Nick Allison
banner
nickallison80.bsky.social
Nick Allison
@nickallison80.bsky.social
Sometimes I write stuff. Sometimes it doesn’t totally suck. But I suppose that’s subjective.
Essays: TCS, HuffPost, CounterPunch, The Fulcrum, elsewhere.
Editor: TheChaosSectionPoetryProject.com
Other stuff: TheTruthAboutTigers.com
Pinned
In 2004, my mom wrote about what war costs—not just for those who fight, but for those who wait, worry, and live with the aftermath. Twenty years later, I’m sharing her words again, along with my reflections as a veteran, son, and father.

tcspress.com/2025/11/11/t...
The Costs of War: A Mother’s View
In 2004, my mom wrote about what war costs—not just for those who fight, but for those who wait, worry, and live with the aftermath. Twenty years later, I’m sharing her words again, along with my r…
tcspress.com
Even if you somehow ignore every authoritarian red flag or say you just like his policies, at some point you’ve gotta admit the obvious: he’s an obnoxious, juvenile, pernicious, entitled, narcissistic, boorish human being. Just a small, petty “man” and all around shitty person.
#Trump #Piggy
Trump snaps at reporter’s Epstein questions: ‘Quiet, piggy’ | CNN
Days before reversing his stance on releasing the Epstein files, President Donald Trump called a reporter “piggy” after she asked about his name being raised in emails sent by convicted sex offender, ...
www.cnn.com
November 19, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Reposted by Nick Allison
“It's a hard time to be human. We know too much
and too little.”

― Ellen Bass,
The World Has Need of You

www.bethanyareid.com/ellen-bass-t...
Ellen Bass, “The World Has Need of You” | Bethany Reid
www.bethanyareid.com
November 17, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Reposted by Nick Allison
I stand in solidarity with the Starbucks workers on strike.

When a corporation can pay $96 million to its CEO for just four months of work, it can afford to pay its workers a living wage and decent benefits.
November 15, 2025 at 5:10 PM
I guess this should be pretty simple and self-evident, but I’ve noticed over the years that the quality of my mental health is directly tied to the intensity of my physical effort and the consistency of my meditation practice. thetruthabouttigers.com/2025/11/11/w...

#poetry #ptsd #mentalhealth
November 12, 2025 at 5:06 AM
Reposted by Nick Allison
Ahead of Veterans Day, I was honored to welcome a flight of veterans and their families as they arrived in DC.
November 11, 2025 at 1:08 PM
In 2004, my mom wrote about what war costs—not just for those who fight, but for those who wait, worry, and live with the aftermath. Twenty years later, I’m sharing her words again, along with my reflections as a veteran, son, and father.

tcspress.com/2025/11/11/t...
The Costs of War: A Mother’s View
In 2004, my mom wrote about what war costs—not just for those who fight, but for those who wait, worry, and live with the aftermath. Twenty years later, I’m sharing her words again, along with my r…
tcspress.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Reposted by Nick Allison
All before 8:30am :

✔️ Dropped kiddo off in carpool (on time today! 😅)

✔️ Took kittens to sterilization appointment

✔️ Arrived at coffee shop to edit the Chaos Section Poetry Project volume 2 that @nickallison80.bsky.social put together and to work on the intro! 🥳

@chaossectionpoetry.bsky.social
Quick update on the next TCS Poetry Project collection. We’re in the editing and layout phase, finalizing poem order and arranging for the cover art. Hoping to release it around Xmas/New Year’s. Thanks again to everyone who submitted. Really looking forward to getting this one out in the world!
November 11, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Maybe, just maybe, working-class people struggling to buy food and pay bills know a little more about prices than a billionaire autocrat who’s never seen a grocery aisle in his life. Gaslighting people not to believe what they see with their own eyes isn’t economic policy, you petulant man-child.
November 11, 2025 at 2:35 PM
@sethandrews.com being rational and making sense, as usual.
November 11, 2025 at 3:29 AM
Garage jam with my bad-ass 12 year old drummer. I’m sure my neighbors really appreciate the slightly off time Social Distortion and Pixies covers!
November 11, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Day 2 of the @texasbookfest.bsky.social. Come down, check out the vendors, grab some good street food, say hi to Sarah at Lioness Books, and if you spot me wandering around, I’ve got a few free copies of “Record of Dissent: Poems of Protest in an Authoritarian Age” to give away. #texasbookfest
November 9, 2025 at 7:24 PM
At the #TexasBookFestival? Swing by and see Sarah at #LionessBooks, Austin’s fiercest indie bookshop on wheels, parked at the corner of 9th and Congress today. She’s built something special and was kind enough to carry Record of Dissent.
November 8, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Thanks to the best editor ever, @noahmichelson.bsky.social
"Democracy isn’t held together by slogans or speeches so much as by a million small moments when people resist the urge to oversimplify one another"

A wonderful new essay from @nickallison80.bsky.social that already has almost 1,000,000 reads on @HuffPost Personal

www.huffpost.com/entry/vetera...
I Saw A Cop Looking At My ‘Veterans Against Trump’ T-Shirt. Then He Started Walking My Way.
"My brain sized him up before he even reached my table. Police officer. White. Middle-aged. Beard. Military tattoos."
www.huffpost.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:42 PM
#Austin friends: at the #TexasBookFestival. One of the best weekends in this city for anyone who loves words and ideas. No TCS Press booth this year, but if you see a guy wandering around in a Vets Against Trump shirt, Wilco cap, and blue backpack, say hi! I’ve got free copies of Record of Dissent.
November 8, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Reposted by Nick Allison
Hegseth has purged more than two dozen top generals and admirals, in many cases counter to the advice of senior military leaders who fought alongside the officers in combat
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/u...
Hegseth Is Purging Military Leaders With Little Explanation
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Like every project at TCS, this book of protest poetry is available to download or read for free online. Also a paperback version available.
November 8, 2025 at 2:00 AM
Reposted by Nick Allison
This is what oligarchy looks like:

If you're Elon Musk, the richest man alive, Tesla gives you a $1 trillion pay package & Trump gives you a huge tax break.

If you're a poor kid on SNAP, Trump appeals a court decision that would have prevented you from going hungry.

Obscene.
November 7, 2025 at 12:18 AM
A few folks have asked where I got the Veterans Against Trump t-shirt from the @huffpost.com essay: www.teepublic.com/user/cat-cat...
T-Shirts by cat-cat creations | TeePublic
Shop t-shirts, phone cases, hoodies, art prints and mugs created by independent artists from around the globe.
www.teepublic.com
November 6, 2025 at 5:54 PM
New essay live today at @huffpost.com Personal about seeing past stereotypes, tribal thinking, and the lazy stories our brains tell us. As always, very grateful to editor @noahmichelson.bsky.social who is a joy to work with. www.huffpost.com/entry/vetera...
I Saw A Cop Looking At My ‘Veterans Against Trump’ T-Shirt. Then He Started Walking My Way.
"My brain sized him up before he even reached my table. Police officer. White. Middle-aged. Beard. Military tattoos."
www.huffpost.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Finally sharing this! I sat down with Melissa Lemay for an interview on Collaborature back in Sept and somehow missed when it went live—totally on me. We talked Record of Dissent, writing, parenting, politics, music, and creative community. Thanks Melissa! collaborature.blogspot.com/2025/09/frac...
Fractions in a Spectrum: An Interview With Nick Allison
Collaborature poetry and fiction journal, interview, Nick Allison, The Chaos Poetry Section
collaborature.blogspot.com
November 2, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Honored to have a new #poem, “Notes Toward an Autopsy of a Republic,” in the November issue of Mobius: The Journal of Social Change, published alongside such amazing work from @julielmoore23.bsky.social, David Lee, Jim Tilley, and more. Great fiction and editorial too! mobiusmagazine.com/index.html
November 1, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Hey North Austin friends, dropped by #HalfPriceBooks in Cedar Park to grab a couple books and found
#RecordOfDissent rubbing elbows with Frost and Cohen. They still have 4 copies left on the #poetry shelf, just four bucks apiece!

thechaossectionpoetryproject.com/record-of-di...
#protest #resist
October 31, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Jeff Tweedy on creation for creation’s sake, the joy of making stuff just to make it.
tcspress.com/2025/10/29/t...
#JeffTweedy #Wilco #Art #Songwriting
October 30, 2025 at 2:52 AM
Reposted by Nick Allison
Review of Broken Rengay: Unruly Poetry, a sharp, playful collaboration by Melissa Lemay, Nolcha Fox, and @barbaraleonhard.bsky.social, published by #ProlificPulsePress. It’s inventive, funny, and full of life. Like jazz in verse. thechaossectionpoetryproject.com/2025/10/28/b... #BrokenRengay #Poems
Poetry That Breaks the Rules—and Works
Broken Rengay: Unruly Poetry by Nolcha Fox, Melissa Lemay, and Barbara Leonhard(Prolific Pulse Press, 2025) Melissa Lemay, who readers will recognize from Record of Dissent, is back with a new coll…
thechaossectionpoetryproject.com
October 29, 2025 at 1:03 AM