Rachel Trousdale
@rvtrousdale.bsky.social
Poetry, criticism, tomfoolery, rabble-rousing. She/her. Humor, Empathy, and Community in Twentieth-Century American Poetry (criticism, Oxford University Press); Five-Paragraph Essay on the Body-Mind Problem (poetry, Wesleyan University Press)
You know how in nursing homes, they put signs like "Debbie's Room" in a big legible font on the doors of dementia patients, and it's somehow sweet and very sad and weirdly condescending all at the same time, and gives you existential dread? Well—
November 6, 2025 at 12:10 PM
You know how in nursing homes, they put signs like "Debbie's Room" in a big legible font on the doors of dementia patients, and it's somehow sweet and very sad and weirdly condescending all at the same time, and gives you existential dread? Well—
I'm so excited for this reading with @heatherchristle.bsky.social and Martha Ronk, introduced by @martin65.bsky.social! Thursday, November 13, at 7:00, Grolier Poetry Bookshop, Cambridge, MA. Links to preregister for in-person and Zoom options below!
October 26, 2025 at 2:06 PM
I'm so excited for this reading with @heatherchristle.bsky.social and Martha Ronk, introduced by @martin65.bsky.social! Thursday, November 13, at 7:00, Grolier Poetry Bookshop, Cambridge, MA. Links to preregister for in-person and Zoom options below!
Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness
October 22, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness
Next week: Thursday, September 25, 6:30-7:45 Eastern time, hear me and my colleagues Patricia Horvath and Kelly Matthews talk about how truth and imagination interact in biography, memoir, and poetry! (Zoom; free and open to the public)
September 16, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Next week: Thursday, September 25, 6:30-7:45 Eastern time, hear me and my colleagues Patricia Horvath and Kelly Matthews talk about how truth and imagination interact in biography, memoir, and poetry! (Zoom; free and open to the public)
Hey New York people — see you next week? Tuesday, August 12, 6:00 PM, at the Bryant Park Reading Room, in excellent company!
August 7, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Hey New York people — see you next week? Tuesday, August 12, 6:00 PM, at the Bryant Park Reading Room, in excellent company!
Me: Hey kids, I want a sewing project. Want me to make you anything?
7: yes! A new dress! [selects fabric]
Me: how about you, [10]? Anything you’d like?
10: No, not really. Except… I want a trench coat for my capybara.
7: yes! A new dress! [selects fabric]
Me: how about you, [10]? Anything you’d like?
10: No, not really. Except… I want a trench coat for my capybara.
August 5, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Me: Hey kids, I want a sewing project. Want me to make you anything?
7: yes! A new dress! [selects fabric]
Me: how about you, [10]? Anything you’d like?
10: No, not really. Except… I want a trench coat for my capybara.
7: yes! A new dress! [selects fabric]
Me: how about you, [10]? Anything you’d like?
10: No, not really. Except… I want a trench coat for my capybara.
Eeep! My book is a finalist for the New England Book Award in poetry! And it's in such awesome company!
July 25, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Eeep! My book is a finalist for the New England Book Award in poetry! And it's in such awesome company!
Live in or near Boston? come hear me read at Lit Crawl Boston with @notquitehydepark.bsky.social and @martin65.bsky.social! Life Alive Cafe, Davis Square, Somerville, 6/12, 7:00 PM.
June 6, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Live in or near Boston? come hear me read at Lit Crawl Boston with @notquitehydepark.bsky.social and @martin65.bsky.social! Life Alive Cafe, Davis Square, Somerville, 6/12, 7:00 PM.
Look what I got! @martin65.bsky.social
May 27, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Look what I got! @martin65.bsky.social
This painting is called "A man in a plumed hat and fur stole tuning a lute in front of a table with books" but I call it #lifegoals for short.
May 5, 2025 at 3:05 AM
This painting is called "A man in a plumed hat and fur stole tuning a lute in front of a table with books" but I call it #lifegoals for short.
Happy Valentine's Day! Seems like a good time to share a love poem (this one featuring the Marquis de Sade and a skipped college class)
February 14, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Happy Valentine's Day! Seems like a good time to share a love poem (this one featuring the Marquis de Sade and a skipped college class)
Look, I feel ridiculous promoting my book during All This, but maybe someone wants a distraction? Or to read some anti-Trump poems from last time around? Or just some free champagne? If you're in CT, come to my book launch on February 20!
February 4, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Look, I feel ridiculous promoting my book during All This, but maybe someone wants a distraction? Or to read some anti-Trump poems from last time around? Or just some free champagne? If you're in CT, come to my book launch on February 20!
Look! Look! it's a galley of my book! Merry Christmas to meeeee!
December 22, 2024 at 2:06 PM
Look! Look! it's a galley of my book! Merry Christmas to meeeee!
Since we're giving each other presents, perhaps you will enjoy this dragon, drawn on the beach yesterday by my 9-year-old using a broken shell as a stylus.
November 12, 2024 at 2:53 PM
Since we're giving each other presents, perhaps you will enjoy this dragon, drawn on the beach yesterday by my 9-year-old using a broken shell as a stylus.
Look, look, my book has a cover! William Morris blackberries, spiky and sweet.
August 2, 2024 at 8:49 PM
Look, look, my book has a cover! William Morris blackberries, spiky and sweet.
Coming to MLA? Check out our panel on Woolf and Race!
January 2, 2024 at 2:07 PM
Coming to MLA? Check out our panel on Woolf and Race!
All right [deep breath], here we go.
July 12, 2023 at 2:10 PM
All right [deep breath], here we go.