Joel Hernandez
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minnesotaj.bsky.social
Joel Hernandez
@minnesotaj.bsky.social
Marine Vet. Philosopher. Poet. Author of “Baghdad Express.” Born in Duluth, still growing up.
Making art books is a big commitment—and our poor dining room is a workshop—but I love the meditative process of physically spending time with a book.
July 12, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Bsky—excited to announce that new art book project is live. www.ninechainspress.com

They are only available by invitation — which you can request using form on the site or by DM.
July 8, 2025 at 11:35 PM
So great to see tens of thousands at the capitol in St Paul. We are not alone—and we’re not done.
April 5, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Remember folks—it’s taken us 300 years to engineer a strainer. It could take even longer to fix some of the rest of this shit.
March 14, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Spending some time with Padraig O Tuama’s “Kitchen Hymns” today && they are lovely meditations (& sometimes bitterly funny). To love what does not exist, I suppose, does make the unrequited part a bit easier to bear.
January 19, 2025 at 11:52 PM
“Yeah—you figure out how to make ‘CATastrophe’ and ‘apostrophe’ work in the same lyric, papa. You got plenty of time, ‘cause I’m not going anywhere.”
January 12, 2025 at 6:04 AM
There is a LOT going on in the world, but Chico is here doing his best orthodox priest from Andrei Rublev: “just make the bell ring.”
January 9, 2025 at 5:36 AM
It’s a long Sunday editing session—record each poem as part of final edits && am I discovering things my brain can tolerate but my tongue can’t stand.
December 22, 2024 at 9:44 PM
Sometimes you just need your dog to snuggle up and fall asleep next to you.
December 9, 2024 at 4:39 AM
The Galaxy looked class all season, but especially in the playoffs (which shouldn’t exist). Congrats to LA and their fans—and can’t wait to see MNUFC back on the field come spring.

It was especially nice to see Reus pick up a trophy—have loved him in Die Mannschaft and at Dortmund forever.
December 7, 2024 at 11:54 PM
This may not be the greatest business card ever, but then again... it might. Clearly, W. W. Green, fictional or factual, is a PERSON FOR OUR TIMES.
December 7, 2024 at 9:26 PM
The in-laws are now speaking entirely in right wing memes—not even complete thoughts, just a shit-stream of nonsense. Little do they know they’re feeding my inner Smedley.
November 28, 2024 at 9:04 PM
Random sample. He was the original hard-boiled writing advice guy.
November 27, 2024 at 11:33 PM
You don’t see Woodford mentioned much anymore! He really had pre-war wise guy thing going—and I never could tell whether it was a schtick or just that third Martini of the afternoon.
November 27, 2024 at 11:12 PM
What a delight to receive these Fitzcarraldo editions in the mail today—truly sumptuous and a reminder of what joy there is in holding a fine book.
November 26, 2024 at 10:15 PM
Have been crawling through all the poetry craft books I can as I do final revisions on “war | machine” (and get started on next book). These are my most heavily bookmarked.

When you teach/want to sharpen your pencil, what do you reach for?
November 21, 2024 at 8:59 PM
From the Department of You Don’t Say:
November 14, 2024 at 8:12 PM