To some, Jesus Christ appears on toast. But tonight, I am visited by David Bowie in a melon.
@megrey.bsky.social
*Yes* to the entry of the adjective ‘Schengen-y’ into the literary critical apparatus. Joanna Biggs @lrb.co.uk #Schengen
Anybody who hasn’t made appropriate plans to celebrate Frank O’Hara’s birthday on Friday will get another chance in June ⬇️
The Irish Times@irishtimes.com · 7mo agoBorn-again poet – Frank McNally on the confused centenary of Frank O’Hara
New in @thebupkes.bsky.social: “America, behold” www.thebupkes.com/p/contributi... Amia Srinavisan invited @lrb.co.uk readers into the trouser area of #MAGA - psychoanalytically speaking, of course - and look what happened ⬇️
Contributor's Contribution: 'America, behold'
We contain multitudes. Do we contain each other? Addressing the 'reinstated father'—now and since ever.
thebupkes.com
New for The Bupkes! Our contributor @megrey.bsky.social is everywhere. Including basement bathrooms of Brussels bars.
Unexpected factors influencing #EU-#UK relations: the mortality of Nicholas Thomas-Symonds
The Guardian@theguardian.com · last yr.No prospect of UK rejoining EU in my lifetime, says Starmer’s reset negotiator
‘Johnson’s work has done much to shape ideals of multiculturalism in Britain. Perhaps most significantly, he made white British readers recognise Jamaican patois.’ Mendez on Linton Kwesi Johnson: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Mendez · Burning Age of Rage: On Linton Kwesi Johnson
Linton Kwesi Johnson has maintained that ‘writing poetry or making music ... is not a substitute for hardcore...
lrb.co.uk
While @thecyclingpodcast.bsky.social might never have posted on Bluesky, @friebos.bsky.social’s reporting over the last few days on the pro-#Palestine protests at the #VueltaaEspaña and the presence of the #Israel Premier Tech team has been exemplary journalism…
New for The Bupkes: Sometimes the double tap is so nice, you do it thrice. www.thebupkes.com/p/double-tap...
Monsters (and other lies)
When a double's not enough, make it a triple.
thebupkes.com
New for The Bupkes: It’s August, and much of Europe has made its traditional summer holiday escape to overcrowded beaches. Our Brussels-based contributor @megrey.bsky.social reflects on the inescapable. Get more at thebupkes[dot]com.
‘Satire can be a powerful agent of those wider, slower forms of political and social change, though when measured against the immediate political intentions of its authors it can seem as though it has achieved nothing at all.’ Colin Burrow: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Colin Burrow · Let custards quake: Satire without the Jokes
To think of a satirist as a person who angrily turns against a gale-force wind and sprays liquefied shit at a group of...
lrb.co.uk
In June, Ukrainian author Victoria Amelina won the 2025 Orwell Prize for Political Writing. She does not appear in this poem. www.thebupkes.com/p/poets-war-...
Contributor's contribution: Poets on war, war on poets
Someone is missing. There is a reason for that.
thebupkes.com
SCOOP! The Bupkes has obtained the final declaration of NATO’s 2035 summit.
The St. Petersburg Summit Declaration
Increased militarism amid rising nationalism. What could go wrong?
open.substack.com
The first time the hashtags #poem and #Schengen appear together on Bluesky. Also the last?
The Bupkes@thebupkes.bsky.social · last yr.Happy 40th birthday, Schengen! The Bupkes celebrates this milestone in European arbitrariness with a reflection by @megrey.bsky.social … open.substack.com/pub/thebupke...
You asked. Kurt Tucholsky answers. “Was darf die Satire?” / What can satire get away with? (Spoiler alert: Everything.) open.substack.com/pub/thebupke...
ConWatch: Week 1,810
Does Germany have a constitution yet?
open.substack.com
Fresh Bupkes! A momentary pause looking at the futility outside to contemplate the ephemeral inside. open.substack.com/pub/thebupke...
Contributor's contribution: lad trope house plant death cult
A poem for a summer slipping away before it arrives.
open.substack.com
In honor of aspiring European go-getters contending with the fact that their figures are off. open.substack.com/pub/thebupke...
Contributor's contribution: Integers, and Reasons for reticence
Two poems for politicians struggling with numbers.
open.substack.com
Neu! Announcing poems by M. E. Grey in The Bupkes magazine. megrey.net/2025/04/02/c... @thebupkes.bsky.social
Contributor contributing contributions: poems in The Bupkes
Work by M. E. Grey is featuring irregularly in satirical zine The Bupkes. ‘Snack (Austrian Airlines)’ was published in March, and ‘Bad threads’ was published today. Future p…
megrey.net
