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Paul Guest

@paulmguest

Poet and memoirist. Published in Best American Poetry, The Paris Review, Poetry, and elsewhere. Whiting Award Winner and Guggenheim Fellow.

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Latest posts by Paul Guest @paulmguest

Preview
a man in a top hat stands next to a child and says " goggles on please " Alt: Mike TV from Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory

It makes so much sense to put ALL these villains on TV, non-stop, for ongoing viral-video interrogations—to get them to slip up, to say something that pisses him off, to look weak— because the only thing that matters to this guy is what happens on the tube

06.03.2026 02:33 👍 145 🔁 13 💬 5 📌 1

the internet is poison

05.03.2026 16:58 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Gossamer

just when we believe our bodies
have adjusted to absence

comes a new season of smoke and wildness

take me now
in this unexpected heat

take me until I cannot help
but bleat your name in hunger

a horizon of geese
naming the sky

Gossamer just when we believe our bodies have adjusted to absence comes a new season of smoke and wildness take me now in this unexpected heat take me until I cannot help but bleat your name in hunger a horizon of geese naming the sky

new poem in @oneart.bsky.social --

26.02.2026 12:01 👍 38 🔁 11 💬 0 📌 0

When AOL and Prodigy started taking off in the early 90s, our neighbor bought a bunch of cement slab and busted it up and sold it online as "Real Pieces of the Berlin Wall" and "Real Pieces of the Great Wall of China" and that guy realized what the internet was gonna be before everyone else

22.06.2024 17:15 👍 3224 🔁 575 💬 35 📌 19

the best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity

06.02.2026 14:20 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

I say this three times a day and mean it more every single time, but what is going ON?????

05.02.2026 13:18 👍 429 🔁 41 💬 10 📌 1

one of my strongest beliefs is that we're in our situation right now bc some of the most prominent talking heads (e.g. joe rogan, andrew schulz) are learning about politics in their 40s and 50s, instead of their teens and early 20s, and we have to go along for the ride as they learn basic things

04.02.2026 22:10 👍 29593 🔁 4315 💬 785 📌 324

In less than a week the Kennedy Center has effectively closed and our local DC paper has been gutted, both by billionaires.

I don’t think immigrants are our problem in this country.

04.02.2026 17:38 👍 3460 🔁 1043 💬 25 📌 19

Gov Spanberger has directed Virginia’s state law enforcement agencies to end 287g agreements with ICE, saying the agreements "improperly cede accountability and discretion over VA law enforcement" to the feds.

04.02.2026 18:26 👍 118 🔁 44 💬 1 📌 12

I'm just waiting for Donald to tell Sean Hannity he'd be so much prettier if he smiled more.

04.02.2026 20:30 👍 969 🔁 173 💬 31 📌 10
Preview
I’ve Been Laid Off. I’m Not Done. After 20 years at The Washington Post, I’m suddenly on my own — and still writing about books.

After 20 years, I've been laid off at The Washington Post.
substack.com/home/post/p-...

04.02.2026 19:17 👍 491 🔁 156 💬 77 📌 54

No we don’t you worthless lump of campaign bribes, we want ICE abolished and every person who committed crimes, as well as those who allowed it to happen, prosecuted. Go fucking retire, you’ve done enough damage already.

03.02.2026 23:25 👍 2192 🔁 449 💬 62 📌 11

We want it abolished, old man

03.02.2026 22:20 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

The center-will-hold folks seem to understand very little about widening gyres and mere anarchy.

02.02.2026 19:18 👍 5 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0

We are ruled over by thieves and murderers and rapists who are hellbent on taking everything from us.

Evidence like the Epstein Files just makes abundantly clear what we already know and continually confronts us with a question we must answer: how much more of this are we willing to take?

30.01.2026 18:58 👍 240 🔁 67 💬 4 📌 2
Fri 2/6 at PVCC Campus in Charlottesville Va: a poets panel, Guardians of Wonder: Writing What We Must Not Lose

Fri 2/6 at PVCC Campus in Charlottesville Va: a poets panel, Guardians of Wonder: Writing What We Must Not Lose

I’ll be in conversation with these smart poets a week from today, Fri 2/6 starting 6:30 pm—& the temps will be above freezing! Free @PVCC campus in Charlottesville VA. Register & get a free book! piedmontgarden.org/event/a-poet... #poetrycommunity @paulmguest.bsky.social @haydensaunier.bsky.social

30.01.2026 18:46 👍 7 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 2

This is wonderful

30.01.2026 16:28 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Post image

We are so thrilled that Aracelis Girmay has been selected as a finalist for the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry Collection for GREEN OF ALL HEADS!

The winner will be announced live at the 2026 PEN America Literary Awards Ceremony, held at The Town Hall in New York City on March 31, 7:30pm.

30.01.2026 00:48 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 1

Also, the worst actor in every Quentin Tarantino movie?

Always, always Quentin Tarantino.

29.01.2026 17:13 👍 728 🔁 71 💬 50 📌 5
Post image

Message me on Signal.

29.01.2026 17:12 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Activists are calling for a “nationwide day of no school, no work and no shopping” across the U.S. on Friday, Jan. 30, to protest President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown following the fatal shootings of two people by federal agents in Minneapolis.

28.01.2026 22:11 👍 1229 🔁 511 💬 69 📌 21
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio) YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Stay free

28.01.2026 17:02 👍 97509 🔁 40896 💬 4302 📌 5366

Dear neighbor, It is not the time to let your guard down, nor is it the time to stop organizing.

While Bovino will be leaving Minneapolis along with some U.S. Border Patrol agents, there is still no specific plan that has been communicated to the public. 1/

27.01.2026 01:20 👍 1840 🔁 484 💬 12 📌 13

People who think we should wait until we win everything think we should win forever. Celebrate interim victories, partial victories, imperfect victories, small victories, because celebrating strengthens the resolve to keep on, reminds us of our power, and also is fun.

27.01.2026 03:39 👍 1262 🔁 121 💬 19 📌 12

How about these apples

27.01.2026 03:31 👍 738 🔁 73 💬 51 📌 3

Do you understand they are weak and their violence comes from weakness?

If we fight them together, if we link arms, if we say enough in one voice, they will crumble and we will be free to create something better, something we deserve.

I’m begging. Please. See it. Know it.

27.01.2026 00:16 👍 2993 🔁 930 💬 121 📌 45

Damn proud of Minnesota.

26.01.2026 02:01 👍 48462 🔁 5295 💬 1714 📌 270
Post image

The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy. It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.

25.01.2026 17:39 👍 60237 🔁 19561 💬 3139 📌 1542

Another murder by immigration enforcement in my district.

I am absolutely horrified that federal agents are targeting and executing our residents instead of protecting them.

ICE and CBP must leave Minnesota immediately. Kristi Noem must be impeached. Enough.

24.01.2026 18:25 👍 3133 🔁 705 💬 93 📌 21