Cortney Lamar Charleston

@bardsbesidebars.bsky.social

Poet & Author • TELEPATHOLOGIES (Saturnalia Books, 2017); • DOPPELGANGBANGER (Haymarket Books, 2021); • IT'S IMPORTANT I REMEMBER (Northwestern Univ. Press, 2026) https://www.cortneylamarcharleston.com/important-links

My granny called to tell me she read my new 250-page book in two days and she “don’t be reading like that” and “doesn’t really know how to read poetry” but she was able to make sense of what I wrote because it read like history so what I’m saying is that I just won the Nobel Prize in Literature!

I am so honored by this and so very grateful! Thank you, @chanda.blacksky.app! And thank you to everyone tuning into the book at this time. You can get a copy from @nupress.bsky.social and use the discount code ‘NUP2026’ for 25% off! Link in my bio 🙂

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌@chanda.blacksky.app · 6mo ago

Back with another book video, this time about the remarkable new poetry collection from @bardsbesidebars.bsky.social *It’s Important I Remember* which is one of the most remarkable poetry collections I’ve read in years. Go out and get it!! #BookSky nupress.northwestern.edu/978081014964...

The work being done by these observers of ICE to document, illuminate, and share what is being done in Minneapolis, in below freezing temperatures, given all that has transpired is so remarkably courageous. They are being killed for that courage, as ICE further reveals their cruelty and cowardice.

The respectability policing that goes on after cops or federal agents (who are also cops, y'all) kill someone is always unbearable. Dissecting the actions of the victim, putting them on trial when they cannot defend themselves, declaring they should have done this or that. Did they deserve to die?!

People are going to try and lure you into debates about whether Maduro was a good guy or not and the thing is, it doesn’t matter for the purposes of discussing whether violent kidnappings and extrajudicial murders by the US government are ok. No, they aren’t! End of convo.

A coup and invasion. A military occupation and blatant resource extraction. And an example other autocrats may follow against less-powerful neighbors in the absence of international resistance. America just opened up a dangerous box. Because we couldn’t clean up our mess at home, we’re exporting it.