Toby Altman
@browatch.bsky.social
I teach at MSU and run the RCAH Center for Poetry. My new book is Jewel Box (Essay Press, 2026).
Talking Jewel Box with Lloyd Wallace over in the beautiful new issue of Asymptote:
A Surface as an Extension of Volume: An Interview with Toby Altman - Asymptote
I’m thrilled to share my interview with Toby Altman on the release of Altman’s Jewel Box (Essay Press, 2026), a collection of visual poetry exploring the work of architect Louis Sullivan, which follows and extends the project of Altman’s recent book, Discipli
asymptotejournal.com
Very happy to have a poem from Jewel Box in Poetry Nightly, the best and most radical archive of contemporary small press writing. If you're not following along, you're missing a living archive of hidden, radical, and vibrant publishing practices: poetrynightly.com/2026/07/09/j...
JEWEL BOX (EXCERPT)
–from Jewel Box–published by Essay PressBuy it here–By Toby Altman 👍
poetrynightly.com
It’s pub day for Jewel Box! This book is many things—memoir, map, ornament, essay, poem, history, image. As it makes its way, officially, into the world it loves and critiques, I hope that it finds you. Wherever and whoever you are. <3 www.essaypress.org/altman/
Summer series is back! This summer we're going to be hosting readings out and about in Lansing. First up: Fenner Nature Center, next Thursday, with Mike Copperman, Kelly Hoffer, Tari Tari Griffin-Muñiz, and Lindsey Webb! Rain location is the Fenner Visitor Center Classroom.
Thrilled—thrilled!—to announce that my new book, Jewel Box, is available for pre-order from Essay Press! Come for the weirdo concrete poems, stay for the searching critique of colonialism in the upper midwest: www.essaypress.org/altman/
I'm editing a folio for Annulet this fall called "What Kind of Poetry World Should We Have?" Looking for brief essays, meditations, manifestos, provocations—in search of a more accessible, livable, and radical space in which to make poetry together. Full CFP below:
CFP: What Kind of Poetry World Should We Have — Annulet
CFP: What Kind of Poetry World Should We Have? The poetry world has entered a new period of severe financial crisis. As...
annuletpoeticsjournal.com
This Friday! We welcome legendary poet Tracie Morris to campus for an original performance at the Broad Museum. Do not miss!
Toby Altman@browatch.bsky.social · 5mo agoThis is gonna be a fun one: we commissioned Tracie Morris to create a new performance piece, in dialogue with the Broad's new show—a light installation which submerges the museum's central gallery in total darkness. Tracie will perform in, and in response to, that darkness. One night only!
I'm collecting MFA personal statements for students—anyone, particularly fiction/non-fiction writers, willing to share with them??
This is gonna be a fun one: we commissioned Tracie Morris to create a new performance piece, in dialogue with the Broad's new show—a light installation which submerges the museum's central gallery in total darkness. Tracie will perform in, and in response to, that darkness. One night only!
Happy last night of AWP to all who celebrate! See you here:
Toby Altman@browatch.bsky.social · 6mo agoWe're doing an offsite! See you at AWP—
I took a big swing and wrote a long essay for Annulet Magazine's new folio on American Poetry, 2007-2025, called "After the Poetry Wars," in which I try to describe the transformations in the aesthetics and logistics of US poetry in the past 15 or so years. annuletpoeticsjournal.com/Toby-Altman-...
Toby Altman: After the Poetry Wars — Annulet
After the Poetry Wars 1. Introduction In this essay, I want to ask a deceptively simple question: is the poetry of this century different...
annuletpoeticsjournal.com
Big things coming this spring at The RCAH Center for Poetry at MSU! Hope to see you there—
This year's Chicago Poetry Center silent auction is live! So much good stuff here, including a few items from yours truly: manuscript and individual poem consultations, a Chicago book bundle. CPC is the realest poetry org out there; help them thrive! www.accelevents.com/e/cpc2026ann...
Chicago Poetry Center's 2026 Annual Fundraiser, Wed, Jan 14th, 2026 @ 9:00 AM Accelevents
The Chicago Poetry Center connects people and poetry, equitably engages poets with communities, and advances creative literacy in the city and beyond.
accelevents.com
In a truly deranged turn of events, I was on daytime TV in Lansing today, talking about my upcoming reading with Laura Apol and reading what must be, surely, the most oblique poem to ever appear on local news: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nteq...
I wrote another poetry chapbook last year, called Belly Full Of Hell. Donate $15+ to Chicago Abortion Fund and I'll send it to you. It wouldn't exist without @browatch.bsky.social
We are thrilled to welcome the new Michigan Poet Laureate, Melba Joyce Boyd, to Lansing next week. She'll give a reading on Friday, November 14th at 7pm at the East Lansing Public Library, and a workshop the following morning at the Library of Michigan as part of the Poet's Roundtable conference.
This week at the RCAH Center for Poetry! Join us for readings from Esther Belin and Jo Troxell, and help us welcome Esther to town!
The RCAH Center for Poetry at MSU is BACK! With old friends and new laureates, mathematicians and performance artists, we are here to demand, to insist, that poetry is a living thing! (See the following posts for a complete rundown of events)
Summer Series is back this week—w/readings from Suban Nur Cooley, Korey Deans, Bianca Rae Messinger, and Adam Mitt!
We are hiring a tenure track poet! I’m so excited / spread the word… wesleyan.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/career...
Assistant Professor of English
The Department of English at Wesleyan University seeks a published poet for a tenure-track appointment beginning July 1, 2026. Teaching responsibilities include two courses per semester in introductor...
wesleyan.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com
Tari is unable to join us tonight, but fortunately the great Ruelaine Stokes is going to read in her stead! Don't miss this—
Toby Altman@browatch.bsky.social · last yr.INTRODUCING: Summer Series, a set of relaxed, off-campus readings from the The RCAH Center for Poetry at MSU, featuring local and national poetic luminaries. Summer Series I, featuring Sarah Carson and Tari Muñiz will be July 12th at 7pm at Hooked Lansing!
