{"version":"https://jsonfeed.org/version/1","title":"Micro.blog - Cynthia Clifford","home_page_url":"https://micro.blog","feed_url":"https://micro.blog/posts/cynthiacliff","_microblog":{"about":"https://micro.blog/about/api","id":"1860888","username":"cynthiacliff","bio":"a poet who loves everything and lives in brooklyn","pronouns":"","is_following":false,"is_you":false,"following_count":13,"discover_count":0},"author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://avatars.micro.blog/avatars/2026/29/1860888.jpg"},"items":[{"id":"96070203","content_html":"<p>come what may</p>\n<img src=\"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/1000x/https%3A%2F%2Fcynthiacliff.micro.blog%2Fuploads%2F2026%2Ff2c559dfef.jpg\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\">\n","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/08/19/come-what-may.html","date_published":"2026-08-20T03:27:19+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"03:27","date_timestamp":1787196439,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"96008280","content_html":"<p>⭐️ New Blog Post Up! I wrote a long-winded research essay on the temperature of reality TV called:</p>\n<p>#Torture as Content: Reality Television, Netflix &amp; Friends Abuse, and the New Witch Trials</p>\n<p>Read the piece <a href=\"https://cynthiaclifford.com/blog-2026-08-torture-as-content\">here</a> → (warning: it’s very long and has some descriptions of suicide and violence)</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>An industry that measures every minute of viewing has declined to maintain a count of its dead, and the asymmetry of bookkeeping is not an oversight but a finding: the true number is unknown, is unknowable by design, and is larger than any published list.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The charge is never the act. The trials did not burn women for...</p>\n</blockquote> <a href=\"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/08/18/new-blog-post-up-i.html\">cynthiacliff.micro.blog</a>","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/08/18/new-blog-post-up-i.html","date_published":"2026-08-19T01:55:53+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-19 01:55","date_timestamp":1787104553,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95919634","content_html":"<p>🎵 Phoebe Bridgers Lost Weekend Album:</p>\n<p>I came to <em>Lost Weekend</em> nervous for what six years of silence might have done to a voice I love. I have followed Phoebe Bridgers since her first album. In her most recent six year hiatus she had some pretty charged spotlight moments: went through a public lawsuit from a...</p> <a href=\"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/08/17/phoebe-bridgers-lost-weekend-album.html\">cynthiacliff.micro.blog</a>","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/08/17/phoebe-bridgers-lost-weekend-album.html","date_published":"2026-08-17T14:43:00+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-17 14:43","date_timestamp":1786977780,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95842943","content_html":"<p>Hi New York. Back &amp; can confirm Florida tan is different than California tan</p>\n<img src=\"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/1000x/https%3A%2F%2Fcynthiacliff.micro.blog%2Fuploads%2F2026%2Fimg-7210.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\">\n","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/08/15/hi-new-york-back-can.html","date_published":"2026-08-15T22:11:00+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-15 22:11","date_timestamp":1786831860,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95829092","content_html":"<p>⭐️ New Blog Post Up!</p>\n<p># The Sovereign Interior /
 a door is a door is a door</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The diagnostic everyone reaches for is <em>are they sincere?</em> That worthlessness is the first real discovery. Sincerity is fully compatible with harm, fully compatible with the total dissolution of responsibility, because the dissolution happens upstream of the sincere utterance. The question was never whether the interior report is honest… It is whether the interior has been arranged so that no honest report could ever indict it. It is artfully dodgeful.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Read the full piece thing → <a href=\"https://cynthiaclifford.com/blog-2026-08-the-sovereign-interior\">Here</a></p>\n","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/08/15/new-blog-post-up-the.html","date_published":"2026-08-15T17:47:29+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-15 17:47","date_timestamp":1786816049,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95794856","content_html":"<p>⚡️🌩️ natures fireworks</p>\n<p><video controls=\"controls\" playsinline=\"playsinline\" preload=\"none\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" poster=\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/356733/2026/frames/1824035-0-181294.jpg\" src=\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.mov/356733/2026/upload-912902/playlist.m3u8\"></video></p>\n","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/08/14/natures-fireworks.html","date_published":"2026-08-15T01:51:37+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-15 01:51","date_timestamp":1786758697,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95472684","content_html":"<img src=\"https://micro.blog/books/9780394702780/cover.jpg\" class=\"mini_cover\">\n<p>Finished reading: <a href=\"https://micro.blog/books/9780394702780\">The Necessary Angel: Essays on Reality and the Imaginat…</a> by Wallace Stevens 📚</p>\n<p>What I appreciated most were the times Stevens leaned into the spiritual; the faith and hope underwriting his claims for poetry. His conviction that the imagination presses back against reality is genuinely felt, but it begins to break when he reaches for grand generalizations; the philosophy lands better where he trusts the image over the argument. The poet as orator of the imagination is a special moment. And the sign he quotes at the garden entrance in Tarbes:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>It is forbidden<br>\nTo enter in the garden <br>\nCarr...</p>\n</blockquote> <a href=\"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/08/09/finished-reading-the-necessary-angel.html\">cynthiacliff.micro.blog</a>","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/08/09/finished-reading-the-necessary-angel.html","date_published":"2026-08-09T22:40:00+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-09 22:40","date_timestamp":1786315200,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95266161","content_html":"<p>🎵 This Is Lorelei’s single came out today, I was nervous he wouldn’t be able to top his 2024 album, but I am thinking he just might!</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://open.spotify.com/track/2MbLMnGeW92YVBbsyHM5WR?si=0b056a1c74af467f\">On No Now My - This Is Lorelei</a></p>\n<p>Other songs I’ve been repeating today–well, mostly just Oklou, who was my top listened to artist last year and should be again this year too… I...</p> <a href=\"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/08/05/this-is-loreleis-single-came.html\">cynthiacliff.micro.blog</a>","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/08/05/this-is-loreleis-single-came.html","date_published":"2026-08-06T02:05:33+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-06 02:05","date_timestamp":1785981933,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95213810","content_html":"<p>⭐️ New Blog Post Up!</p>\n<p>#The Common Denominator: Girlhood and the Education of the Body in Eliya Smith’s coming-of-age dramedy play, <em>Dad Don’t Read This</em></p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>We are used to thinking of a girl’s subordination as something done to her by men, and it is. But the daily labor of enforcing it, of making sure each girl learns her place and keeps to it, falls largely to other girls. This is the quiet horror underneath the whole exchange. The friends are not Sophie’s opposites in this scene, nor the safe harbor against the man’s incursion. They are his instrument, though they would be appalled to hear it, because the...</p>\n</blockquote> <a href=\"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/08/05/new-blog-post-up-the.html\">cynthiacliff.micro.blog</a>","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/08/05/new-blog-post-up-the.html","date_published":"2026-08-05T04:06:54+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-05 04:06","date_timestamp":1785902814,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"95035561","content_html":"<p>🌬️ If you’re around Smith Street in Brooklyn this month, check out the store-front poems at Poetry Society of America (119 Smith Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201), my poem “And Even You, With Your Lucky Breaks” is up!  🎲</p>\n<img src=\"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/1000x/https%3A%2F%2Fcynthiacliff.micro.blog%2Fuploads%2F2026%2Fscreenshot-2026-08-01-at-9.26.11am.png\" loading=\"lazy\">\n","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/08/01/if-youre-around-smith-street.html","date_published":"2026-08-01T19:28:00+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-08-01 19:28","date_timestamp":1785612480,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"94923691","content_html":"<p>Full moon yesterday from Pier 17 🌕</p>\n<img src=\"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/1000x/https%3A%2F%2Fcynthiacliff.micro.blog%2Fuploads%2F2026%2Fimage.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\">\n","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/30/full-moon-yesterday-from-pier.html","date_published":"2026-07-30T17:06:46+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-30 17:06","date_timestamp":1785431206,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"94923478","content_html":"<p>Saw Wolf Alice under a full moon! Ellie Rowsell is a rock star. I loved hearing some songs from Blue Weekend, which has been such an important album to me these past 10 months or so. My favs below:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/4g0yqS7sBgZGA3VWBOj1Kk?utm_source=generator\">open.spotify.com/...</a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/6tWHb2caC8Kuc5oBO8dHmc?utm_source=generator\">open.spotify.com/...</a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/0uVrbmcAomoohVaFnBSRid?utm_source=generator\">open.spotify.com/...</a></p>\n<p><video controls=\"controls\" playsinline=\"playsinline\" preload=\"none\" width=\"2160\" height=\"3840\" poster=\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.blog/356733/2026/frames/1811881-0-7ca251.jpg\" src=\"https://cdn.uploads.micro.mov/356733/2026/img-6567/playlist.m3u8\"></video></p>\n","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/30/saw-wolf-alice-under-a.html","date_published":"2026-07-30T17:02:34+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-30 17:02","date_timestamp":1785430954,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"94820094","content_html":"<img src=\"https://micro.blog/books/0525505997/cover.jpg\" class=\"mini_cover\">\n<p>Finished reading: <a href=\"https://micro.blog/books/0525505997\">Metamorphoses</a> by Ovid 📚.</p>\n<p>I just finished Stephanie McCarter’s translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses after it was highly recommended to me by a friend and I am buzzing over it.</p>\n<p>McCarter’s interview about her translation in <a href=\"https://brooklynrail.org/2023/06/books/Stephanie-McCarter-with-Tony-Leuzzi/\"><em>The Brooklyn Rail</em></a> is also epic.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I use iambic pentameter not only because it is the best vehicle for epic poetry in English but also (if I’m being honest) because no other woman had translated the poem into metrical English verse. I wanted to prove, mainly to myself, that it was possible to write a poetic translation, an accurate translation, and a feminist...</p>\n</blockquote> <a href=\"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/28/finished-reading-metamorphoses-by-ovid.html\">cynthiacliff.micro.blog</a>","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/28/finished-reading-metamorphoses-by-ovid.html","date_published":"2026-07-28T23:56:40+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-28 23:56","date_timestamp":1785283000,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"94806931","content_html":"<p>💬 In <em>Something Close to Music</em>, some of John Ashbery’s music playlists are listed. So much of it is John Cage, of course, whom Ashbery thought deeply about and wrote adjacent to. Crediting him to O’Hara for bringing him out of a block and giving him a new way of seeing. He saw Cage as a kind of kindred spirit, someone who understood music the way Ashbery felt he understood poetry.</p>\n<p>Ashbery worked on John Cage multimedia piece “Lecture on the Weather,” check it out → <a href=\"https://www.streamingmuseum.org/post/john-cage-lecture-on-the-weather\">here</a>\n&amp; listen to the full piece <a href=\"https://soundcloud.com/frasconimusic/cage-preface-to-lecture-on-the-weather-1976\">here</a> on soundcloud.</p>\n<p>Quote:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The man who answered said: “You may think I’m not serious, but I am; if you’re...</p>\n</blockquote> <a href=\"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/28/in-something-close-to-music.html\">cynthiacliff.micro.blog</a>","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/28/in-something-close-to-music.html","date_published":"2026-07-28T18:32:02+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-28 18:32","date_timestamp":1785263522,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"94805880","content_html":"<p>🌬️ In honor of his 99th, here is a John Ashbery marathon from me.</p>\n<p>Below is a favorite poem of mine, titled, “From Estuaries, from Casinos” that leaves me so tearful, especially:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>I wish I could tell the next thing. But in dreams I can’t, / so will let this thing stand in for it, this me / I have become, this loving you either way.</em></p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>The full poem can be found <a href=\"https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1990/01/18/from-estuaries-from-casinos/\">here</a> but a note that on the bottom of the page you can listen to the reading!</p>\n","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/28/in-honor-of-his-th.html","date_published":"2026-07-28T18:12:04+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-28 18:12","date_timestamp":1785262324,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"94803955","content_html":"<p>⭐️ New Blog Post Up!</p>\n<p>#Getting Down Into the Thing: On John Ashbery</p>\n<p>Read the full thing → <a href=\"https://cynthiaclifford.com/blog-2026-07-getting-down-into-the-thing-on-john-ashbery\">Here</a></p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>So much of poetry, to me, is understanding that in the future, one person will stand somewhere you are not and read what you wrote without you beside them to explain, argue, or clarify on your behalf. All they have are the words. Someone you will never meet, who is taking time out of their life to read your words. And the page is a distance you cannot cross yourself; you can only send something across it and trust it to arrive. Like this quote gets at, why load that crossing with harsh judgement and more...</p>\n</blockquote> <a href=\"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/28/new-blog-post-up-getting.html\">cynthiacliff.micro.blog</a>","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/28/new-blog-post-up-getting.html","date_published":"2026-07-28T17:29:35+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-28 17:29","date_timestamp":1785259775,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"94744302","content_html":"<p>Thrilled PSA posted more about the fellowship I was part of, such a genuine group of poets that have filled my summer with amazing theory, books, laughs, insider-information, feedback, hangs, beer and so on.</p>\n<div class=\"instagram-embed-container\">\n    <blockquote>\n        <div>\n            <div>\n                <div>\n                </div>\n                <div>\n                    <div>\n                    </div>\n                    <div>\n                    </div>\n                </div>\n            </div>\n            <div></div>\n            <div>\n                \n            </div>\n            <div>\n                <div>\n                    View this post on Instagram\n                </div>\n            </div>\n            <div></div>\n            <div>\n                <div>...</div>\n</div>\n</div>\n</blockquote>\n</div> <a href=\"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/27/thrilled-psa-posted-more-about.html\">cynthiacliff.micro.blog</a>","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/27/thrilled-psa-posted-more-about.html","date_published":"2026-07-27T16:51:44+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-27 16:51","date_timestamp":1785171104,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"94737620","content_html":"<p>💬 John Ashbery’s 99th birthday is tomorrow!</p>\n<p>I loved reading Robert Wood Lynn’s substack <a href=\"https://robertwoodlynn.substack.com/p/poetry-prompt-of-the-week-the-poem\">post</a> this week where he gives JA flowers and talks about his experience with JA’s work, which is very familiar to my own:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>“what is remarkable about this poem is not how [JA] sinks his little word-ship, but the salvage operation he makes at the end—this is the human gesture that AI is still a ways away from understanding. Ashbery has done poetry’s version of breaking the fourth wall by establishing the poem as a character in the poem, the intermediary O’Hara imagines between speaker and reader. The poem is a...</p>\n</blockquote> <a href=\"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/27/john-ashberys-th-birthday-is.html\">cynthiacliff.micro.blog</a>","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/27/john-ashberys-th-birthday-is.html","date_published":"2026-07-27T14:34:55+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-27 14:34","date_timestamp":1785162895,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"94707290","content_html":"<p>💐  I’ve been obsessed with the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, here are some recent favorite names of the species growing there (&amp; bonus pictures):</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Sunny Knock Out<br>\nThe Poet’s Wife<br>\nBlushing Wife<br>\nSweet Flag<br>\nDetective Eren<br>\nLamb’s Ears<br>\nLady Bells<br>\nFairy Clouds<br>\nPerry’s Baby Red<br>\nGolden Hop<br>\nDonkey Tail Spurge<br>\nDame’s Rocket<br>\nTall Weeds Rocket<br>\nMoon Carrot<br>\nMoonshine Yarrow<br>\nShrub Rose<br>\nMorning Mister</p>\n</blockquote>\n<div class=\"microblog_collection\">\n<img src=\"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/1000x/https%3A%2F%2Fcynthiacliff.micro.blog%2Fuploads%2F2026%2Fscreenshot-2026-07-26-at-7.11.28pm.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><img src=\"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/1000x/https%3A%2F%2Fcynthiacliff.micro.blog%2Fuploads%2F2026%2Fscreenshot-2026-07-26-at-7.12.21pm.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><img src=\"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/1000x/https%3A%2F%2Fcynthiacliff.micro.blog%2Fuploads%2F2026%2Fscreenshot-2026-07-26-at-7.12.13pm.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><img src=\"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/1000x/https%3A%2F%2Fcynthiacliff.micro.blog%2Fuploads%2F2026%2Fscreenshot-2026-07-26-at-7.12.02pm.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><img src=\"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/1000x/https%3A%2F%2Fcynthiacliff.micro.blog%2Fuploads%2F2026%2Fscreenshot-2026-07-26-at-7.11.52pm.png\" loading=\"lazy\"><img src=\"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/1000x/https%3A%2F%2Fcynthiacliff.micro.blog%2Fuploads%2F2026%2Fscreenshot-2026-07-26-at-7.11.40pm.png\" loading=\"lazy\">\n</div>\n","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/26/ive-been-obsessed-with-the.html","date_published":"2026-07-26T23:13:10+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-26 23:13","date_timestamp":1785107590,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"94643423","content_html":"<p>Desire comes from the Latin, <em>desiderare</em>, “from” and “star” 💫</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Desire, desire, desire,\nthat’s what makes the engine go…\n—Stanley Kunitz</p>\n</blockquote>\n","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/25/desire-comes-from-the-latin.html","date_published":"2026-07-25T14:53:39+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-25 14:53","date_timestamp":1784991219,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"94468617","content_html":"<p>🌬️ <a href=\"https://poetrysociety.org/poems/notes-from-the-mezzanine\">new poem published at Poetry Society of America    </a></p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Notes from the Mezzanine\n<br>\nI mean the hard losses—no coming back from this one<br>\nball already over the fence. Before anyone walked,<br>\nbefore we ran, just phantom steps and the cold sweat.<br>\n<br>\nHeadcracks, another long toll back to square one,<br>\nbreath guttering down to its wick, the rip of hair<br>\nstrand by strand, code red, then red itself.<br>\n<br>\nHospitality hours grind the knees, five white knuckles<br>\nand the years folded after the cheating. And I’m off<br>\nthe roll. And it’s late again. I don’t look my neighbor<br>\n<br>\nin the eye though our mail sticks together, it was<br>\nmy...</p>\n</blockquote> <a href=\"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/22/new-poem-published-at-poetry.html\">cynthiacliff.micro.blog</a>","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/22/new-poem-published-at-poetry.html","date_published":"2026-07-22T15:57:29+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-22 15:57","date_timestamp":1784735849,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93556984","content_html":"<p>Grateful to have been published in Thimble Lit Summer Magazine print edition. It’s so gorgeous! Thank you!</p>\n<div class=\"microblog_collection\">\n<img src=\"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/1000x/https%3A%2F%2Fcynthiacliff.micro.blog%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F91a9b337db.jpg\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\"><img src=\"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/1000x/https%3A%2F%2Fcynthiacliff.micro.blog%2Fuploads%2F2026%2Ffd0fd7437a.jpg\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\">\n</div>\n","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/06/grateful-to-have-been-published.html","date_published":"2026-07-07T01:14:45+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-07 01:14","date_timestamp":1783386885,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93442866","content_html":"<img src=\"https://micro.blog/books/9780394702780/cover.jpg\" class=\"mini_cover\"><p>🌬️ Currently reading: <a href=\"https://micro.blog/books/9780394702780\">The Necessary Angel: Essays on Reality and the Imaginat…</a> by Wallace Stevens 📚</p>\n<p>Wallace Stevens correctly weighs that it is a poet’s duty to hold the interdependence of reality and imagination. Fully living in both, as a poet’s job and task, is to <em>help people to live their lives.</em></p>\n<p>Reality is things as they are, and imagination presses back against the pressures of that said reality.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>“This has to do with our self-preservation… the sound of its words helps us to live our lives. [A poet] cannot be a charioteer traversing vacant space, however ethereal, he must have lived all of the...</p>\n</blockquote> <a href=\"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/04/currently-reading-the-necessary-angel.html\">cynthiacliff.micro.blog</a>","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/04/currently-reading-the-necessary-angel.html","date_published":"2026-07-04T19:55:00+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-04 19:55","date_timestamp":1783194900,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93430585","content_html":"<p>🌬️ Thoughts on Elisabeth Camp's \"Metaphor and That Certain 'Je Ne Sais Quoi'\": <a href=\"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/04/thoughts-on-elisabeth-camps-metaphor.html\">cynthiacliff.micro.blog</a></p>","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/04/thoughts-on-elisabeth-camps-metaphor.html","date_published":"2026-07-04T15:12:22+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-04 15:12","date_timestamp":1783177942,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":true,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"93326614","content_html":"<p>🌬️ Still beaming to have been part of such a generous &amp; kind group of poets. All thanks to the PSA and Lynn Melnick for stitching together a solid cohort. The goal was that we would stay connected and invested in each other’s work from here on out, and I have no doubt that will be so! Excited to see where...</p> <a href=\"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/02/still-beaming-to-have-been.html\">cynthiacliff.micro.blog</a>","summary":"","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/2026/07/02/still-beaming-to-have-been.html","date_published":"2026-07-02T18:42:56+00:00","author":{"name":"Cynthia Clifford","url":"https://cynthiacliff.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2026%2F29%2F1860888.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"cynthiacliff"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-07-02 18:42","date_timestamp":1783017776,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"is_podcast":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}}]}