David Biespiel
@davidbiespiel.bsky.social
Poet, novelist, painter. Texas expat. Contributor to the New Yorker, New Republic, Orion, Poetry, APR, NYT. Thirteen books, including the forthcoming BEAUTIFUL IS THE WORLD: NEW & SELECTED POEMS.
Pinned
David Biespiel
@davidbiespiel.bsky.social
· Dec 17
How it was going (11 years ago). How it's still going (this morning).
Back at it in Portland. Surprised the Feds didn’t bust it up. They hate us.
April 5, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Back at it in Portland. Surprised the Feds didn’t bust it up. They hate us.
Such a great podcast interview with the Lyn Lockwood [@popbeads177.bsky.social] of the Philip Larkin Society [@plsoc.bsky.social] about Larkin's life, his poems "I Remember, I Remember" and "Talking in Bed," British and American poetry, and much much more! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
David Biespiel
Podcast Episode · Tiny In All That Air · 02/28/2025 · 1h
podcasts.apple.com
March 7, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Such a great podcast interview with the Lyn Lockwood [@popbeads177.bsky.social] of the Philip Larkin Society [@plsoc.bsky.social] about Larkin's life, his poems "I Remember, I Remember" and "Talking in Bed," British and American poetry, and much much more! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
Reposted by David Biespiel
Alas, poor country,
Almost afraid to know itself!
Almost afraid to know itself!
March 6, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Alas, poor country,
Almost afraid to know itself!
Almost afraid to know itself!
This literary society is passionate and full of care for Larkin’s life and writing. Really great group. Lyn Lockwood is the best.
I Remember, I Remember and Talking In Bed discussed in some detail and some fascinating thoughts on US and British poetry from our guest David Biespiel this month. Please have a listen. It's free and you don't need to subscribe.
podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/d...
podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/d...
David Biespiel
Podcast Episode · Tiny In All That Air · 28/02/2025 · 1h
podcasts.apple.com
March 5, 2025 at 2:48 PM
This literary society is passionate and full of care for Larkin’s life and writing. Really great group. Lyn Lockwood is the best.
Does the name Robert Moses ring a bell for you?
February 8, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Does the name Robert Moses ring a bell for you?
How it was going (11 years ago). How it's still going (this morning).
December 17, 2024 at 5:50 PM
How it was going (11 years ago). How it's still going (this morning).
Hey, @bookcritics.bsky.social, great idea, the longlist. Those NBCC meetings where # 6-10 really do have a shot for top five but got cut = disheartening. Now at least they'll get some sunshine.
December 16, 2024 at 4:18 PM
Hey, @bookcritics.bsky.social, great idea, the longlist. Those NBCC meetings where # 6-10 really do have a shot for top five but got cut = disheartening. Now at least they'll get some sunshine.
I love this opening stanza of Joseph Brodsky's "The end of a Beautiful Era."
December 12, 2024 at 9:07 PM
I love this opening stanza of Joseph Brodsky's "The end of a Beautiful Era."
Reposted by David Biespiel
December 12, 2024 at 1:27 AM
Reposted by David Biespiel
Winter window (sketchbook, acrylic, 4x5 inches)
December 4, 2024 at 4:08 PM
Winter window (sketchbook, acrylic, 4x5 inches)
Reposted by David Biespiel
Today’s Featured Poet:
C.D. Wright (1949–2016), one of her generation’s most popular, formally restless, and influential poets, was recognized with scores of major awards. She published sixteen collections of poetry and prose and served on the faculty at Brown University for decades.
C.D. Wright (1949–2016), one of her generation’s most popular, formally restless, and influential poets, was recognized with scores of major awards. She published sixteen collections of poetry and prose and served on the faculty at Brown University for decades.
December 3, 2024 at 12:57 AM
Today’s Featured Poet:
C.D. Wright (1949–2016), one of her generation’s most popular, formally restless, and influential poets, was recognized with scores of major awards. She published sixteen collections of poetry and prose and served on the faculty at Brown University for decades.
C.D. Wright (1949–2016), one of her generation’s most popular, formally restless, and influential poets, was recognized with scores of major awards. She published sixteen collections of poetry and prose and served on the faculty at Brown University for decades.
Paris cafe. (Morning sketchbook. Acrylic on paper. 5x7 in.)
December 2, 2024 at 11:41 PM
Paris cafe. (Morning sketchbook. Acrylic on paper. 5x7 in.)
Morning sketchbook. (Gouache on paper)
November 30, 2024 at 9:01 PM
Morning sketchbook. (Gouache on paper)
Good things here.
Looking back on the 18 most important things I learned about life (and love, and patience, and forgiveness, and the creative process) from the first 18 years of The Marginalian
18 Life-Learnings from 18 Years of The Marginalian
Somewhere along the way, you realize that no one will teach you how to live your own life — not your parents or your idols, not the philosophers or the poets, not your liberal arts education …
www.themarginalian.org
November 30, 2024 at 3:35 PM
Good things here.
Look at this beauty. A previously unpublished poem by my friend, the late LARRY LEVIS, in this week's New Yorker. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
“Homage to Willie Mays”
“I didn’t like or dislike baseball, I simply / Didn’t understand it.”
www.newyorker.com
November 27, 2024 at 10:47 PM
Look at this beauty. A previously unpublished poem by my friend, the late LARRY LEVIS, in this week's New Yorker. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
"I watch the clouds as I see them
in pomp advancing, pursuing
the fallen sun." ~ Denise Levertov
My morning sketchbook (gouache, on paper).
in pomp advancing, pursuing
the fallen sun." ~ Denise Levertov
My morning sketchbook (gouache, on paper).
November 27, 2024 at 9:45 PM
"I watch the clouds as I see them
in pomp advancing, pursuing
the fallen sun." ~ Denise Levertov
My morning sketchbook (gouache, on paper).
in pomp advancing, pursuing
the fallen sun." ~ Denise Levertov
My morning sketchbook (gouache, on paper).
I like to think that, if I were alive on this day in 1942 (and obviously not drafted already and serving in the US military, that is), then I'd have been in a movie theatre to see the premiere of this gem.
November 26, 2024 at 9:52 PM
I like to think that, if I were alive on this day in 1942 (and obviously not drafted already and serving in the US military, that is), then I'd have been in a movie theatre to see the premiere of this gem.
Morning sketchbook. (Gouache on paper)
November 26, 2024 at 9:44 PM
Morning sketchbook. (Gouache on paper)
Reposted by David Biespiel
Watch the Hugely-Ambitious Soviet Film Adaptation of War and Peace Free Online (1966–67)
www.openculture.com/2022/07/watc...
www.openculture.com/2022/07/watc...
Watch the Hugely-Ambitious Soviet Film Adaptation of War and Peace Free Online (1966–67)
On the question of whether novels can successfully be turned into films, the cinephile jury remains out. In the best cases a filmmaker takes a literary work and reinvents it almost entirely in accorda...
www.openculture.com
November 26, 2024 at 6:55 AM
Watch the Hugely-Ambitious Soviet Film Adaptation of War and Peace Free Online (1966–67)
www.openculture.com/2022/07/watc...
www.openculture.com/2022/07/watc...
So many 'Blsky is good because...' posts. May I try? Blsky has fewer humblebrags so far. "I may never get through all these blurbs I have to write." Or: "The problem with my fully-funded residencies in the south of France is I have to revise so many poems for publication." Humility, I seek thee.
November 23, 2024 at 4:06 PM
So many 'Blsky is good because...' posts. May I try? Blsky has fewer humblebrags so far. "I may never get through all these blurbs I have to write." Or: "The problem with my fully-funded residencies in the south of France is I have to revise so many poems for publication." Humility, I seek thee.
Reposted by David Biespiel
I am keeper of the post-MFA tumblr (crowdsourced) which has tons of info on post-MFA fellowships, BUT it also has info on residencies—with a whole section of shorter residencies for caregivers! Pass it on! #writers #writingcommunity post-mfa.tumblr.com/residencies
Post-MFA Resources
Fellowships, Residencies, and other resources for people with MFAs in Creative Writing...
post-mfa.tumblr.com
November 23, 2024 at 2:32 PM
I am keeper of the post-MFA tumblr (crowdsourced) which has tons of info on post-MFA fellowships, BUT it also has info on residencies—with a whole section of shorter residencies for caregivers! Pass it on! #writers #writingcommunity post-mfa.tumblr.com/residencies
Name a poem by a poet that's the one poem in which all their others fit. Amalgam of personality+formal acumen. Take Robert Lowell: steely, umpteenth ambiguity, ungainly. One poem? "For the Union Dead." Joins patrician view of existence w subversive politics. www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57035/...
For the Union Dead
Once my nose crawled like a snail on the glass; my hand tingled to burst the bubbles drifting from the noses of the cowed, compliant fish. Parking spaces luxuriate like civic sandpiles in the heart of...
www.poetryfoundation.org
November 22, 2024 at 11:19 PM
Name a poem by a poet that's the one poem in which all their others fit. Amalgam of personality+formal acumen. Take Robert Lowell: steely, umpteenth ambiguity, ungainly. One poem? "For the Union Dead." Joins patrician view of existence w subversive politics. www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57035/...
This poem of Seamus Heaney's is so delicate. "The Haw Lantern."
November 22, 2024 at 5:46 AM
This poem of Seamus Heaney's is so delicate. "The Haw Lantern."
Reposted by David Biespiel
The Helix Nebula captured by NASA'S Hubble space telescope
November 21, 2024 at 9:17 AM
The Helix Nebula captured by NASA'S Hubble space telescope