Miette, her eyes wide

August 22, 2019 3:27 AM

“She also records the early advent of being online, lovingly, like a relative with a camcorder at the internet’s birth, before it grew into a brute. It helped in return to birth her voice, intense and lewd and personal, the sound of someone ripping off the tastefulness that afflicts American letters, performing the literary equivalent of that tablecloth magic trick. Though we had never met, listening to the book created the uncanny sensation I had already spoken to Lockwood for ten hours and sixteen minutes, so it felt perfectly natural when she did not offer much in the way of hellos. It just … began.” A Tortoise Stakeout With Patricia Lockwood - The Paris Review catches up with the ‘Poet Laureate Of Twitter’ while NY Mag’s The Cut talked to her about her cat’s internet fame. (Lockwood previously Previously)
posted by The Whelk (9 comments total)

Shaka, when the walls fell
posted by krisjohn at 4:37 AM on August 22, 2019 [6 favorites]

Jail for mother!

I love that tweet so much.
posted by cmyk at 5:13 AM on August 22, 2019 [12 favorites]

Excited to read this. Lockwood recently came up at a social event--a friend's sister-in-law had just read her book--and I was like, "Oh! We knew each other once!" and then I tried to explain how we'd been on the same poetry livejournal comm, in, like, I don't know 2006 maybe? And then on metafilter together? And then I tried to explain metafilter and realized the conversation had passed me by. Anyway, it's always cool to see what she's doing. She's great.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 5:55 AM on August 22, 2019 [3 favorites]

I love that tweet so much. It has become shorthand in my house, except we say "you KICK miette? you KEEEEL miette!!!" instead. my own cats are of a similar mindset.
posted by hepta at 6:35 AM on August 22, 2019 [2 favorites]

Ok Patricia Lockwood is wonderful and I follow her on Twitter but that ESSAY. That was a damned well written profile.
posted by annathea at 6:41 AM on August 22, 2019

Video referred to in the article. Lovely.
posted by blurker at 7:13 AM on August 22, 2019

Once, a man I asked for directions confessed to an unprosecuted murder (in fact, a double murder)

I liked this essay but that’s just showing off
posted by From Bklyn at 7:19 AM on August 22, 2019

When I first saw what Miette looked like it was exactly the kind of face I expected to go with a tweet like that. 'JAIL FOR MOTHER FOR ONE THOUSAND YEARRRRS!' >O.O<
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 11:24 AM on August 22, 2019 [2 favorites]

Add our house to the Miette joke brigade except it’s usually our five pound tinycat Scarlet yelling “JAIL FOR MOTHER!” at us.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 2:19 PM on August 22, 2019