@kencraft.bsky.social
Maine poet, Pushcart Prize recipient, Associate Editor at Hole in the Head Review, educator. https://updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/
Critiquing someone else's poem? There's a how to and a how not to...
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/how-to-cri...
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/how-to-cri...
How To Critique a Poem
Hint: It's Not as Easy as It Looks, But What Is?
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com
December 9, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Critiquing someone else's poem? There's a how to and a how not to...
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/how-to-cri...
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/how-to-cri...
From the making lemonade from lemons department comes harvesting hate for writing success.
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/how-do-i-h...
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/how-do-i-h...
How Do I Hate Thee? Let Me Count the Ways
Hate. It's the Word of the Year, Color of the Year, and Trend of the Year
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com
December 7, 2025 at 11:22 AM
From the making lemonade from lemons department comes harvesting hate for writing success.
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/how-do-i-h...
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/how-do-i-h...
Before going over the river and through the woods, before the playing the drumsticks, before sleeping in front of the football game, some thoughts...
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/random-tho...
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/random-tho...
Random Thoughts on Thanksgiving Eve
You Just THOUGHT There Was Little To Be Thankful For...
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com
November 27, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Before going over the river and through the woods, before the playing the drumsticks, before sleeping in front of the football game, some thoughts...
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/random-tho...
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/random-tho...
Writer's Block Is Well-Known, but Don't Discount the Perils of Reader's Block
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/the-tyrann...
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/the-tyrann...
"The Tyranny of the Ignoramuses Is Insurmountable and Assured for all Time."
David Markson's Trove of Literary Trivia Is Catnip for Readers and Writers Alike
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Writer's Block Is Well-Known, but Don't Discount the Perils of Reader's Block
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/the-tyrann...
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/the-tyrann...
When the poetry submissions game is a losing one...
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/a-sure-sig...
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/a-sure-sig...
A Sure Sign That Your Poems Suck
Kim Addonizio Lays It on the Line
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:18 AM
When the poetry submissions game is a losing one...
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/a-sure-sig...
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/a-sure-sig...
Some of Raymond Carver's favorite quotes by other writers.
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/bon-mots-f...
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/bon-mots-f...
Bon Mots from Raymond Carver's "On Writing"
The Poet and Short Story Specialist Found Inspiration in the Words of Isak Dinesen, Ezra Pound, Isaac Babel, Among Others
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:47 PM
Some of Raymond Carver's favorite quotes by other writers.
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/bon-mots-f...
updatesonafreeverselife.substack.com/p/bon-mots-f...
Ada Limón's 3-year stint as Poet Laureate may have ended, but we can still look back fondly on her book, The Carrying.
substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Ada Limón's Stretch Drive
How the Late Poet Laureate of the USA Hit Her Stride in 2018's "The Carrying"
substack.com
November 19, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Ada Limón's 3-year stint as Poet Laureate may have ended, but we can still look back fondly on her book, The Carrying.
substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Sometimes poems that end in a question are the best kind. Exhibit A: Stephen Dunn's "The Inheritance":
substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Poems That End with a Question
Sometimes questions prove more powerful than answers
substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Sometimes poems that end in a question are the best kind. Exhibit A: Stephen Dunn's "The Inheritance":
substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Reposted
Get those poems ready! The 2025 Charles Simic Poetry Prize will open for submissions on November 1st. This year's judge is Hole in the Head's founder and former editor, Bill Schulz. Full guidelines at www.holeintheheadreview.com 🐇
October 15, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Get those poems ready! The 2025 Charles Simic Poetry Prize will open for submissions on November 1st. This year's judge is Hole in the Head's founder and former editor, Bill Schulz. Full guidelines at www.holeintheheadreview.com 🐇
Reposted
Reposted
More coming very soon, we promise, including info about the next issue and our next reading period!
May 2, 2025 at 7:08 PM
More coming very soon, we promise, including info about the next issue and our next reading period!
Reposted
Today’s episode of The Ezra Klein Show.
The Emergency Is Here.
With @asharangappa.bsky.social.
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/o...
The Emergency Is Here.
With @asharangappa.bsky.social.
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/o...
Opinion | The Emergency Is Here (Gift Article)
Trump is disappearing people to a Salvadoran prison for terrorists. And he says he wants to send “homegrown” Americans there next.
www.nytimes.com
April 17, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Today’s episode of The Ezra Klein Show.
The Emergency Is Here.
With @asharangappa.bsky.social.
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/o...
The Emergency Is Here.
With @asharangappa.bsky.social.
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/o...
Tom Friedman in the NY TIMES just now: "My fellow Americans, we are in completely uncharted waters, led by a president, who — well, I cannot believe he is a Russian agent, but he sure plays one on TV."
#Ukraine
#Ukraine
February 28, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Tom Friedman in the NY TIMES just now: "My fellow Americans, we are in completely uncharted waters, led by a president, who — well, I cannot believe he is a Russian agent, but he sure plays one on TV."
#Ukraine
#Ukraine
Reposted
“He said, you Americans are so naive. He said, you think that evil is going to come into your houses wearing big black boots and climb up the stairs—it begins in the language. Look to the language.”
-Joseph Brodsky, as recounted by Marie Howe themillions.com/2018/01/tk-t...
-Joseph Brodsky, as recounted by Marie Howe themillions.com/2018/01/tk-t...
February 15, 2025 at 11:11 PM
“He said, you Americans are so naive. He said, you think that evil is going to come into your houses wearing big black boots and climb up the stairs—it begins in the language. Look to the language.”
-Joseph Brodsky, as recounted by Marie Howe themillions.com/2018/01/tk-t...
-Joseph Brodsky, as recounted by Marie Howe themillions.com/2018/01/tk-t...
This A.M., a Mark Strand poem...
February 15, 2025 at 6:08 PM
This A.M., a Mark Strand poem...
As a kid, "Are we there yet?" was a common refrain on long-distance road trips. Now "Are we there yet?" means a Constitutional Crisis.
February 13, 2025 at 11:06 AM
As a kid, "Are we there yet?" was a common refrain on long-distance road trips. Now "Are we there yet?" means a Constitutional Crisis.
As a subscriber of the NY TIMES, I used to enjoy reading the front page every day. But now that it's pregnant with 1930s-style bad news from Washington, reading it gives me the equivalent of morning sickness.
The GOP Congress doesn't seem to realize that the prez will come for them some day, too.
The GOP Congress doesn't seem to realize that the prez will come for them some day, too.
February 12, 2025 at 1:31 PM
As a subscriber of the NY TIMES, I used to enjoy reading the front page every day. But now that it's pregnant with 1930s-style bad news from Washington, reading it gives me the equivalent of morning sickness.
The GOP Congress doesn't seem to realize that the prez will come for them some day, too.
The GOP Congress doesn't seem to realize that the prez will come for them some day, too.
Reposted
Rust & Moth is just consistently very good. And they present things simply and elegantly. It’s a top-notch joint. Yeah, yeah, I’m in this issue, but skip my poem and read the rest. It’s a great issue (so far — they add more each week). Seriously, check it out.
Rust & Moth’s Spring 2025 issue is live! This one concerns itself with messengers; be they voices from the other side, unfamiliar eyes in the leaves, winged familiars, or the seeds we use to pay them for their troubles. Join us online as the issue unfolds!
rustandmoth.com/issue/spring...
rustandmoth.com/issue/spring...
Spring 2025 | Rust & Moth
rustandmoth.com
February 8, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Rust & Moth is just consistently very good. And they present things simply and elegantly. It’s a top-notch joint. Yeah, yeah, I’m in this issue, but skip my poem and read the rest. It’s a great issue (so far — they add more each week). Seriously, check it out.
"Unlike riding a bike, with poetry, you never quite know how."
-- Phoebe Millikin
-- Phoebe Millikin
February 10, 2025 at 7:27 PM
"Unlike riding a bike, with poetry, you never quite know how."
-- Phoebe Millikin
-- Phoebe Millikin
So, how good is YOUR town library?
www.kencraftauthor.com/yes-you-can-...
www.kencraftauthor.com/yes-you-can-...
Yes, You Can Judge a Town by Its Public Library – Ken Craft
www.kencraftauthor.com
February 4, 2025 at 6:33 PM
So, how good is YOUR town library?
www.kencraftauthor.com/yes-you-can-...
www.kencraftauthor.com/yes-you-can-...
Thank you @rustandmoth.bsky.social for making me part of your latest issue!
rustandmoth.com/work/morning...
rustandmoth.com/work/morning...
Morning Reflections | Rust & Moth
On morning walks, I’d see my nonagenarian neighbor on a small stool filling bird feeders with nyjer or sunflower seed. She’d smile but not speak, blue veins and bony rake on the back of her hand clutc...
rustandmoth.com
February 3, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Thank you @rustandmoth.bsky.social for making me part of your latest issue!
rustandmoth.com/work/morning...
rustandmoth.com/work/morning...
Reposted
New #poetry from Ken Craft: "Morning Reflections".
Morning Reflections | Rust & Moth
On morning walks, I’d see my nonagenarian neighbor on a small stool filling bird feeders with Nygerz or sunflower seed. She’d smile but not speak, blue veins and bony rake on the back of her hand...
buff.ly
February 3, 2025 at 2:13 PM
New #poetry from Ken Craft: "Morning Reflections".