31 Comments
Jun 3, 2023Liked by Holly MathNerd

This is great to see -- Massey’s work is very fine.

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Jun 3, 2023Liked by Holly MathNerd

You have caused me to order the book already. Best reasons I’ve made a purchase in a long time. I hope many others follow your lead!

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Yay!! I can't wait to hear your thoughts.

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Good evening Holly. I find myself needing to thank you again for introducing me to something new and absolutely “more beautiful!” I ordered the new book as well as Rosary Made of Air and I’m taking them in joyously. The poem on page 1 of his latest, Soma, grabbed me immediately in a way that no poem ever has. I say that because it struck me in a deeply personal way I wouldn’t have thought possible. Suffering, as I was, that conceit that no one else could possibly understand what I’m going through. Massey cut through that nonsense with stunning precision. I was hooked in less than half of the first short poem. I’ve since ordered 3 more of his books. Thank you for everything you do and for giving me the chance to make a small contribution to a wonderful artist.

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Jun 4, 2023Liked by Holly MathNerd

I had no idea he was under attack. I am going to have to research this...... He has my support just for this.

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When I was active on twitter, there would be a fresh pile-on 2-3 times a year. (Besides the original attempt.) After I got a good job and had a little money, I shut down a few of them by donating copies of his books to libraries for every time they went at him.

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Jun 4, 2023Liked by Holly MathNerd

This is the first article that came up......I like this man! https://fionadodwell.medium.com/art-truth-and-cancel-culture-an-interview-with-writer-joseph-massey-93f89f04098d

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Thank you for the link -- opening this NOW. G-d I hate censorship. This trend is *really* scary.

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author

You won one of the copies! Email me the name and address you want the copy sent to, please.

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WOW. Thank you! Won one of the copies of what? This is exciting!

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Just looped-back and read -- WOW. Among other things, I feel validated and *seen* and valued for continuing to stand up to dangerous b.s., which as you know is not universally loved. Look forward to reading something beautiful.

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Okay, Fiestynca, Holly Math Nerd, and the rest -- he had me at "And we know what happens to the impure, the people who are unwilling to bend to insanity. They’re cast out." Fun fact: I got NOT accepted at more than one rabbinical seminary; and the person who made it her business to make sure I did NOT want to get into the one I wanted, actually told me when I got declined that she had told the admissions gatekeepers (because she knew this would work) that I "don't always go along with what the crowd is doing, and that it is to be hoped that if I came there, that I *would* go along with what the crowd is doing." (LITERAL quote -- I kid you not.) That is how I found out that what seminaries want is good team players." Also when I came to the big city that was the gateway to the town I am now in, I got very consciously shunned and despite my having finally gotten myself to someplace where there was a world-class M.D. who was FINALLY getting to the bottom of long-standing, life-wrecking health-issues and starting to resolve them, these folks wanted me out of both town and STATE regardless of what that meant about my literal, not metaphoric, life. Folks, these people do NOT care about whether what they do, with cancelling, ends up with literal, not figurative, blood on their hands -- they don't care this is murder. Well, I'm still here and still in the habit of truth-telling -- it was waaaay out in front both instances of my 360Reach poll -- AND I'm going to finish reading this article; send away for whichever of author Joseph Massey's books I can; and once again thank Holly Math Nerd for continuing to be who she is (and right in public, too). You make our world better, young lady, and I am grateful. Stay strong!

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What I ended up exploring fully before that article was this -- and what I learnt, with its ramifications, was horrific. When did we revert to Puritanical-style fascism? Come to think of it, Massachusetts *did* produce the Salem Witch-Trials (and executions). I think this is a deep component of US' founding culture whose influence on how things continue to play out is underestimated. I thought so when then Pres. Clinton was under attack and then impeached, for things that people in other countries were laughing at us and saying "so what." Looks like this is the same here. https://quillette.com/2019/07/11/a-metoo-mob-tried-to-destroy-my-life-as-a-poet-by-joseph-massey/

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You really ARE terrific. Thank you for doing that.

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Jun 4, 2023Liked by Holly MathNerd

Purchased!

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Jun 4, 2023Liked by Holly MathNerd

A good reminder to check him out again since I quit Twitter.

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Jun 4, 2023·edited Jun 4, 2023Liked by Holly MathNerd

I really enjoyed ' Breath Work ', so I'm glad to see he's released another book!

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author

Wasn't BW wonderful?

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Jun 4, 2023Liked by Holly MathNerd

It was! The lune on pg.11 is my favorite. Do you have a favorite?

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Jun 4, 2023Liked by Holly MathNerd

I follow him on Twitter. He adds beauty to the world.

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Jun 4, 2023Liked by Holly MathNerd

I plan to order this book as an anti boycott. I am all for supporting those who are getting attacked by the “woke” mob. It galls me to no end. Cannot wait to read more about this writer.

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Me too. I want those books. I'll bet poet Robert Creeley is being "cancelled" -- that poem to his daughter would've done that. What an idiot, scary world it's becoming.

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I recently found him thanks to you mentioning his work - I love it. Poetry is a gift

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Jun 4, 2023Liked by Holly MathNerd

Love his poetry.

And also his pictures of his cat Jarvis.😆

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founding

Oh, i'd forgotten all about Joseph for the last few months. Sometimes life has that effect. I'll have to check in on him.

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Thank you. I'm going to examine Joseph Massey, now. I'm sorry to hear that the "poetry community" has gotten that idiotic.

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Jun 6, 2023Liked by Holly MathNerd

:)

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You won one of the copies! Email me the name and address you want the copy sent to, please.

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Wow, thanks! :)

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His being "cancelled" i.e. eradicated from Academy of American Poets for allegedly "sexually and relationally beastly" makes NO sense in its inconsistency. If that's what it's really about, then why haven't they gotten Allen Ginsberg and others expunged from access by the public? Oh wait a minute maybe Ginsberg's poem about "making love with" a four-year-old that's made to sound like it's something beautiful would *not* be an offense warranting eradication if we're "open-minded" about (initial essay of yours I read) "destigmatizing evil." Looks like what we've defined as "evil" has shifted but somebody has to be purged for the Velvet Rope Club to sleep well at night, secure in their goodness in triumphantly fighting whatever they've redefined as The Demonic. I just want to throw up. Thanks for posting.

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Thank you so very much, Holly, for the beautiful book of his poetry that I received the other day. It's beauty is truly amazing, and yes, my home is now officially better for it.

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