Bill Merklee
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bmerklee.bsky.social
Bill Merklee
@bmerklee.bsky.social
Writer of very short things.

In Best Microfiction 2021. Nom Best Small Fictions 2022 & 2024. Short-listed for Bath Novella-in-Flash Award & Fractured Lit Chapbook Prize. Wigleaf Top 50 long list. But enough about me. How are you?

http://billmerklee.com
@hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social We showed up in droves. We gave you the momentum. And what do you do? You roll over. The party is less than useless.
November 11, 2025 at 1:50 PM
St. Kitts morning.
November 11, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Well done, New Jersey. ❤️
November 5, 2025 at 12:28 PM
PSA: A vote for Republicans is a vote for fascism.
November 4, 2025 at 2:14 AM
Don’t know why, but rewatching “Six Feet Under” seems to be what I need right now.
October 24, 2025 at 2:20 AM
Seems like a good day to rewatch HBO’s “The Leftovers.”
September 23, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Stop me if you’ve heard this before:
The First and Second Amendment
Walk into a bar.
Only one walks out.

No one
Deserves
To be shot, but
Do not expect me
To mourn him; I’m too busy
Mourning school children.
You know — the acceptable losses.
September 20, 2025 at 12:18 PM
September 15, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Again I defer to Clarence Darrow.
September 11, 2025 at 11:48 AM
@hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social Put up a fight or get out of the way.
September 3, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Love seeing herons in the twilight.
September 2, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Happy Labor Day
Matewan Union Speech
YouTube video by Haskell Wexler
youtu.be
September 1, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Why did it take me so long to discover rewriting on the front porch as the sun slips away and the crickets start to sing?
August 27, 2025 at 11:39 PM
So yeah, that quote about taking pleasure in reading some obituaries turns out to be from Clarence Darrow, not Mark Twain. But it still applies today.
August 21, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Reposted by Bill Merklee
Question for Mike Flood: With $450 million being allocated to Alligator Alcatraz, and ICE burning through $8.4 million a day to illegally detain people—How much does it cost for fascism? How much do the tax payers have to pay for a fascist country?
August 4, 2025 at 11:46 PM
I love the Scots.
July 27, 2025 at 1:13 AM
Mercury retrograde is an optical illusion and nothing more.
July 18, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Few things finer than a platter of clams and oysters and a flight of IPAs with good friends as the sun sets on Long Beach Island, NJ. A brief and welcome respite from our national stupidity.
July 11, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Easily the shittiest Independence Day of my 67 years.
July 4, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Just got an email from the Social Security Administration, blowing smoke up my ass about the Big Bullshit Bill.
July 4, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Jesus can’t stop throwing up.
July 3, 2025 at 11:52 AM
On this shittiest of days, a moment of joy. I cannot love this enough.
I got permission to share this, and I'm extremely grateful for that.

The Onion got this letter from one of our subscribers in Alaska. She works with dementia patients and decided to leave a copy in the car for each one.

This email made my year. Read it and you'll see what I mean. People are good.
July 1, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Somebody’s looking for their mama.
June 27, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Led Zeppelin, The Who, and Pixies in one episode — “The Bear” continues to hit it out of the park with its music choices.
June 26, 2025 at 11:41 AM