iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Ben Purkert

Garth Greenwell @garthgreenwell.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

Last week, the State Department cut funding for the International Writing Program, which brings writers from around the world to Iowa City. I wrote about why the IWP is precious, & how crucial it was for my education as a writer. Free post; no paywall. garthgreenwell.substack.com/p/a-city-of-...

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Ashley C. Ford @smashfizzle.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

Ms. Sharon lives near here. I met her last year. She’s been fighting this for a long time. She can’t sit on her porch midday and read her bible because of the stench from the plants. She can’t have a garden because the soil is poison. Her grandchildren can’t play in the grass. She’s exhausted.

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Maureen Langloss @maureenlangloss.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

OMG the new poem by Diane Seuss crushed me. Now maybe let it crush you? poets.org/poem/life-im...

poets.org

In life I’m no longer capable of love,

of that old feeling of being / in love, such a rusty / feeling, rusty,

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

It’s my 40th bday today and so I ate this WHOLE DAMN CAKE except the me part, boooom

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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Freedom is when the boss tells you what to write and think. bsky.app/profile/maxt...

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

currently reading an MFA student’s writing that is so staple-in-my-brain fucking brilliant I am wholly radioactive with delight, that is all, just needed you 2 know bye

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eileen chengyin chow @chowleen.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

“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...

I studied with Joseph Brodsky the great Russian poet and how do I say this, he thought we were lazy American students. We had to memorize 500 lines a week and come in and write them out for him. 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. He said, in the Soviet Union, nothing is permitted and everything is important. In the United States, everything is permitted and nothing is important.

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Mark Harris @markharris.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

One thing Democratic leadership could do right now is to name an alternate HHS secretary--someone to provide ongoing public updates and health information. And do it for other departments too. Start showing voters what a Democratic government would look like--press conferences, speeches, all of it.

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

i am the cranky old luddite writer i've always aspired to be 😍

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

“I only eat leaves” is gonna be my new artist statement

A man chased leaves down an urban street. The leaves moved fast. He ran and ran. A young boy stopped him. "Sir, why are you chasing leaves?" "I'm a starving artist, I haven't eaten in days!" the man said. "Have some oatmeal cookies," the boy said. "I only eat leaves!" the man said, running down the street. "I only eat leaves!"

(Jose Hernandez Diaz)

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 05/01/2025

you are toasting with champagne for NYE, I am raising a glass of tap water for the midnight initiation of congestion pricing, WE ARE NOT THE SAME

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

entering 2025 with dark clouds and lightning bolts, cool cool cool

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 28/12/2024

incredibly important that you all know in 2002 I proposed “palindrome” as my senior year prom theme and it was soundly rejected, can you BELIEVE

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

submitted a letter of recommendation last night at 11:58pm before a midnight deadline, I've never felt more ALIVE

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

why does NYRB insist on absolutely fucking up my peace

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Alina Stefanescu @alinaetc.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

Night the black beard a string running through it with the sound of a breath - W. S. Merwin, “The String”

THE STRING
Night the black bead a string running through it with the sound of a breath
lights are still there from long ago when they were not seen
in the morning it was explained to me that the one
we call the morning star and the evening star are the same

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

say what you want, Kafka was a mensch

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

firmly cementing my reputation as The Guy Who Buys His Kid’s Kindergarten Teacher a Generous Gift Card for the Local Bookstore during the Holiday Season 💪

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

some strong NYC vibes in these lines from Margaret Draft

I stayed in the city where no one can afford a house.
I made a vow.
I spoke of the person I wanted to become.

Then I became someone else.

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Todd Dillard @toddedillard.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

bad poem bad poem, whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do now that I've written you

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

love to offer my snake plant little sips from my nalgene like he’s one of the lads

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

thinking about that Billy Collins interview… everyone has particular turnoffs when reading; it’s natural! but it’s also worthwhile, I think, to be mindful of them and at least acknowledge the possibility that the fault lies not in the writing, but in you as a reader

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

truly cannot wait for the real Ben Lerner to publish a short story about the Ben Lerner imposter on Bluesky and then it turns out that the fake Ben Lerner was actually the real Ben Lerner all along and the Ben Lerner short story was written by the fake Ben Lerner

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

writing a whole novel in 3rd person is EXHAUSTING, like when the fuck do *I* get to talk????

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Alexander Chee @alexanderchee.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Well this is exciting.

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

I was extremely (embarrassingly??) honest in this interview and here it is, if you'd like to give it a read! 🎳 @southeastreview.bsky.social www.southeastreview.org/single-post/...

I’ll be honest. I don’t think about plot at all, and I know nothing about it.

What I do believe in, however, is giving a reader something to read toward. I’m very attentive to that, because I believe in honoring a reader’s time and attention. And so, if I’m going to earn their time and attention, I need to ensure that there’s always something compelling them to turn from one page to the next. It could be a big secret, or a small one, but it should sustain them and reward their interest. Otherwise, I mean, there’s a whole fucking world out there. Why stay indoors with a book? Why not just go skydiving or swimming with bottle-nosed dolphins or something?

The analogy George Saunders uses is bowling pins, and I’ve always liked that. As a novelist, your job is to pick out a bunch of bowling pins and throw them up in the air. Then, as the book goes on, you catch them. And the suspense for the reader is seeing all these things thrown up high into the sky, wondering how they’ll find their way back down.

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

hear me out... what if instead of a syllabus I just make an extremely badass starter pack

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Anna Vangala Jones @anniejowrites.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

mrs dalloway said she would check & scroll all four of her social media accounts herself

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eileen chengyin chow @chowleen.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

“It is also November. The noons are more laconic and the sundowns sterner. November always seemed to me the Norway of the year.” -Emily Dickinson, in letter to Lavinia Dickinson (Nov 1864) #everynightapoem #november

Emily Dickinson, handwritten letter to Lavinia

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

the algorithm is inexplicably feeding me an ungodly amount of birding content and I am very here for it

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

What’s a book you ended up loving after not enjoying the first 100 pages? Does such a thing exist?

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

quick lil reminder via Stanley Kunitz that the fundamental lyric tension inside every poem is that we are all living and dying at once

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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Is it only writing when we have a pen in hand, or a nearby keyboard? I think writing includes much more than that: patience, attention, openness to the world past screen or page—to what's findable there. —Carl Phillips, from "Silence"

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

happy to report that, after a fraught 24 hours, I'm out! now what will I do with my one wild and precious and clothèd life???

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

currently trapped in the bathroom wearing only a towel because my wife is on a work conference call that was changed to video instead of audio and our bedroom doubles as her office anyway how is everyone this fine Tuesday morning

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

oh AI can write books now? fine but can it constantly self-promote on multiple social platforms while still feeling bad about itself?????

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

here’s “Sestina” by Ciara Shuttleworth and it’s a truly wild ride You used to love me well. Well, you— me— used love to . . . to . . . well . . . love. You used me. Me, too, used . . . well . . . you. Love, love me. You, too well used, used love well. Me, too. You! You used to love me well.

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Ben Purkert @benpurkert.bsky.social · 24/11/2024