Tessera

Piżama Press @pizamapress.bsky.social · 3h ago

Our very own Lesle Lewis was recently on the radio show Poet Talk on WMUA 91.1FM 📚❤️ here she is reading (while I read along) the title poem of her latest collection John’s Table (out now!)

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 3h ago

Sabrina Orah Mark @dorothyproject.bsky.social

Among the Presidents there is one President named Huh. I notice him immediately. His black coat is soft and frayed. If in his graying beard is one half-written poem folded up many times, I won't be surprised at all. He picks his best last. I linger, though I shouldn't, as he opens his suitcase. Nothing but dustpans. He stacks them carefully beside his bed. He sees me seeing. Dustpans. It's unquestionably a hearty collection.

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · yesterday

I wrote a poem by taking a James Tate quote & having it run from top to bottom on the left side of the poem as well as bottom to top on the right side of the poem Stoked to have it appear on James Tate's official website www.jamestate.net/instances-oc...

Rat Man
"Behind every great man there sits a rat." - James Tate

Behind man's eyes rests a dead rat
every rat knows as Patrick. A
great rodent who once sprinted, now sits.
Man befriends the dead rat in his head. "There,
there," man says, a headache to ignore. Man
sits softly on the earth, pictures Patrick the great,
a dead rat in his head the size of a lake. Every
rat knows about Patrick, the havoc he left behind.

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 23h ago

not sure where I first saw this Thomas Bossard painting, but it's been saved to my desktop ever since

a painting of many people standing along oceanic cliffs with selfie sticks

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · yesterday

I wrote a poem by taking a James Tate quote & having it run from top to bottom on the left side of the poem as well as bottom to top on the right side of the poem Stoked to have it appear on James Tate's official website www.jamestate.net/instances-oc...

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · yesterday

Ivor Cutler

Preface

After a long and exhausting meeting between the publisher, the illustrator and the author, it was decided that there would be no point in having a preface. Indeed, it would be pointless.

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 2d ago

Aug. 20: Chicago blues bar reading Aug. 26: Chicago beach reading Sept. 2: Hosting Neon Night Mic Sept. 11: Hosting Printers Row offsite Sept. 12: Reading Printers Row offsite Sept. 15: Piżama virtual event Oct. 17: My Chicago book launch

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 2d ago

Angel T. Dionne

Depression

My latest mental breakdown
was a stationary thought,
a nestling wren earthed
way too soon.

Gravity's poor victim.

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 2d ago

NEON NIGHT MIC ON SEPT. 2! 📚 I’m so stoked for this lineup. Most folks are traveling from out of town to be with us. Hope to see you there! 🎤 @clairehopple.bsky.social 🎤 @rgvaughan.bsky.social 🎤 @emilybloodwolf.bsky.social 🎤 Jonathan Cardew 🎤 @jessicawalsh.bsky.social 🎤 @martinezfjulian.bsky.social

Neon Night Mic

Claire Hopple
Robert Vaughan
Emily Bludworth de Barrios
Jonathan Cardew
Jessica L. Walsh
Julián Martinez

Wednesday, September 2
@ The Whistler
2421 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Doors: 6:00pm
Readings: 6:30pm-8:00pm

Robert Vaughan @rgvaughan.bsky.social · 2d ago

Chicago!!! Sept 2 reading with these brilliant authors, thanks @neonpajamas.bsky.social who also runs @pizamapress.bsky.social putting out the best of the best strange writers/ books!!! Please come and bring friends!!!

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 2d ago

NEON NIGHT MIC ON SEPT. 2! 📚 I’m so stoked for this lineup. Most folks are traveling from out of town to be with us. Hope to see you there! 🎤 @clairehopple.bsky.social 🎤 @rgvaughan.bsky.social 🎤 @emilybloodwolf.bsky.social 🎤 Jonathan Cardew 🎤 @jessicawalsh.bsky.social 🎤 @martinezfjulian.bsky.social

Piżama Press @pizamapress.bsky.social · 2d ago

The Sealey Challenge is upon us! 31 poetry collections for 31 days of August. What are you reading this month?

31 books by: Bob Heman, Johannes Göransson, Elizabeth Robinson, John Maradik, Jon Woodward, Jordan Stempleman, Lesle Lewis, Réka Nyitrai, Matt McBride, Eric Bause, Ranjit Hoskote, Daniel Brenner, Bianca Casady, Christine Shan Shan Hou, Sarah Rose Nordgren, Carrie Olivia Adams, Henry Goldkamp, Whitney Koo, Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi, BJ Soloy, Rennie Ament, Tomaž Šalamun, Metka Krašovec, Bob Sykora, P. Scott Cunningham, Fiston Mwanza Mujila, Chrissy Martin, Sophie Klahr, Sawako Nakayasu, Andrea Rexilius, Sasha Steensen, Dolores Dorantes

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 2d ago

NEON NIGHT MIC ON SEPT. 2! 📚 I’m so stoked for this lineup. Most folks are traveling from out of town to be with us. Hope to see you there! 🎤 @clairehopple.bsky.social 🎤 @rgvaughan.bsky.social 🎤 @emilybloodwolf.bsky.social 🎤 Jonathan Cardew 🎤 @jessicawalsh.bsky.social 🎤 @martinezfjulian.bsky.social

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 3d ago

Fargo meets Hot Fuzz. A fun one. I love director Ben Wheatley, and while this isn't one of his best movies (In the Earth, Kill List, A Field in England), I still had a blast. This film delivered pretty much exactly what I expected when I hit play.

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 3d ago

working on an essay about [redacted] and how it intersects with [redacted] for @apconmag.bsky.social

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 3d ago

Laura Walker wrote a prose poem disguised as a writing prompt & I wrote a writing prompt inspired by her writing prompt 🔁 neonpajamas.substack.com/p/083-poem-p...

083: Poem + Prompt (Laura Walker)
neonpajamas.substack.com

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 3d ago

a fifteen word poem of mine (written this morning) for #smallpoemsunday cc: @tomsnarsky.bsky.social

Prose Poem

The story
is over.
Now I am
a dog
in a basket
on a bike.

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 3d ago

*chainsaw emoji*

Piżama Press@pizamapress.bsky.social · 3d ago

Aggressively editing a prose poetry / microfiction collection for 2027 release and loving the tedious process. What would Gordon Lish do?

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 3d ago

BJ Soloy

As the days carry, sometimes the walls look like meat. Sometimes I’m dead & so hide from our bills just to feel hunted. Then another month is over. Thank God.

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 3d ago

Laura Walker

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 3d ago

Laura Walker wrote a prose poem disguised as a writing prompt & I wrote a writing prompt inspired by her writing prompt 🔁 neonpajamas.substack.com/p/083-poem-p...

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 4d ago

reading with @yoadrianididit.bsky.social at an iconic Chicago blues club later this month www.rosaslounge.com/shows/381121

Avondalia Night Out at Rosa's Lounge (3420 W. Armitage) - 7pm, doors at 6:30, August 20th, readings by Rocio Franco, Kathy O'Neill, Adrian Sobol, Sierra Kruse, Ben Niespodziany, visit rosaslounge.com to RSVP

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 4d ago

I think this is the best poem I've ever written in the latest issue of Notre Dame Review

"Statistics"
Benjamin Niespodziany

Last night’s dream was nothing but me digging
a hole, slipping in the hole, and falling down the hole.

98% of magicians incorporate holes into their acts.
A recent study suggests less than 2% of magicians insist

on dismissing the business of holes. Strangers broke
into our home looking for the hole of gold.

Five strangers came in through the window
and asked about our hole of hidden riches.

Five men smelling of sweat crept in through a hole
in the roof and demanded we hand over our gold.

In our basement there’s a cave and in the cave there’s a hole
and in the hole there’s an old man who doesn’t understand humanity.

Last night’s dream was 98% gold caves and 2% sweat.
Magicians broke into our basement of dreams

and we had nothing to give them as gifts.
Strange man-made caves act as holes in the second act of the tome.

Humanity stands next to me and only understands magic as a basement.
A man-made basement, a recent study suggests, is nothing

but a dream falling down a hole. The old man spits up pieces of gold
and tells me to bury them in the hole.

Falling, the report promotes, feels like 98% magic and 2% hole.
Our home is an act of slipping.

There’s humanity in the dig.

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 4d ago

I think this is the best poem I've ever written in the latest issue of Notre Dame Review

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 5d ago

I love the library & I love Tomaž Šalamun

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 5d ago

"I get giggly. I smell sulfur." - BJ Soloy

*HEARTLAND
RESTRICTIONS

Not valid if no one shows up, neither in the event that I'm mauled to death on camera, Tin Spill. A tree falls as the currency. Top eyelids. Timber, S.S. Lana Turner! An hour into making love, my employee mind takes over. I worry that you are a secret shopper. Then my mind drifts to gun policy, Syria. You taste real enough, Silver. Moon Landing. What's your biggest fear? Attacked by the sky itself. Face to face if it were a face. Uncontacted tribes stare in horror at the drones approaching. Battleship Sublime, I get giggly. I smell sulfur. I walk out of the interview.

Piżama Press @pizamapress.bsky.social · 5d ago

we saw a spike in sales of Réka's book after posting these poems to Instagram (21k+ views, 700+ likes, 50 new followers)

Piżama Press@pizamapress.bsky.social · last wk.

four weird poems by Réka Nyitrai for #weirdpoemwednesday cc: @tomsnarsky.bsky.social

French theory

I watch ants carry rain from one city to another.
I take an example.
I put a cloud in a tote bag.
I notice how the north wind descends from a black limousine.
It takes my hat
and throws it into the past.

Anna Vangala Jones @anniejowrites.bsky.social · last wk.

excited to be in @havehashad.com again with a tiny micro about a bar for ghosts. grateful to @aaronburch.bsky.social + any of you who read it 💀 🍻 👻 www.havehashad.com/hadposts/whe...

at the top is a drawing of skulls
Title: Where Everybody Knows How You Died
Author: Anna Vangala Jones
Text of story: I like to ghost watch as I nurse my scotch. It's funny, scotch made me cough and sputter when I was a person but the burn is nice now—the warmth makes you feel alive. The bar is crowded tonight. Hit & Run Victim is arm wrestling Bungee Jump Splat (he tried to be known as Thrill Seeker but we were all too hung up on the splat.) Choked on a Chicken Wing While Living Alone is sitting at the piano, hands hovering over the keys but not touching them. Leaned Too Far Over the Yellow Line to See if the L Train Was Coming & Fell Onto the Tracks at the Exact Wrong Moment is dancing by herself, swaying to the music Choked on a Chicken Wing isn't playing. Fell Asleep & Didn’t Wake Up asks me if he can bum a cig so I go join him for a smoke. He knows I'm Abducted, Buried in the Woods, & Never Found but is polite enough to pretend he thinks I'm Lung Cancer. He asks if I ever miss it. Life, I'm assuming. I don't answer. Me neither, he says. We cheers with our cigarettes and look up at the night sky as mist floats through the moonlight.

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 5d ago

Sometimes slow can be rewarding. Sometimes boring can be wowed.

poster for movie The Things You Kill (2025)

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 6d ago

if Blue's Clues was filmed in the Backrooms (complimentary)

Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 6d ago

A voyeuristic masterpiece. I loved this nosy little book. Intimately learning about a stranger through nothing but the words/stories/opinions of acquaintances near and far.