Bryan Waterman

@waterman

Lit, hist, art, music. Toggling btwn the 1790s and the 1970s, I write abt seduction, friendship, arts scenes/circles, NYC. 33 1/3 on Marquee Moon. Professing English at NYU since 2001. 🔗 bryanwaterman.org Missing me here search the WFMU comments board.

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Bryan Waterman@waterman· 25d

It's funny but even the @wfmu.bsky.social version of the shirt elicits "Oh, yeah. Love SY!" comments.

A parody of the Sonic Youth "Goo" cover.

SONIC / WFMYOO . FM

The sunglasses chick smoking a cig says: "If he switches from WFMU one more time, I'll grab the wheel and drive this thing into a goddamn pole."

Bryan Waterman@waterman· 25d

Colors outside right now are reminding me of the T.F. Simon painting we used for our Cambridge Companion.

THE CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO THE
LITERATURE OF NEW YORK
Edited by Cyrus R. K. Patell and Bryan Waterman

Cover image: Brooklyn Bridge 1927 by TF Simon. Twilight, sky is yellow and a little foggy. View from the bridge, looking at Manhattan.

Bryan Waterman@waterman· 28d

Texts from our 17yo, currently at Tanglewood for the summer. ❤️📚

Two texts:

I just finished Song of Solomon
It’s truly incredible writing

Texts sent at 6:25 am

Bryan Waterman@waterman· Jul 8

bubble quote meme with a young Tom Verlaine playing guitar and singing into the mic

Bryan Waterman@waterman· Jul 2

We memeing out here

Hardball meme, Matthews and Carlson looking on aghast and with barely muted longing, respectively, at a photograph of sickly green Mountain Dew Dunker Donuts in the center panel.

Bryan Waterman@waterman· Jun 29

🎶 Stagger Lee went to the barroom And he stood across the barroom door He said, nobody move and he pulled his Forty-four, Ooh 🎶

Maria with guitar singing to the Von Trapp kids on a sunny hillside. Gretel kneels, paying rapt attention, dressed in an old curtain.

Bryan Waterman@waterman· Jun 27

Our 17yo has given himself quite a pre-Senior year summer reading challenge. I would have thought it a little steep but he’s half-way through the Morrison in a couple days so who knows?

A stack of paperbacks:

Toni Morrison
Song of Solomon

William Least Heat-Moon
Blue Highways

THE RINGS OF SATURN
W.G. SEBALD

ANGELS IN AMERICA
Tony Kushner

JAMES BALDWIN
GO TELL IT
ON THE MOUNTAIN

JOHN STEINBECK
THE GRAPES OF WRATH

Italo Calvino
Invisible Cities

Bryan Waterman@waterman· Jun 24

Sending love. So glad I got to spend time with both of you in your space. I will miss seeing what he (and you!) had for dinner every night! Hoping we cross paths again soon. Meanwhile, here’s the @noahlyon painting I own because James posted a photo of it somewhere!

Noah Lyon painting called “Frank.” A kind of Frankenstein’s Creature-looking head whose face is made up mostly of text. Too much to transcribe in full but words include “Waylon Jennings” and “666” and “SHOES4TEETH.” He’s wearing a yellow t-shirt and glasses. One of his eyes is made up of dozens of little eyes. I love him.

Bryan Waterman@waterman· Jun 24

Family group chat this morning, from my kid who was the first to notice how shitty he was.

Texts:

What a beautiful morning to have unseated Dan Goldman! [hearted]

Fuck that dude

Bryan Waterman@waterman· Jun 18

UPDATE: she took her lunch break to work her way close enough to bring back confetti for the school-bound kids. 🤩😭

Big crowd of Knicks fans near City Hall Park. Text from my daughter reads: “Worked my way back in with my ID on my lunch break to get confetti for the kids.”

Bryan Waterman@waterman· Jun 17

Here's what it looked like last time I checked.

DC SWAMP THING cover, swamp thing rising from the swamp holding a decomposing corpse.

Bryan Waterman@waterman· Jun 17

And let that be a lesson to you, as you enjoy this joke book for boys and girls: "wit is Folly, unless a wise head hath the keeping of it"!

"...contents; asked if his master could write: the boy blushed, but made no answer; upon which the gentleman saw he was guilty, and, calling to his servant, Jack, says he, how many are four time five; twenty sir, answered the man: then take the horsewhip, says the gentleman, and give this boy twenty Strokes, for his insolence. He received the correction and went home, and the gentleman followed with the letter to his master..."

"...who gave him twenty more, so that the young rogue got twice twenty, which is forty stripes, for misapplying his wit; and this proves what is said in our title viz. that wit is Folly, unless a wise head hath the keeping of it."

Woodcut of a horse underneath to fill out the page.

Bryan Waterman@waterman· Jun 17

In this early joke book for children, published in Boston (1779), the first joke has a hell of a twist. After everyone gets a laugh at the abusive master whose lad leverages his literacy to get revenge, the poor kid gets a double whipping!

Title page/cover of An Entertaining story book for little boys and girl's [sic], containing a number of jests, and diverting stories, together with some pleasant jokes for the amusement of children. Adorned with cuts. Boston, Massachusetts: Printed and sold by N. Coverly in Newbury-Street., MDCCLXXIX. [1779] Price six shillings, 1779.

First page, with a woodcut of some dude holding what looks like a potato.

"A tradesman, who could neither writer nor read, employed a saucy boy to write his letters for him. It happened one day, that this young rogue was at play when his master wanted him to write to one of his customers, upon which he sent for him..."

"...was very angry, and called him puppy, as he usually did when out of temper. Come sit down, says he, ye puppy you, and write, ye puppy you. What shall I write; says the boy: You rascal, return'd his master, say sir, you puppy you, I have sent the goods, ye puppy you, and so on. The boy in revenge for being chid by his master, wrote every word, as he said, & the letter ran thus 'Sir, ye puppy you, I..."

"...have send the goods you ordered, you puppy you, which are very good of the sorts, ye puppy you, and very cheap, ye puppy you, which is all that's needful, ye puppy you, from, your humble servant, ye puppy you, R SMITH, ye puppy you. LONDON, Jan. 8, 1767, ye puppy you.['] His letter was made up, and the boy carried it to the gentleman, who being greatly surprised at the..."

Bryan Waterman@waterman· Jun 14

I love that I can legit hear someone leaning out their window banging pots and pans.

Bryan Waterman@waterman· Jun 14

Duchamp exhibition poster. In orange ink, an hand, palm forward, as if to say “Five!” There’s a cigar to boot.

Bryan Waterman@waterman· Jun 14

My mayor’s Muslim My bagel’s Jewish L.H.O.O.Q., no jive Knicks in five!

From MoMA’s Instagram, a still of Knicks fans in gear and waving pom poms in front of the MARCEL DUCHAMP exhibit title.

Duchamp’s L.H.O.O.Q., the OG version. Mona Lisa with a mustache and goatee.

Bryan Waterman@waterman· Jun 4

This was a great program.

Cardstock program for Allen Ginsberg 100th at Poetry Project. A drawing of Allen on the front.

Centennial
Celebration 2026
from Memory Gardens
“Well, while I'm here I'll do the work-and what's the work?
To case the pain of living.
Everything else, drunken dumbshow.”
- Allen Ginsberg
June 3, 2026 • St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery

Bob Rosenthal
David Amram
Sharon Mesmer
Ed Sanders
Steven Taylor + Jair-Rohm Parker Wells
Pamela Sneed
Simon Pettet
Mosab Abu Toha
Anne Waldman + Devin Brahja Waldman
Jim Cohn
David Cope
Sol Cabrini
Bob Holman + Lee Ann Brown +
Rochelle Kraut
Danny Shot
Jenni Muldaur + Doug Wieselman
Eliot Katz
Christopher Rey Pérez
David Aaron Greenberg
Funto Omojola
Vincent Katz
Anselm Berrigan
Shannon Sky + Zoe Brezsny
Oliver Ray + No Land +
Cornelius Dufallo + Shazad Ismaily
Allen Ginsberg

Bryan Waterman@waterman· Jun 3

Happy 100th to Allen Ginsberg! May his freak flag never stop flying.

Ginsberg, bearded, wearing beads, his arms thrown over his head in ecstasy and his mouth wide open as he howls.

Bryan Waterman@waterman· May 30

This guy is running around using “low-T” as a slur. Regular Rambo over here. Chipmunk looking mf.

Ken Paxton, forehead all shiny and his mouth pursed like he swallowed a bug, looks like he’s letting little teeny sharts in his pants.

Bryan Waterman@waterman· May 23

Last night / Tonight. That’s what you call a good music weekend.

Belle & Sebastian 30th anniversary tour signage at Pier 17.

The Feelies stage set and backdrop, White Eagle Hall, a sea of plaid shirts lapping against the stage.

Bryan Waterman@waterman· May 7

All I can think of:

Snoopy dressed as Justice, blindfolded, robed, holding scales in one and and a sword in the other.

Bryan Waterman@waterman· May 2

This little bit of patter at the end of the night shows you what I mean by “generous.” Such a great vibe in that room.

Bryan Waterman@waterman· Apr 27

Former Swarthmore pres / NYUAD VC Alfred Bloom comes out swinging in defense of diversity. ❤️

True education depends on the ability to weigh, learn from, and evaluate diverse perspectives. That promise is much larger and more important than workforce preparation. Such education prioritizes ethical over artificial intelligence. It promotes resilience, adaptability, and a productive, rather than a destructive, approach to change. It offers an antidote to the Trump administration's prevailing preference for dropping bombs instead of building bridges to cultural understanding.

Bryan Waterman@waterman· Apr 15

Reminds me of this old tattoo/t-shirt coordination.

My kid when he was 2 or 3 wearing a Rockwell Kent MOBY-DICK shirt. I’m holding his hand, the tail end of my Rockwell Kent MOBY-DICK tattoo visible on my forearm. Little Italy circa 2011.

Bryan Waterman@waterman· Apr 15

What do you think? Overkill?

Pic of me wearing a vintage Uniqlo Warhol “Heaven and Hell Are Just One Breath Away” t-shirt that matches the Warhol Heaven and Hell tattoo on my forearm, also pictured. Various books and records and nonsense in the background.

Bryan Waterman@waterman· Apr 5

Ha ha ha, now Tim made me remember this. 👇

Screenshot of a tweet I once posted:

Twice today in the deli a chorus comes on radio, snds like: "the new vagina, the new vagina, the neew-w-w-w-w vagina." Cee-Lo vocals? #help

6:15 PM · Sep 22, 2011

Screenshot of another tweet I posted, later that day:

Mystery solved! The "new vagina" chorus is actually "moves like Jagger." Oops. h/t @billboarddotcom for helping me out. http://mysp.ac/owZ5Yk

7:32 PM · Sep 22, 2011

Bryan Waterman@waterman· Apr 5

Logging on.

Gary Larson “Jesus Rises from the Grave” cartoon. Open coffin in the background, he’s pouring coffee and thinking: “I wonder what time it is…I feel like I’ve been dead for three days.”

Bryan Waterman@waterman· Apr 4

Screenshot of a tweet I tweeted Jan 26, 2019 at 8:40PM:

Also, can we just agree that *no one* looks good in AirPods?

Bryan Waterman@waterman· Apr 4

Wendy opened for Richard Dawson last week. The harmonics! The eye contact! *swoon*

Bryan Waterman@waterman· Apr 2

A scene from tonight’s record club. And I’ve even got an FMU shirt on. It’s like I’m a walking advertisement for your class today. The cat totally affected the sound in the space.