Smalljones aka Paul Jones
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smalljones.bsky.social
Smalljones aka Paul Jones
@smalljones.bsky.social
No longer a person of interest.
@smalljones on most social networks.
Something Wonderful (2021), Something Necessary (2024)
Recent publications: smalljones.com
The Design
-Michael Longley

Sometimes the quilts were white for weddings, the design
Made of up stitches and shadows cast by stitches.
And the quilts for funerals? How do you sew the night?

www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazi...
The Poetry Foundation
Poems, readings, poetry news and the entire 110-year archive of POETRY magazine.
www.poetryfoundation.org
January 27, 2026 at 4:05 PM
If you lost heating, would you pay to sit through the Melania doc in a warm theater?
#askingforafriend
January 27, 2026 at 3:18 PM
Phew!

Wordle 1,683 6/6*

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January 27, 2026 at 1:32 PM
i am the machine and i work
-Asha Futterman

my job used to be teaching a machine
to recognize complaints filed against police officers
that contained allegations of sexual violence
it wasn’t very hard
all i had to do was read a lot of complaints
[...]

www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazi...
i am the machine and i work
my job used to be teaching a machine to recognize complaints filed against police officers that contained allegations of sexual violence it wasn’t very hard all i had to do was read a lot of complaint...
www.poetryfoundation.org
January 27, 2026 at 1:39 AM
Police and thieves in the street (Oh, yeah)
Fighting the nation with their guns and ammunitions
Police and thieves in the street (Oh, yeah)
Scaring the nation with their guns and ammunitions

From Genesis to Revelations, yeah
What the next generation will be, hear me

youtu.be/H01G7hYR45U
Junior Murvin - Police & Thieves
YouTube video by KSKZik
youtu.be
January 27, 2026 at 1:29 AM
I see you've got your fist out
Say your piece and get out
Yes, I get the gist of it, but it's all right
Sorry that you feel that way
The only thing there is to say
Every silver lining's got a touch of grey

I will get by
I will get by
I will get by
I will survive

youtu.be/mzvk0fWtCs0
Grateful Dead - Touch Of Grey (Official Music Video) [HD]
YouTube video by Grateful Dead
youtu.be
January 26, 2026 at 9:32 PM
The Letter
-Mary Ruefle

Beloved, men in thick green coats came crunching
through the snow, the insignia on their shoulders
of uncertain origin, a country I could not be sure of,
a salute so terrifying I heard myself lying to avoid
arrest, [...]

www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/54121/...
The Letter
Beloved, men in thick green coats came crunching through the snow, the insignia on their shoulders of uncertain origin, a country I could not be sure of, a salute so terrifying I heard myself lying to avoid arrest, and was arrested along with Jocko, whose tear had snapped off, a tiny icicle he put…
www.poetryfoundation.org
January 26, 2026 at 5:03 PM
Little darling
I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling
It seems like years since it's been clear

youtu.be/D8_GeDHg8WQ
George Harrison with Pete Ham - Here Comes The Sun - Live 1971
YouTube video by Pete Ham
youtu.be
January 26, 2026 at 4:58 PM
I had trouble with the obvious
Wordle 1,682 4/6*

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January 26, 2026 at 1:30 PM
O were my Love yon Lilack fair
-Robert Burns

O were my Love yon Lilack fair,
Wi' purple blossoms to the Spring;
And I, a bird to shelter there,
When wearied on my little wing.

How I wad mourn, when it was torn
By Autumn wild, and Winter rude!
[...]

www.bbc.co.uk/arts/robertb...
BBC - Robert Burns - O were my Love yon Lilack fair
O were my Love yon Lilack fair is a song written by Robert Burns in 1793 and read here by Simon Tait.
www.bbc.co.uk
January 25, 2026 at 3:57 PM
No words necessary

youtu.be/N_QuvnvqrS0
RMS & Gil Evans 'Little Wing' Montreux Jazz Festival 1983
YouTube video by Angel Air
youtu.be
January 25, 2026 at 3:43 PM
From 0 to 3
As it should be!

Wordle 1,681 3/6*

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January 25, 2026 at 12:32 PM
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He'd like to come and meet us
But he thinks he'd blow our minds
There's a starman waiting in the sky
He's told us not to blow it
'Cause he knows it's all worthwhile
He told me:
Let the children lose it
Let the children use it

youtu.be/t365MuktYQs
David Bowie - Starman (Official Video) [4K]
YouTube video by David Bowie
youtu.be
January 24, 2026 at 7:05 PM
Fungi of Yuggoth
-HP Lovecraft

[...]
This is the hour when moonstruck poets know
What fungi sprout in Yuggoth, and what scents
And tints of flowers fill Nithon’s continents,
Such as in no poor earthly garden blow.
Yet for each dream these winds to me convey,
[...]

poets.org/poem/fungi-y...
From “Fungi of Yuggoth” [XIV. Star-winds]
It is a certain hour of twilight glooms, / Mostly in autumn, when the star-wind pours
poets.org
January 24, 2026 at 2:39 PM
Okay

1,680 4/6*

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January 24, 2026 at 1:16 PM
At the School for the Gifted
- Carol Muske-Dukes

Yes, I wanted them to levitate.
Unfortunately, I hadn't a leg to stand on.
Cut-out camels plodded across the blackboard's high
sill. Yet the desert below refused to unfurl its
mica wings. When I asked [...]

www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/91065/...
At the School for the Gifted
The fountain inside the scissored palm could only rise so high, maybe just a trumpeted C. Up to our thighs in it now, and spared what drills it- self into the rock daily, so it can claim to know zero ...
www.poetryfoundation.org
January 23, 2026 at 11:09 PM
My love is like a rocket, watch it blast off
And I'm feeling so electric, dance my arse off
And even if I wanted to, I can't stop
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
You want me, I want you, baby
My sugarboo, I'm levitating
The Milky Way, we're renegading

youtu.be/TUVcZfQe-Kw
Dua Lipa - Levitating Featuring DaBaby (Official Music Video)
YouTube video by Dua Lipa
youtu.be
January 23, 2026 at 11:03 PM
I know too many words

Wordle 1,679 5/6*

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January 23, 2026 at 1:30 PM
There Is No Word
-Tony Hoagland

There isn’t a word for walking out of the grocery store
with a gallon jug of milk in a plastic sack
that should have been bagged in double layers

—so that before you are even out the door
[...]

www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazi...
There Is No Word
There isn’t a word for walking out of the grocery store with a gallon jug of milk in a plastic sack that should have been bagged in double layers —so that before you are even out the door you feel the...
www.poetryfoundation.org
January 22, 2026 at 2:44 PM
Stars when you shine
You know how I feel
Scent of the pine
You know how I feel
Oh, freedom is mine
And I know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life

youtu.be/oHRNrgDIJfo
Nina Simone - Feeling Good (Official Video)
YouTube video by NinaSimoneVEVO
youtu.be
January 22, 2026 at 2:34 PM
Shoulda been easy

Wordle 1,678 5/6*

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January 22, 2026 at 12:42 PM
A man can't break a stone
So he tried another lick
Iceman can't break his ice, Lord
So he tried another pick

An electric lights go out
Candle light will see you through
When you got a heartache
There ain't nothin' you can do

There ain't nothin' you can do

youtu.be/z7BkVqpf7P0
Van Morrison - Ain't Nothing You Can Do - 7/29/1974 - Orphanage, San Francisco, CA (OFFICIAL)
YouTube video by Van Morrison on MV
youtu.be
January 21, 2026 at 2:34 PM
Precious Little We Can Do
-James Tate

The clubhouse was bedecked with blue ribbons
perhaps symbolizing the simpler days of water
splashing everywhere. We were just out for a drive
when we saw it and thought it must mean something
or the boys were having a party
[...]

aprweb.org/poems/precio...
American Poetry Review - James Tate - "Precious Little We Can Do"
Published in American Poetry Review - Volume  |  No.
aprweb.org
January 21, 2026 at 1:51 PM
One thing I know about the rest of my life
I know that I'll be living it in Canada
I know I said I'll share the rest of my days
But I was only going through a phase
Am I
Gonna settle down
Am I gonna be
Someone who has to take the rest of my life
To settle down

(thx Alex Maiolo)
youtu.be/iOIu3U0JdEU
Sloan - The Rest Of My Life
YouTube video by sloanmusic
youtu.be
January 21, 2026 at 1:39 PM
Happy with 4 today

Wordle 1,677 4/6*

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January 21, 2026 at 12:32 PM