( via / oil painting by me )

The Stags.

"No one pretended, after 1997, it wasn’t worthwhile to have humans compete in chess. In fact, the world of chess developed strict protocols around computer use and you can get banned from tournaments if you use a computer program as you play." —Ross Barkan via

To Be a Poet in Dallas.

"Pitchfork

The straight ash
handle graceful
as a Viking ship.

Tan and darkened
by hand
oil. Handled.

Ygdrasill, Odin’s tree,
baseball bats
and ancient Irish oars

are ash. Tree
of sea holds
water’s power.

This morning Adrienne
used it to turn
the compost. Sawdust

not breaking down
as fast as horse manure.
A slower heat coming.

5 times hardened in fire,
forged, the tip of each shaped
different. Hammered.

The long handle
precisely fits.
As perfect as the motion

made, the arc you define
at 5 in the morning
turning the compost.”

—Robert Trammell, Sunflowers (2001)

Sabbatage Mahal.