A Beautiful Summer Poem + Phetasy Digest
Of Course Fauci Had Diaries | And Of Course He Was Lying The Entire Time | Let’s Talk About ‘The Odyssey’ | Political Homeless Keeps Spreading | The Former Dem Operative Who Voted For Trump
It’s no secret that I love the poems of Mary Oliver. Her writing is always so visceral, but in an earthy, forest-hearted kind of way. I always walk away from her verse with an indescribable tranquility and joy, even when the subject matter is terrible or sad, which it often is. Probably because her poetry is never emotionally univocal: It always contains a range of powerful feelings. “The Summer Day” is a glowing example. My favorite lines are “I don’t know exactly what a prayer is. / I do know how to pay attention.” Because they form a contradiction. Prayer is attention. Enjoy this beautiful experience, Pham.
Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean— the one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down— who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes. Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face. Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away. I don’t know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
DUMPSTER FIRE - EPISODE #336
The Odyssey Review: I Was Wrong
Bridget went and saw Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey this weekend, tune in for her honest take. She discusses the actual controversy nobody’s talking about is 70mm IMAX privilege — that’s what’s really pissing off the white dudes.
WALK-INS WELCOME - EPISODE #401
I Was A Secret Weapon Of The Far Left — Then I Voted for Trump | Evan Barker
Bridget Phetasy sits down with Evan Barker, former Democratic operative and author of Nothing Left: Confessions of a Democratic Operative, to talk about what it looks like when a political party decides it doesn’t need normal people anymore. Evan spent years as a fundraising specialist for progressive Democrats and watching the party be slowly hijacked by social justice activists, special interests, and the DSA until she reached a breaking point and ultimately ended up voting for Trump in 2024. She and Bridget discuss the DSA’s strategy for the 2026 midterms, why the progressive wing thinks they lost because they weren’t radical enough, what Mamdani’s rise actually signals for 2028, how politicians spend all their time begging people for money, how motherhood radicalized them both, why the Democrats are running out moderates who never should have been lost in the first place, and what Evan’s biggest regret is.
DUMPSTER FIRE - EPISODE #337
Fauci Diary Proves He Lied and He Knew It
Following the release of his COVID diary, Anthony Fauci pled the fifth 111 times before Congress. Bridget breaks down what Fauci wrote privately versus what he said publicly, what he knew, when he knew it, and why the damage he did to this country — and to our trust in every institution — is completely irreversible.
THE SPECTATOR
The internet is dying and so are we
A Love Letter to the Sane Women Holding It Down
Mar 22
I’ve been wanting to write this for a while because, more often than not, I find myself doomscrolling, screaming “NOT ALL WOMEN!” It seems like most of the women represented in media are, for lack of a better word, insane. I blame the algorithms for elevating the craziest of us. So this is for you—the woman reading this who has been quietly holding it t…
THE DAILY WIRE
America Tried To ‘Fix’ Men For Two Decades. Here’s What It Got Instead.
America spent two decades trying to “fix” masculinity. It nearly broke the country — and the guys who complained the loudest about it turned out to be the ones with the least ability to fix it. America needs manly men — not men who are afraid of their masculinity, and not men who only talk about it.
Beyond Parody with Bridget Phetasy is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.





