iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 22h

How to Survive Check your breathing. Still happening? Stay with it. Close your eyes if you need to. If not, open them wider, more light is good. Notice one thing— give it all the words you can find even if it is a scrap of lint or a crumpled piece of paper. Words ground us.

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

London Fog Searching your trench coat, was I looking for truth? What I found instead, a 1969 penny and a Green Room matchbook— I resisted the flame. Pockets, lined with moth holes and a stained handkerchief, not Mother’s shade of red.

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s. e. smith @sesmith.lol · 01/10/2026

In no circumstances ever should the state be murdering people. Judicial or extrajudicial. Period.

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Crow Would I were a crow, a dark contrast to all around, a black shadow in the sky that casts deeper shadows on the ground. Would that I could fly over rivers and over fields, searching for corn or a tree to roost in or just because I can.

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

FIRST DEATH The not so ironically surnamed son of the owner of Solomon’s Standard gas station— he possessed of the same large hands and slow wit as Lenny from Of Mice and Men— comforts the still-drunk man, sobbing a child, a child, and indeed, a small boy’s boots appear

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Apex Predators The wolf whistle first, then the slap on the bottom that left my skin burning under the thick winter coat. How much do you cost? the man called. Orcas are known as the wolves of the sea, having recently damaged the rudders of dozens of vessels. Not really attacks,

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

When I Love You Earth swells when I love you On your palms, all roads cross and the stars redraw their intricate designs on mine Fish multiply in the sea and the moon circulates in my blood My shape changes: I become the trees I become the rain I become the black center of the Spanish eyes

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Jennifer @jenwith1n.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Long Covid is real. The people living with it and advocating for better treatment and more awareness are absolute heroes in my book. And the people too sick to advocate need to be remembered and believed.

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Marriage and Canned Peaches A picture of Mary’s bleeding heart hangs in their austere living room. When we visit, they turn on a game show so loud that we must talk over it while trying not to look at the wall with the heart beating against fading magenta.

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Taking cane of twisty Australian branch in hand onto trail upturns lizard skitter sad sack trees drooping over thistlefields Whose woods are these East it’s all ruin- brown hills thatched with roof & surly evergreen Up here air whisper on a rock thimble brown

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The Voice of God In the first grade I kneel behind a trash can heaped with crepe- paper flames. The branches shudder. I am God’s voice. I am God’s call for burnt offerings, the scent of smoking flesh. Mount Moriah unspools its summit road down the middle of the

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Maintenance Aluminum siding needs painted to cover those faint gray patches only I can see. And the porch needs a new coat of blue to hide the wear of weather and footsteps. I know two places where shingles let a hard rain in, shirking their duty, admitting defeat. The only soul to inhabit

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Inside America Is there an inside to America? Is that question far-flung? I’ve tried all my life to find acceptance, America. To you who have kept your foot wedged against the door, I know who you are and who you have been and who you continue to be.

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pnwpolicyangel aka Angelita 👼 @pnwpolicyangel.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The consequences have been slim to none for LITERAL NAZIS ON THE POLICE FORCE! Where is the condemnation for true harm? www.opb.org/news/article...

opb.org

Officer Receives Two Week Suspension For Nazi Plaque

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Scary Tea Lady @sassytealady.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

This thread is why it's so important to defund the police, and until then to have strong and powerful police oversight controls in place. That the police have been shown repeatedly that they can murder citizens with no repercussions is a failing of our society and our government.

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

drunk on rejection One cup of hibiscus tea between two hands for three minutes past four. It has been five weeks trying to make this town home. In six hours, I will fall asleep again only to rise at seven to make another cup of hibiscus tea

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Go inside the mind of a poet — an intimate conversation with one of today’s most reverent literary voices. Learn how heartbreak becomes art — how Moudi turned the pain of war into poetry rooted in mercy, tenderness, and wonder 27powers.org/moudi-sbeity...

27powers.org

A LA CARTE LIVE - Moudi Sbeity Affiliate - 27powers

Where heartbreak becomes praise, and pain becomes poetry.

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Intimations of Adulthood The whole long drive south, she keeps Kari’s salamander safe, in a box on her lap, feeding it leaves, per Kari’s instructions. When she plays the alphabet game with her mom, she keeps one eye on her best friend’s lizard. On arrival, the balmy wind on her legs, skinny

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

During this 90-minute class, we’ll talk with Moudi about the spirit of his work — how he’s used the heartbreak of war in Lebanon to crack open everything he knows about mercy, grace, and wonder. From that place, we’ll do two short guided writes together. 27powers.org/moudi-sbeity...

27powers.org

A LA CARTE LIVE - Moudi Sbeity Affiliate - 27powers

Where heartbreak becomes praise, and pain becomes poetry.

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

27 Powers invites you into an intimate conversation with Lebanese poet Moudi Sbeity, one of the most deeply reverent and thoughtful poets we’ve had the honor of knowing. Our time together will also celebrate the release of his debut poetry collection 27powers.org/moudi-sbeity...

27powers.org

A LA CARTE LIVE - Moudi Sbeity Affiliate - 27powers

Where heartbreak becomes praise, and pain becomes poetry.

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

She Dreamed Long of Waters Even when she was a young girl she often woke remembering the white tips of waves as if all night she had been sailing on choppy water. Sometimes it was a calm lake she rode, sometimes an entire ocean, always ripples of silver sun across the surface.

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Nick Brumfield @nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Ed Sheeran did, in fact, take a side

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Passported I was always on my American mother’s passport a hen and her tawny Australian chicks captured for a brief moment when they weren’t running along the sands looking for shark teeth or climbing a loquat tree to lunch My passport to clamber onto those spaceship boats to sail across

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ashley fairbanks @ziibiing.com · 12/09/2026

we tracked months of rent payments to an estimated 13,000 families. the expected cost of rehousing those families, had they entered eviction, would be north of $218 million dollars. keeping them housed cost around $38-40 million

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I never tired of the soft or loud screaming in Bajjalieh’s poems. Like any good writer, they left me savoring and reflecting on their words after I read them. www.friendsjournal.org/book/scream-...

friendsjournal.org

REVIEWED: SCREAM until you know what God is

By Liz Bajjalieh. Fernwood Press, 2026. 132 pages. $22/paperback. Reading SCREAM until you know what God is immediately reminded me…

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Lake Michigan Gied we’re digging sand and stone at the shore welter of waves wastes our efforts dripping and joyful—the day’s lake-play —Jacob Riyeff, Be Radiant: A Sonata Pome (Fernwood Press, 2024)

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Friends may find themselves resonating with Bajjalieh’s ruminations about God being everywhere and in everything. Many read like answers to queries or questions posed for worship sharing and discussion. www.friendsjournal.org/book/scream-...

friendsjournal.org

REVIEWED: SCREAM until you know what God is

By Liz Bajjalieh. Fernwood Press, 2026. 132 pages. $22/paperback. Reading SCREAM until you know what God is immediately reminded me…

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

The Stones Will Cry Out Behind the student solving proofs at a kitchen table, a crash as an ice machine drops cubes into the freezer’s bin. Accidentally, a toddler pounds piano keys and plays an A major chord. All is yellow and midmorning while

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

“Of a certain age,” the phrase goes—no longer young, not yet old. The term suggests a liminal place, or in Brown’s case, a series of critical thresholds in the life of a woman. compulsivereader.com/2026/09/07/a...

compulsivereader.com

A review of Of a Certain Age by Tricia Gates Brown – Compulsive Reader

Reviewed by Ann Chinnis

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Clackamas County's Oak Lodge Library is represented in American Libraries’ 2026 Library Design Showcase, the annual celebration of new and renovated libraries across the US and Canada americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2026/09/01/2...

americanlibrariesmagazine.org

2026 Library Design Showcase | American Libraries Magazine

More than two-thirds of the 15 selections in American Libraries' 2026 Library Design Showcase are renovations or adaptive reuse projects.

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

The Apprehension Engine The shriek of horsehair drawn across bowed steel, a hurdy gurdy’s buzz, the spiraled metal’s reverb, all part of horror’s delicate chaos— less song than sonic depiction of rage— essence of terror in every dreadful sound of the most disturbing musical instrument ever.

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Night Dress Cecil wears a hard hat to bed and keeps it on throughout the night. From what his wife, Syl, has told my wife, Jill, it majorly dents his pillow and fluffing up is futile. I’ve also heard Cecil’s dreams are concussive, something to the tune of orchestrated flying debris!

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Dr Erika’s (Too) Online, PhD @erikas.online · 08/09/2026

It is good when people can migrate freely. It is bad when people are forced to leave. It is good when people in difficult circumstances can find homes. I'm not sure a single country on earth has a humane or defensible migration policy that honors the complexities of the issue or humans involved.

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Nick @ecosozialismus.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

One of the coolest things a Portland politician ever did was Jo Ann Hardesty saying we should use eminent domain to acquire downtown buildings if their market value is so low. Let’s stimulate the downtown economy by owning property & renting it out cheaply to businesses that do something Why not?

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Thought, Song, particle, wave, the glorious inhale/ exhale of it. Two cardinals dither daily at our address. My wry husband believes that drones will be our next state bird but I believe in you—-our backyard familiars, priestly robes of Ohio, red beyond any of our reds.

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

"In the Distance People Are Making Even More Distance" —Tom Hunley Years ago, I volunteered weekend overnights at the suicide hotline. Every time the phone rang, which it did at regular intervals, especially Saturday, my cheeks flushed with heat.

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

With a Name like Weasel how could he not have a mean lean body, tiny nails for fingers, and gums sprouting pointy teeth. His grin alone makes field mice tremble.

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the moon report 🌖 @seachanger.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

biking around the city you’re immersed in how the city actually is. it is a place you are a part of rather than a film shown by a windshield, sealed from the conscience. the city irl breaks your heart and fills your heart, just as it fills your lungs with fresh air but also exhaust & tire particles

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

It's really important that we remember that it's not just the tree of knowledge, as if being knowledgeable about things was a really bad idea. It's the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” blog.canyoubelieve.me/2026/08/can-...

blog.canyoubelieve.me

Can we go back to the Garden?

Political and cultural observations in light of Quaker discipleship.

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

If you go through Fox's journal, and you go through the letters, you find that this language of returning to Eden is there throughout Fox's writings. Fox is inviting us to experience life before the Fall. It’s a real through-line in all of Fox's writing. blog.canyoubelieve.me/2026/08/can-...

blog.canyoubelieve.me

Can we go back to the Garden?

Political and cultural observations in light of Quaker discipleship.

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

nothing else has an architect; this constant has folded us into what it wanted us to be & if i walk away now, i will be going nowhere untouched, so i sit & stare until the blinking makes me feel so weak —Darren C. Demaree, blue and blue and blue (Fernwood Press, 2024)

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Spring in the City Once again, rain falls late into the night. Plum-tree blossoms wait to be battered. Away from branches, the petals cling to shingles, making winter-worn roofs ornate beneath wood smoke from chimneys. With no stars to brighten the spring sky,

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The Red Sea to walk through on dry land, though the waves could so easily come crashing back down on me. to pass through without cesarean scar, without panic or emergency, hemorrhage or baby-can’t-breathe. walking through with firm steps, as if it isn’t a miracle.

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Application for acceptance into humanity One night some old worker might yell across the pub, “Hey Blondie, is that you?” Nobody’s called me that in like forever but I yell back yeah it’s me and somehow recognize the guy through layers of years ago on the railroad; God he’s a relic,

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Gift Shop Paper Dolls The cutting out was the best part snipping precisely around the lace scallops at the bottom clipping swiftly across the straight-edged tabs No, the best part was imagining anticipating standing in the gift shop on vacation weighing the choices

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Athul K. Acharya @athul.acharya.cc · 28/08/2026

Portlanders, if you like things like “accountability for police,” some businesses you might consider avoiding: Mother’s Bistro Le Pigeon Pink Martini Kachka Flor Wines Phuket Cafe Canard Langbaan Allora Hat Yai Papa Haydn Khao Soi Eem OK Chicken PaaDee Yaowarat Freeland Spirits Fields B&G Wilf’s

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

May One magnolia buds drip dew finches startle male merganser tuxedos fade to brown bald eagle’s white pierces gray skies I can breathe —Margaret Koger, If Seasons Were Kingdoms (Fernwood Press, 2024)

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HALSEY Literary Reader @halseyreader.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Migration I step outside into the call of sandhill cranes, rippling in the high currents. I walk, looking up, turning in all directions, shielding my eyes from the sun like someone lost in a wilderness, looking for the helicopter they hear and need to rescue them.

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