CAConrad

Poet writing since 1975 *
(Soma)tic Poetry Rituals *
Poetry & Ritual as ancient technologies *
2022 PEN Josephine Miles Award *
2022 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Photographer Martin Le-May was walking through a London park with his wife, hoping to show her a green woodpecker for the first time, when he snapped this incredible photo: a weasel riding a flying woodpecker.

[Bloodaxe Books @BloodaxeBooks]

Fiona Sampson's review of American poet Patricia Smith's retrospective is in The Guardian's @GdnSaturday magazine of 2 May.

The Intentions of Thunder is out in the UK & Ireland from @BloodaxeBooks this month and is a @PoetryBookSoc Special Commendation.
https://t.co/Y9S97PyxEl

[Archaeo - Histories @archeohistories]

Livia Drusilla (58 BC - 29 AD) was the most powerful woman of the early Roman Empire, and many historians argue she was the most powerful woman who ever lived.

As the wife of Caesar Augustus, she not only had the Emperor's ear, but if he was slow to implement her advice, she could do it herself and pretend it was her idea. Besides guiding the first emperor throughout his career, she bore him the lineage of his next four emperors: son Tiberius Caesar, grandson Claudius, great-grandson Caligula, and great-grandson Nero. A simple review of this line of succession provides the strongest of all reasons why empires tend to be so fragile.

She was the daughter of Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus, a close friend and conspirator of Marcus Brutus, and among Caesar's pursuers, whom Mark Antony drove out of Italy. They regrouped in Greece, but Antony pressured them so severely that most of them committed suicide, including Livia's father. When Octavian (later Emperor Caesar Augustus) came to power, the families of the assassins were pardoned and returned to Rome, including Livia. Caesar himself had created the Empire, but the power structure had never been established, and there was much work to be done.

When Octavian first met Livia, he recognized in her a determined ability to weave quiet, pernicious intrigues that would tolerate no opposition—and he knew that, with her at his side, the Empire would triumph and grow stronger under his rule. And so it did. They immediately divorced their spouses, and three days after she gave birth, Livia's ex-husband supported her in her marriage to the new emperor, Caesar Augustus (Octavian). The marriage lasted more than 50 years as she wove her lines of power. And these were often difficult years, especially since Livia had many scores to settle from her exile—even her husband's descendants proved mysteriously ephemeral. Indeed, Livia's understanding of who should be in power and who shouldn't was as unwavering as the hand of death.

In the end, the two not only recognized how much they needed each other, but they also came to fear each other—thus achieving a kind of wisdom that few such unions can boast. Power is a balancing act, and it is not only a source of ability, but also of great caution.

Sculpture by Lisa Lichtenfels, Realism on Canvas.

© Ladine Calista / Roman Empire

#archaeohistories

[CAConrad @CAConrad88]

Please see this link: https://t.co/yTzW2QE3D0

Many thanks to Elsa Boyer and Camille Pageard for translating The Book of Frank into French

They also translated While Standing in Line for Death into French in 2022

[CAConrad @CAConrad88]

Please see this link: https://t.co/HIJfwG9mK2
THANK YOU POETS
THANK YOU MUSICIANS
THANK YOU NTS RADIO for inviting me
THANK YOU for listening

[CAConrad @CAConrad88]

Stephen Jonas, Emily Dickinson, John Wieners https://t.co/dWgBllhdeH
Eileen Myles, Essex Hemphill, @poetjohncompton
THERE ARE SO MANY GREAT QUEER POETS

[Split Lip Magazine @splitlipthemag]

Let's round out Pride Month with some shout-outs. Who are your favorite queer authors?

[CAConrad @CAConrad88]

PLEASE SEE THIS LINK: https://t.co/QrH3NkkhlB
MANY THANKS to ALL the poets who participated in the contest! It was very difficult to choose the winners!
Thank you also to Marcella Haddad and Palette Poetry for inviting me to judge your Queer Poetry Prize! It was an honor!

[Mark Spero @costcopoetry]

My eel poem is out in the world! I am very thankful to @PalettePoetry and @CAConrad88 for reading my work. I am very grateful to be selected by one of my poetic heroes.

[CAConrad @CAConrad88]

@costcopoetry @PalettePoetry I LOVE YOUR POEM!!!

[CAConrad @CAConrad88]

@TomSnarsky Thank you

[CAConrad @CAConrad88]

@biancastone @blush_lit @BenjaminPease OMG that was SUCH a great night! I LOVED your reading and Ben's AND EVERYONE ELSE! It was such a fabulous reading and I wish I had recorded it.

[Bianca Stone @biancastone]

Hella good reading at the unparalleled Grey Matter Books in Hadley, MA for new issue of @blush_lit so many of my 🔥 ol UMass students crushing it. And the genius
@CAConrad88
& my love @BenjaminPease
https://t.co/4IdixwODJb

[CAConrad @CAConrad88]

@jothaniel I wish you could too 🙂

[Nature is Amazing ☘️ @AMAZlNGNATURE]

Family of cheetahs sleeping with an animal advocate Dolph Volker who got special permit to spend the night with them.

[CAConrad @CAConrad88]

@brihughespoet Thank you so much! You made my day!

[CAConrad @CAConrad88]

Please reserve your seat at this link: https://t.co/kQX1lBE2uy
I'm VERY EXCITED to be giving my Occult Poetics Talk at L00KY HERE in beautiful Greenfield, Massachusetts!!

[CAConrad @CAConrad88]

Please see this link: https://t.co/kQX1lBE2uy to register and see workshop descriptions.

[CAConrad @CAConrad88]

@julian_may This looks amazing. I'm sorry for bothering you here, but it is the only way I found to contact you. I was told you may know of a recording of the poet Anna Mendelssohn reading her work? I'm at 88CAConrad@gmail dot com

[CAConrad @CAConrad88]

Please see this link for talk description and tickets: https://t.co/kQX1lBE2uy

✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪

Many thanks to Vanessa Brewster and LOOKY HERE for the invitation to give this talk.