion--Hyndman--about Gladstone, in whom the spiritualist Maitland believes. (5/of 6, actually)
November 4, 2025 at 1:29 AM
to him so that mother and Tussy are signalling to each other all through supper. Finally Mr. Maitland arrived as well, fairly sober, and also had a wordy duel with his instructive table companion--Hyndman--about Gladstone, in whom the spiritualist Maitland believes. (5/of 6, actually)
He looks well, a cross between Irving and the late Lassalle, though he has nothing in common with the cynically oily, obtrusive, ducal manners of the latter) an intelligent and somewhat promising boy. Well this is the point of the story--Dolly Maitland pays fearful court (4/5)
November 4, 2025 at 1:24 AM
He looks well, a cross between Irving and the late Lassalle, though he has nothing in common with the cynically oily, obtrusive, ducal manners of the latter) an intelligent and somewhat promising boy. Well this is the point of the story--Dolly Maitland pays fearful court (4/5)
(it was nearly 10.30 p.m.) that she withdrew But she was amused by some byplay. For Tussy has discovered a new Wunderkind among the Dogberries, a certain Radford; this youth is already a barrister at law, but despises the jus [law] and is working in the same line as Waldhorn. (3/5)
November 4, 2025 at 1:21 AM
(it was nearly 10.30 p.m.) that she withdrew But she was amused by some byplay. For Tussy has discovered a new Wunderkind among the Dogberries, a certain Radford; this youth is already a barrister at law, but despises the jus [law] and is working in the same line as Waldhorn. (3/5)
who both have too much staying power. I don't dislike the wife, for she has a brusque, unconventional and decided way of thinking and speaking, but it is funny to see how admiringly her eyes fasten upon the lips of her self-satisfied garrulous husband. Mother was so tired (2/5)
November 4, 2025 at 1:18 AM
who both have too much staying power. I don't dislike the wife, for she has a brusque, unconventional and decided way of thinking and speaking, but it is funny to see how admiringly her eyes fasten upon the lips of her self-satisfied garrulous husband. Mother was so tired (2/5)
Letter from Marx to daughter Jenny in London
The day before yesterday the Dogberry Club [apparently a Shakespeare reading group] was here; yesterday, in addition to the two Maitland girls--and for a moment Lankester and Dr. Donkin--an invasion from Hyndman and spouse, (1/5)
The day before yesterday the Dogberry Club [apparently a Shakespeare reading group] was here; yesterday, in addition to the two Maitland girls--and for a moment Lankester and Dr. Donkin--an invasion from Hyndman and spouse, (1/5)
November 4, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Letter from Marx to daughter Jenny in London
The day before yesterday the Dogberry Club [apparently a Shakespeare reading group] was here; yesterday, in addition to the two Maitland girls--and for a moment Lankester and Dr. Donkin--an invasion from Hyndman and spouse, (1/5)
The day before yesterday the Dogberry Club [apparently a Shakespeare reading group] was here; yesterday, in addition to the two Maitland girls--and for a moment Lankester and Dr. Donkin--an invasion from Hyndman and spouse, (1/5)
Dear Herr Doctor: You are already ten months behind time with the manuscript of Das Kapital, which you have agreed to write for us. If we do not receive the manuscript within six months, we shall be obliged to commission another author to do this work. (2/2)
November 4, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Dear Herr Doctor: You are already ten months behind time with the manuscript of Das Kapital, which you have agreed to write for us. If we do not receive the manuscript within six months, we shall be obliged to commission another author to do this work. (2/2)
Found this just now in Marx-Engels correspondence.
A letter to Marx from his publisher: 1/2)
A letter to Marx from his publisher: 1/2)
November 4, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Found this just now in Marx-Engels correspondence.
A letter to Marx from his publisher: 1/2)
A letter to Marx from his publisher: 1/2)
… the White House of future poems, and of dreams and dramas, there in the soft and copious moon—the gorgeous front, in the trees, under the lustrous flooding moon, full of realty, full of illusion—under the stars and sky—the White House of the land, and of beauty and night— (WW)
October 23, 2025 at 12:28 PM
… the White House of future poems, and of dreams and dramas, there in the soft and copious moon—the gorgeous front, in the trees, under the lustrous flooding moon, full of realty, full of illusion—under the stars and sky—the White House of the land, and of beauty and night— (WW)
the walls also—the tender and soft moonlight, flooding the pale marble, and making peculiar faint languishing shades, not shadows—everywhere a soft transparent hazy, thin, blue moon-lace, hanging in the air
(WW)
(WW)
October 23, 2025 at 12:22 PM
the walls also—the tender and soft moonlight, flooding the pale marble, and making peculiar faint languishing shades, not shadows—everywhere a soft transparent hazy, thin, blue moon-lace, hanging in the air
(WW)
(WW)
Walt:
THE WHITE HOUSE BY MOONLIGHT
February 24th.—A spell of fine soft weather. I wander about a good deal, sometimes at night under the moon. Tonight took a long look at the President's house. The white portico—the palace-like, tall, round columns, spotless as snow—
THE WHITE HOUSE BY MOONLIGHT
February 24th.—A spell of fine soft weather. I wander about a good deal, sometimes at night under the moon. Tonight took a long look at the President's house. The white portico—the palace-like, tall, round columns, spotless as snow—
October 23, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Walt:
THE WHITE HOUSE BY MOONLIGHT
February 24th.—A spell of fine soft weather. I wander about a good deal, sometimes at night under the moon. Tonight took a long look at the President's house. The white portico—the palace-like, tall, round columns, spotless as snow—
THE WHITE HOUSE BY MOONLIGHT
February 24th.—A spell of fine soft weather. I wander about a good deal, sometimes at night under the moon. Tonight took a long look at the President's house. The white portico—the palace-like, tall, round columns, spotless as snow—
Can we dance?
I for one think the Epstein Ballroom will be magnificent. I love the decor theme of “what if Uday Hussein ran a Ramada Inn.” And giving it a theme song everyone will associate with it is a stroke of brilliance! “Thank Heaven for Little Girls” is very catchy.
October 23, 2025 at 4:38 AM
Can we dance?
When it didn’t recover we buried it underneath our pomegranate tree, the green sheen fading but a characteristic purple neck band now more visible.
October 23, 2025 at 12:03 AM
When it didn’t recover we buried it underneath our pomegranate tree, the green sheen fading but a characteristic purple neck band now more visible.
This shiny black hummingbird with a green back flew into my husband’s shop and tried to make its way out through the skylight. We left the door open, hoping it would find its way out but later found it on the floor, stunned or dead.
October 22, 2025 at 11:54 PM
This shiny black hummingbird with a green back flew into my husband’s shop and tried to make its way out through the skylight. We left the door open, hoping it would find its way out but later found it on the floor, stunned or dead.
And then there’s Wallace Stevens who said (and would say) that “money is a kind of poetry.”
October 17, 2025 at 11:43 PM
And then there’s Wallace Stevens who said (and would say) that “money is a kind of poetry.”
“I hate writing, I love having written," (attributed to Dorothy Parker). But I like writing even more than having written because “having written” means dreaming about publishing, about “markets,” and that drops me down rabbit holes of despair.
October 17, 2025 at 10:56 PM
“I hate writing, I love having written," (attributed to Dorothy Parker). But I like writing even more than having written because “having written” means dreaming about publishing, about “markets,” and that drops me down rabbit holes of despair.
My dad, the imaginary consigliere, looking like he just stepped off a Sopranos set.
October 17, 2025 at 10:10 PM
My dad, the imaginary consigliere, looking like he just stepped off a Sopranos set.
