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Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:

– My book Midlife now exists.

– Darker by Mark Strand (not actually the topic of this episode, sorry)

– How to Read the New Contemporary Poem by Paul Breslin

– The New Criterion

– William Logan

– Adam Kirsch

– The Nature of Things Fragile by Peter Vertacnik

– Pleasures of the Game by Austin Allen

– Some Problems with Autobiography by Brian Brodeur

– David Yezzi

– Macbeth by William Shakespeare

– The Fell Swoop by MBS

– Austin’s list of things Roger Kimball has said:

On Twitter/X:

Suggesting "Time to review the 19th Amendment?" in response to a post claiming that "women are turning government into a massive HR," and "Rescind the 19th Amendment?" in response to a post claiming that "Allowing women to vote led to the Cult of Safety First! Allied with the Expertocracy, there is nothing they do not, and will not, control."

Calling COVID masking regulations "the greatest imposition on civil liberties since slavery" at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic (Nov. 2020), and claiming as late as fall 2022 that "Vaccinations do not stop the spread of Covid."

Spreading Jan. 6 "truther" type conspiracy theories (many times over).

In The New Criterion:

Calling the Jan. 6th, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol "the January 6 'insurrection' hoax" and claiming that it was no more than "U.S. citizens exercising their constitutionally guaranteed right to free speech."

Praising Kanye West, for the first time ever, directly after West's series of anti-Semitic diatribes in fall 2022. (Kimball called West's interview with Tucker Carlson "an extraordinary exchange, diffuse and impressionistic at times but deeply felt. West is far from an ideal spokesman, but he was spot on about a few important issues"—omitting all mention of West's anti-Semitic comments, which had already leaked to the press.)

Characterizing protest of American systemic racism as "The endless whining of black radicals about how victimized they are because of things that happened a few centuries ago."

In other media:

Expressing "solidarity" with disgraced Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams in the wake of Adams's remark: "The best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people. Just get the fuck away." (Kimball added: "If the magazine I edit, The New Criterion, ran comic strips, I would offer to run Dilbert.")

Frequent topics:

– Joshua Mehigan

– Shane McCrae

– A. E. Stallings

– Ryan Wilson

– Austin Allen

– Jonathan Farmer

– Zara Raab

– Ethan McGuire

– Coleman Glenn

– Alexis Sears

– JP Gritton

– Alex Pepple

Alice: Poetry Says

Brian: @BPlatzer

Cameron: CameronWTC [at] hotmail [dot] com

Matthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com

Music by ETRNL

Art by Daniel Alexander Smith

More Ratbag Poetry Pods:

Poetry Says by Alice Allan

I Hate Matt Wall by Matt Wall

Versecraft by Elijah Blumov

Ratbag Poetics By David Jalal Motamed