Guess what? They let a poet curate this week’s edition of Substack Reads! You’re probably wondering if this means a roundup of reflections on feathers, the nature of consciousness, and a feeling so complex that even the Germans don’t have a word for it. Not quite. That’s the beautiful thing about poets and poetry: it’s an aperture that widens to let the whole world in.
That said, I am leaning into the poet’s penchant for nature. Maybe it’s winter’s psychic toll or the promise of spring’s impending renewal, but I was drawn to pieces that cast light on our collective wounds, and the ways we might heal them. From Kirsten Powers’s unflinching “We don’t need ‘self-help,’ we need support” to Brian Klaas’s impressively researched “Big gods and the origin of human cooperation” to Mary Roblyn’s heart-wrenching meditation on hospice care and her beloved husband’s final weeks, I welcomed the chance to think more critically about our (un)natural systems.
Then I found comfort in what nature’s up to all on its own. The practice of paying close attention to the natural world can be a way deeper into life, as Sarah Blondin attests in “Wild voice.” Emily Nunn reminds us of a humble but potent antidote to the times in “Herbs in salads to make you feel alive!”, and astrologer Aliza Kelly offers a personal and collective reflection as we move in Aries season. I hope you enjoy this week’s dose of Substack brilliance.
CULTURE
Drawing from Helen Russell’s The Year of Living Danishly, Powers offers the resonant observation that “...happy and healthy people don’t just happen. They are created by the culture in which they reside,” as she considers how America’s systemic deficiencies make even the most sincere efforts at life improvement challenging, if not impossible
—Kirsten Powers in Changing The Channel
You can’t have more meaningful friendships if you and your friends don’t have free time. You can’t retire and live near your grandchildren if you lost half your retirement savings in a stock market crash (or if you have no retirement savings). You can’t join a book club, volunteer, or take up a hobby if, when the workday ends, you are so depleted that all you have energy for is to lie under a weighted blanket and binge Netflix.
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PHILOSOPHY
Klaas’s impressively researched exploration opens on his visit to the Hell’s Museum in Singapore, a theme park of over 1,000 statues and 150 ornate dioramas depicting moralizing lessons from Chinese folklore and mythology. Need I say more?
—Brian Klaas in The Garden of Forking Paths
The “Big Gods” hypothesis argues that divine gazes provided a far more effective form of deterring antisocial behavior than any mortal police force. Believers would self-regulate their behavior out of self-interest (who wants to end up suffering in hell for an eternity or reincarnated as a lowly flea?). Karma may have provided a similar, possibly even more potent, mechanism, since it’s believed that consequences for antisocial transgressions are not delayed, but more immediate.
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POETRY
Last April, after 43 years of marriage, Mary lost her husband to lung cancer—and began to write again. In this delightful piece that riffs on Wallace Stevens, she meditates on a mundane essential
—Mary Roblyn in Writer, interrupted
1.
Even matched, some socks are misfits.
Wrong color or size,
Or just despised.
2.
Do you know how many shades of black there are?
Said the mother of six boys, sorting socks.
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NATURE
Sarah challenged herself to spend an hour under a tree every day for 30 days, a charge she gave herself after an unsettling dream involving a fox. In this beautiful reflection, she invites us to do the same
—Sarah Blondin in Sarah Blondin
I hope each of us will step into a field, or under the parasol of a tree, and invite our foxes forward. May we ask our rational minds and guards to stay at home, so we can be open to the wild breath of the earth. Consider what we are inhumanely treating and nurse it back to health.
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FOOD & DRINK
Never has salad been as exciting as when Emily Nunn writes about it. You’ll find yourself wanting to stock up on basil, dill, mint, sage, tarragon, and flat-leaf parsley
—emily nunn in The Department of Salad: Official Bulletin
In the very small world I occupy, it often seems that we sideline rather than glorify herbs.
We do this in spite of the fact that humans have benefited from wonderful herbs for thousands of years, “in cooking, to flavour foods, as perfumes, to make us smell nice; as disinfectants, to protect us against germs; as medicines—to heal us when we are sick; and as currency, instead of money,” according to Great Britain’s Herb Society (founded in 1927).
And they also make us feel alive, as if we have bitten into and tasted the very essence of our beautiful living planet.
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ART & ILLUSTRATION
I love Candace’s invitation for readers to reflect on the question “How do you tell time? And how do you know a new season is near?” in this illustrated essay
—Candace Rose Rardon in Dandelion Seeds: Illustrated Essays
To my great surprise—and delight—many of you began to share your stories of spring’s arrival anyway, and they were beautiful.
There were stories about apple blossoms in Maine and cherry blossoms in Tokyo, and I was especially moved by your stories from spring of 2020, when nature offered a way of marking time and staying grounded when we all felt anything but.
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ASTROLOGY
After psychologist Adam Grant wrote a piece against astrology, I’d like to highlight my favorite Substack astrologer and her thoughtful weekly and seasonal astrological preview
—Aliza Kelly in The Curiosity Report with Aliza Kelly
Every year, when Aries season rolls around, coinciding with the spring equinox and a new astrological calendar year, I don’t feel rip-roaring, ready to go. I don’t feel the shock wave of electric, fiery energy that defines Aries’s spirit. I don’t feel revitalized, rejuvenated, or ready to be reborn.
I’m completely, utterly, and profoundly exhausted.
I’m raw. Exposed. Depleted on a cellular level. And it’s not personal. From March to March, we traverse the entire zodiac—turning over every stone, enduring every karmic test, and surviving the wide range of experiences baked into each zodiac sign’s season. By the time we reach Pisces season, the last sign of the zodiac, we’re at the end of the line. The last stop. The final destination.
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Welcoming the following new writers and creators to Substack:
In December, I taught my last class at Princeton University. If you missed my final lecture, you can watch it here. In January, I sent the text of my next book, Consider the Turkey, to Princeton University Press (a very short book to be released before Thanksgiving). Right now, for the first time in many years, I don’t have a book project in progress…
12 days ago · 107 likes · 10 comments · Peter Singer
“There is no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.” —Will Rogers Hello! If you’re meeting me for the first time, I’m Andy Borowitz, a writer and comedian. I live in New Hampshire with my wife, daughter, and dog, a goldendoodle named Cookie. I’m not posting a photo of Cookie because if I did you’d want to subscrib…
4 days ago · 3452 likes · 358 comments · Andy Borowitz
Substack Sports spoke to Tom Haberstroh about his big NBA scoop:
 | | Austin Tedesco 5d Talked to @Tom Haberstroh about his big NBA scoop, navigating the paywall on Substack, @Pack Your Knives and a bunch of other stuff. | | |
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Jo Thompson has some questions:
 | | Jo Thompson 4d The man sitting next me on the very busy train has just received this text: “I need to go and round up three goats from the field. The cat peed on the sofa again. Timmy’s been in the kitchen, he’s been fed and back on pond. Dogs easy by comparison.” So many questions. Firstly: WHO’S TIMMY??? | | |
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Liza Donnelly is live-reading New Yorker captions:
Alex Churchill samples historical trivia from her new Alex Churchill’s HistoryStack:
 | | Alex Churchill 3d Did you know? The roof of the Bomber Command memorial in London is made from aluminium from a downed Halifax bomber. It originally crashed in Belgium in May 1944, and was recovered from a swamp in the 1990s. Three of the crew were still entombed within the wreckage. They were buried at Geraardsbergen and the remains of the aircraft were sent to Canada. The pattern is supposed to evoke the design of a Wellington. | |  | | |
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Anna Brones celebrates the spring equinox:
 | | Anna Brones 4d Made a papercut in honor of spring equinox today, and the sun offered up the perfect backdrop. I haven’t been feeling so “sunny” as of late, and maybe many of you feel that way too, which is a good reason to keep an eye on all the things that bring us a little moment of delight. Like the trilliums and the birdsong and the sunlight peeking through branches. | |  | | |
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A story from Shalom Auslander:
 | | Shalom Auslander 3d I was talking to someone the other day who was kind enough to fill me in on all the horrible, terrible, no-good news of the day, on all the reasons to cry and give up and hate mankind, and so I said, “Thank you, that was very helpful,” and she shrugged and laughed and said, "I guess I'm just a news junkie!" and that was when I took offense, you see, because junkies is a disparaging term used to refer to drug addicts… | | |
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Ross Barkan shares book news:
 | | Ross Barkan 3d Book news. There will also be a novel coming out next year too at some point but first this, which I’m excited about. | |  | | |
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Annie Ridout is getting existential:
 | | Annie Ridout 3d When you think back to child you and what she imagined you’d be like as an adult - how aligned are you now, with that past vision? | | |
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Tom Cox has some reassuring imagery:
 | | Tom Cox 3d I find that if am ever feeling bad about buying too many books in addition to the other books I already own and will probably never get time to read all of, looking at this “small section” of the late Umberto Eco’s personal library helps. | |  | | |
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Cole Haddon gives us 1960s Cher:
 | | Cole Haddon 3d Cher having fun in Downtown Los Angeles, 1967. Photograph by Bob Willoughby. | |  | | |
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Substack Reads is a weekly roundup of writing, ideas, art, and audio from the world of Substack. Posts are recommended by staff and readers, and curated and this week’s edition was guest edited by Maya C. Popa of Poetry Today. Subscribe to Poetry Today on Substack, and follow Maya on Notes, Instagram, and X.
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