Brendan Constantine
@brendanconstantine.bsky.social
LA poet and educator. Author of several collections. Work has appeared in Poetry, The Nation, Best American Poetry, among other journals. Currently teaches at The Windward School. Since 2017, I’ve been developing workshops for writers with Aphasia.
Thanks to the kind folks at Faultline for their nomination.
@faultlinemag on Instagram: "We’re featuring one of our Pushcart Prize nominations every day. Today, we feature Brendan Constantine’s stunning poem “Not Tonight.”
You can find this piece, and the re...
172 likes, 24 comments - faultlinemag on December 4, 2025: "We’re featuring one of our Pushcart Prize nominations every day. Today, we feature Brendan Constantine’s stunning poem “Not Tonight.”
You ...
www.instagram.com
December 6, 2025 at 2:36 AM
Thanks to the kind folks at Faultline for their nomination.
Thrilled to have a poem at The Second Coming, Indolent Books’ poem-a-day project. Please consider subscribing and supporting this wonderful series!
Second Coming No. 316 — December 1, 2025
A poem-a-day protest against the threat posed to our democracy by Donald Trump and his fascist regime
secondcoming.substack.com
December 1, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Thrilled to have a poem at The Second Coming, Indolent Books’ poem-a-day project. Please consider subscribing and supporting this wonderful series!
ME: So?
TREE:
ME: Thought so.
TREE:
ME: Thought so.
November 7, 2025 at 9:19 PM
ME: So?
TREE:
ME: Thought so.
TREE:
ME: Thought so.
Holy shit! I actually DID promise you a rose garden. Sorry. I’m on it.
November 1, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Holy shit! I actually DID promise you a rose garden. Sorry. I’m on it.
You know, it just occurred to me - like right now while I’m drinking coffee - that statistically there has to be at least one perfectly innocent man who drives a white van and has way too much candy.
August 27, 2025 at 5:14 PM
You know, it just occurred to me - like right now while I’m drinking coffee - that statistically there has to be at least one perfectly innocent man who drives a white van and has way too much candy.
Just asked the lady at Starbucks for a plastic knife, then added my intent to "commit a plastic crime."
She didn't bat an eye.
She didn't bat an eye.
August 19, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Just asked the lady at Starbucks for a plastic knife, then added my intent to "commit a plastic crime."
She didn't bat an eye.
She didn't bat an eye.
I've been caring for mom at home, and doing so well in fact, hospice says she's too healthy for them. Now we're scrambling to afford supplies and daycare so I can keep working. Were you her fan on Deep Space Nine, Starship Troopers, or her years on Young & Restless? Please share! gofund.me/42ba9606
Donate to Julianna McCarthy's Care Fundraiser, organized by Brendan Constantine
My name is Brendan Constantine and I'm hoping to raise money to help me care f… Brendan Constantine needs your support for Julianna McCarthy's Care Fundraiser
gofund.me
June 26, 2025 at 2:09 AM
I've been caring for mom at home, and doing so well in fact, hospice says she's too healthy for them. Now we're scrambling to afford supplies and daycare so I can keep working. Were you her fan on Deep Space Nine, Starship Troopers, or her years on Young & Restless? Please share! gofund.me/42ba9606
“I felt I was becoming scientifically interesting.” - Conrad
Collage made from a 1947 portrait of Peter Ustinov by Irving Penn, NASA image of the planet Jupiter (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS) and stock photographs of cars, Ca. 1959
Collage made from a 1947 portrait of Peter Ustinov by Irving Penn, NASA image of the planet Jupiter (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS) and stock photographs of cars, Ca. 1959
June 21, 2025 at 4:11 PM
“I felt I was becoming scientifically interesting.” - Conrad
Collage made from a 1947 portrait of Peter Ustinov by Irving Penn, NASA image of the planet Jupiter (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS) and stock photographs of cars, Ca. 1959
Collage made from a 1947 portrait of Peter Ustinov by Irving Penn, NASA image of the planet Jupiter (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS) and stock photographs of cars, Ca. 1959
"The answer is Yes until it's No." - Collage made from an etching of a rhinoceros by David Barthold, an unattributed illustration of a child with a balloon from Collier's magazine, 1940, and a portable television from an issue of the Radio Shack catalogue. (Quote from my mother.)
June 18, 2025 at 4:38 PM
"The answer is Yes until it's No." - Collage made from an etching of a rhinoceros by David Barthold, an unattributed illustration of a child with a balloon from Collier's magazine, 1940, and a portable television from an issue of the Radio Shack catalogue. (Quote from my mother.)
Working with young writers this summer. As usual, I am the student and they the teachers.
Today’s lesson comes from a boy named Bodhi who has just turned 10. When asked about ‘writer’s block,’ he responds thus -
“Whenever I don’t know what to write, I write the prologue.”
You’re welcome.
Today’s lesson comes from a boy named Bodhi who has just turned 10. When asked about ‘writer’s block,’ he responds thus -
“Whenever I don’t know what to write, I write the prologue.”
You’re welcome.
June 18, 2025 at 3:09 AM
Working with young writers this summer. As usual, I am the student and they the teachers.
Today’s lesson comes from a boy named Bodhi who has just turned 10. When asked about ‘writer’s block,’ he responds thus -
“Whenever I don’t know what to write, I write the prologue.”
You’re welcome.
Today’s lesson comes from a boy named Bodhi who has just turned 10. When asked about ‘writer’s block,’ he responds thus -
“Whenever I don’t know what to write, I write the prologue.”
You’re welcome.
I think my inner child is alway a little car-sick.
April 27, 2025 at 9:58 PM
I think my inner child is alway a little car-sick.
This is the afternoon jam: Young Jessie’s ‘Rabbit on a Log.’ If you don’t know him, get his album ‘I’m Gone,’ on Ace Records. This disc was a revelation - got me thru covid! Think you know about rock in the 50’s? Think again! Thanks to ‘Detroit Deb’ Ingalls for hipping me to the gravy.
Rabbit On A Log
YouTube video by Young Jessie - Topic
youtu.be
December 6, 2024 at 8:39 PM
This is the afternoon jam: Young Jessie’s ‘Rabbit on a Log.’ If you don’t know him, get his album ‘I’m Gone,’ on Ace Records. This disc was a revelation - got me thru covid! Think you know about rock in the 50’s? Think again! Thanks to ‘Detroit Deb’ Ingalls for hipping me to the gravy.
‘The Weather’ - Collage made from original photos of objects at my workplace, laid into John Constable’s ‘Cloud Study’ of 1822. It’s the second time I’ve used Constable’s beautiful work. If you don’t know it, go look it up without my silly meddling!
November 22, 2024 at 10:47 PM
‘The Weather’ - Collage made from original photos of objects at my workplace, laid into John Constable’s ‘Cloud Study’ of 1822. It’s the second time I’ve used Constable’s beautiful work. If you don’t know it, go look it up without my silly meddling!
Reposted by Brendan Constantine
In the beautiful things still happening department, here’s genius Al Green covering R.E.M.:
m.youtube.com/watch?v=UEwP...
m.youtube.com/watch?v=UEwP...
Al Green - Everybody Hurts (Official Lyric Video)
YouTube video by Al Green
m.youtube.com
November 20, 2024 at 1:13 AM
In the beautiful things still happening department, here’s genius Al Green covering R.E.M.:
m.youtube.com/watch?v=UEwP...
m.youtube.com/watch?v=UEwP...
Fascinated by this 1750 effort to portray multiple universes. It appears in ‘An Original Theory or New Hypothesis of the Universe’ by Thomas Wright (1711-1786), currently on display at LACMA as part of ‘Mapping the Infinite’. I’ll be doing an in-gallery writing class there in Feb! More info soon!
November 17, 2024 at 5:33 PM
Fascinated by this 1750 effort to portray multiple universes. It appears in ‘An Original Theory or New Hypothesis of the Universe’ by Thomas Wright (1711-1786), currently on display at LACMA as part of ‘Mapping the Infinite’. I’ll be doing an in-gallery writing class there in Feb! More info soon!
“who
is invisible enough
to see you?”
- Paul Celan, from ‘ Show-fringes, sense-fringes’
Collage of ‘Foxes and their young in a clearing in the forest,’ an etching by J.E. Ridinger (1698–1767), a 1948 illustration by Gil Elvgren, and ‘journal text’ from Autumn Clark at Sew Paper Paint.
is invisible enough
to see you?”
- Paul Celan, from ‘ Show-fringes, sense-fringes’
Collage of ‘Foxes and their young in a clearing in the forest,’ an etching by J.E. Ridinger (1698–1767), a 1948 illustration by Gil Elvgren, and ‘journal text’ from Autumn Clark at Sew Paper Paint.
November 16, 2024 at 8:38 PM
“who
is invisible enough
to see you?”
- Paul Celan, from ‘ Show-fringes, sense-fringes’
Collage of ‘Foxes and their young in a clearing in the forest,’ an etching by J.E. Ridinger (1698–1767), a 1948 illustration by Gil Elvgren, and ‘journal text’ from Autumn Clark at Sew Paper Paint.
is invisible enough
to see you?”
- Paul Celan, from ‘ Show-fringes, sense-fringes’
Collage of ‘Foxes and their young in a clearing in the forest,’ an etching by J.E. Ridinger (1698–1767), a 1948 illustration by Gil Elvgren, and ‘journal text’ from Autumn Clark at Sew Paper Paint.
“I couldn’t save a poem to write my life…”
- Arash Saedinia, from the poem ‘M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I’
- Arash Saedinia, from the poem ‘M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I’
November 16, 2024 at 8:35 PM
“I couldn’t save a poem to write my life…”
- Arash Saedinia, from the poem ‘M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I’
- Arash Saedinia, from the poem ‘M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I’
I think my Auto Correct is having an emotional crisis. Here are just a few words it has suggested in the last days-
Moan
Apoplectic
Starsh
Thag
Booning
Chasm
Skrig
Torsh
and Rodents
(in place of Students)
Moan
Apoplectic
Starsh
Thag
Booning
Chasm
Skrig
Torsh
and Rodents
(in place of Students)
May 15, 2024 at 2:12 AM
I think my Auto Correct is having an emotional crisis. Here are just a few words it has suggested in the last days-
Moan
Apoplectic
Starsh
Thag
Booning
Chasm
Skrig
Torsh
and Rodents
(in place of Students)
Moan
Apoplectic
Starsh
Thag
Booning
Chasm
Skrig
Torsh
and Rodents
(in place of Students)
More revelations from my Creative Writing students. The infinitely quotable Lexi (12th grader) spoke for many of us -
“When I was a kid, I thought quicksand was gonna’ be a much bigger problem than it’s been.”
“When I was a kid, I thought quicksand was gonna’ be a much bigger problem than it’s been.”
January 25, 2024 at 6:40 AM
More revelations from my Creative Writing students. The infinitely quotable Lexi (12th grader) spoke for many of us -
“When I was a kid, I thought quicksand was gonna’ be a much bigger problem than it’s been.”
“When I was a kid, I thought quicksand was gonna’ be a much bigger problem than it’s been.”
“Only the future knows art.” - Julianna McCarthy - Unfinished collage made from detail of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s Inmaculada Concepción de los
Venerables 1660-1665) and microscopic image of a cancer cell during division, (National Institutes of Health).
Venerables 1660-1665) and microscopic image of a cancer cell during division, (National Institutes of Health).
January 19, 2024 at 6:01 AM
“Only the future knows art.” - Julianna McCarthy - Unfinished collage made from detail of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s Inmaculada Concepción de los
Venerables 1660-1665) and microscopic image of a cancer cell during division, (National Institutes of Health).
Venerables 1660-1665) and microscopic image of a cancer cell during division, (National Institutes of Health).
Overheard in my Creative Writing class the other day -
"If it rained more, I'd be a better writer."
- Lexi, twelfth grader
"If it rained more, I'd be a better writer."
- Lexi, twelfth grader
January 19, 2024 at 5:46 AM
Overheard in my Creative Writing class the other day -
"If it rained more, I'd be a better writer."
- Lexi, twelfth grader
"If it rained more, I'd be a better writer."
- Lexi, twelfth grader