Poets, are you ready? Full details here: paulwritespoems.com/2025/09/08/t...

This week was #RemembranceDay. Today is the anniversary of my Great Uncle's death in the early morning of November 13th on a battlefield on the Somme. He died along with another 240 men of the Shropshire Light Infantry. I wrote this for him so I don't forget #poems #poetry #blueskypoems #ww1

Hello everyone, slow of the blocks this week, so I've decided to share a wee poem I wrote a long time ago for #promptcombo and @hool415.bsky.social's prompt of #workinglove. Thanks Ju for hosting and everyone else for being so inspiring! #poems #poetry

Something very rough and ready for #poemsabout #lockeddoors, definitely a work in progress! Thanks @alanparrywriter.co.uk / @thebrokenspine.co.uk and everyone who keeps this wonderful thing going!

This week isn’t about escape. It’s about what stays shut. Secrets with a latch. Regret with a bolt. Write the room you can’t re-enter. The letter never sent. Tag your post. Use Alt Text. Share from Friday. Sign up: shorturl.at/0Xm7A

Found this lurking in the kitchen this morning... an Ender dragon, apparently. Hopefully it's friendly (it did have Shreddies for breakfast)... #halloween #samhain

Here's a quick, possibly tenuous poem for #poemsabout #blood this week. Huge appreciation to @alanparrywriter.co.uk & @thebrokenspine.co.uk for the opportunity and to all the poets for their great posts #poems #poetry

Getting my head back into writing after the school holidays, so a quick first draft of a poem for this week's #PromptCombo #DreamLogic. Thanks @victoriaspires.bsky.social for hosting! #poem #poetry

How the third sector became the UK’s first line of support blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

School holidays, so not had time to write anything for #PoemsAbout #BurnForTheCamera this week. Looking forward to reading contributions as I get a chance and - hopefully - back in service next week!

The less inhabited side of Loch Fyne in black and white #scotland

Been offline down in Argyle for the last few days…

Turning the imperfection around into an honest reflection of why a relationship failed for #poemsabout #imperfectme. Thanks to @alanparrywriter.co.uk & @thebrokenspine.co.uk for the prompt and glad to be back writing after an enforced break!

Meet these great indie poets at the Poetry Genre Indie Authors Starter Pack! If you wish to be included in the starter pack, reply here. #poetrycommunity #poetsofbluesky #blueskypoets go.bsky.app/FBSDdFZ

You can sense how personal this is from a writers perspective- and impersonal from a military perspective- Regulation sympathy, medals, formalities.

‘official letterhead and regulation sympathy’ — your phrasing cuts with its coldness. Your grief is set against bureaucracy, and it breaks through the paper mask. #KeepWriting #PoemsAbout #NeverAgain

It's not about 'ID cards'; it's about data... @paulclarke.com saying it better than I was going to, so have a read of his thread...

For #poemsabout #neveragain this week,I reworked an older, shorter poem I wrote about my Great Uncle, killed on the Somme in 1916. Thanks to @alanparrywriter.co.uk & @thebrokenspine.co.uk for a powerful prompt and everyone else sharing amazing work for us to read #poems #poetry

‘circling with intent in her eyes’ — the tension coils there. This thrives on restraint, a duel of predator & prey played in watchful silence. #KeepWriting #PoemsAbout #SilentPlanets

Here's a fun little poem I just wrote for #PoemsAbout #SilentPlanets. Had fun with this prompt and might post another one later if there's time! Thanks @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @thebrokenspine.co.uk! #poems #poetry

Thanks to @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social for today's #promptcombo #history, not had much time so re-worked something old and, I think, rather tenuous! #poetry #poems (apologies for the Antipodean use of 'chips', please read 'crisps' if it offends 😀)

#candlelight is such a great prompt for #poemsabout, loving all the contributions so far and will try and comment when I've time later. In the meantime, here's an fresh offering from me! Thanks @alanparrywriter.co.uk & @thebrokenspine.co.uk for the prompt! #poem #poetry

Slowly but surely Britain has de-limbed itself of anything which dares smack of intellectualism. This country sneers at art as pretension and intelligence as suspicious. Melvyn Bragg was the antidote to that. His departure from public life diminishes Britain www.heraldscotland.com/politics/vie...

#Submissions are now open for #Verdigris: #PoetryOfDecay. If #LiftToTheSky is about rising, Verdigris is about falling — splendour unravelled, glamour undone. Open all September:

A bit breezy out there today…

What a great #promptcombo this week from @dragonslayerma.bsky.social - #clocksticking! Lots of fantastic poems already so going to share something I wrote just now, thanks Fidel for the prompt! #poetry #poems

BBC News website; UK to see total eclipse. Hmm, it ends at 19:50 and up here moon rise will be a shade after 20:00. What they meant was “England”, ah, well easily confused I guess.

My 7yo asked me is there were any ‘portals’ in the real world (he was playing Minecraft!)… I said yes, books are portals! After a short discussion, he agreed: they take you to places you build pictures of in your mind!

Not a good week for creativity I'm afraid so a very quick offering for #poemsabout #facades. Thanks as always @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk and to everyone contributing this week! #poem #poetry

Interesting piece on MPs and AI; it's an emerging field so there's a range of views. My experience (from many parliaments) is the horse has already bolted. The challenge is to ensure safe use that adds value. This requires guidelines and training and always humans in the loop...

📢 We're launching a new training project to help young people spot and challenge disinformation online. In partnership with @cilipscotland.bsky.social, @youngscot.bsky.social, thanks to support from @tnlcommunityfund.org.uk. Find out more more: theferret.scot/the-ferret-h...

Thanks @hool415.bsky.social for today's #promptcombo #winged. Lovely prompt but time-limited this morning, so here's a very quick poem about something I saw last week... #poetry #poetrycommunity #blueskypoets

#poemsabout #riots was not a prompt that came naturally to me this week! I've reworked an older poem that's well outside my normal voice. Thanks @alanparrywriter.co.uk / @thebrokenspine.co.uk for the very tricky challenge! #poetry #writing

Tomorrow we write #PoemsAbout #Riots Write fury. Write loss. Write truth. Tag your poem + tag: @alanparry83.bsky.social @brokenspinearts.bsky.social Then Read. Repost. Reply. 3 interactions minimum. Because one voice isn't enough. Prompts drop Saturday: shorturl.at/oEXAM

OK, here's a perfectly banal little poem for #promptcombo #banality this week. Thanks @rfsmith.bsky.social for the challenge this week! #poetry #poetrycommunity #scottishpoetry

Nice to write something fresh for #poemsabout #chandeliers after a week away, hope you enjoy it. Thanks as always @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk for the great prompt and everyone for the wonderful poems I'm enjoying reading instead of getting work done! #poetry #poemsonbluesky

Thank you @victoriaspires.bsky.social for this week's excellent #promptcombo on #woods. Just back from a week away so sharing a re-working of a poem from a set I wrote recently about war, love & loss #poetry #poemsonbluesky

Six years of supporting poets, and we want to give back more than ever. We’ve run competitions before, but this will be our biggest prize yet. It will be free to enter, but only if we hit £5,000. Chapbook fees help, but we still need your donations. 🔗

Poets: if you’ve launched a book in the last 12 weeks and haven’t uploaded it to #PIL — you’re missing readers. #PromoteIndieLit 🔗 promoteindielit.com

I'm away this week so sharing a poem from my upcoming collection about home, the sea and the #maori creation story for #PromptCombo #Mariner, thanks Paul @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social #poetry #poemsonbluesky #aotearoa #newzealand

'that come mid-summer / will shine with / crimson flowers' is beauty promised but unreachable, the tree blooming as if untouched by loss. You’ve written yearning that doesn’t flinch. Let it hold. #KeepWriting #PoemsAbout #BlackSky

Hope you enjoy this poem I wrote for this week's #PoemsAbout #BlackSky (the title refers to a tree from #Aotearoa #NewZealand). Thanks as always @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk for the prompt. #poetry #blueskypoets #writing

Here's something I wrote for #PoemsAbout #Starcrossed. Thanks @alanparrywriter.co.uk & @thebrokenspine.co.uk for the prompt and all the other contributors for some excellent poems! #poetry #blueskypoets

Wasn't sure I had a poem in me for #PromptCombo #MyGod this morning but here goes, it's a bit grumpy! Thanks @hool415.bsky.social for the prompt! #poetry #blueskypoems

Not where I thought I was going to go for #poemsabout #glamour this week, but that's often the fun of it 😀 Thanks as always to @alanparrywriter.co.uk & @thebrokenspine.co.uk for the great prompt. #poem #poetry #poetsofbluesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #scottishpoetry

jobs.theguardian.com/job/9693287/... This is a job that matters! “Head of Information Security Employer CANCER RESEARCH UK Location London Salary £95,000 - £99,000 per annum Closing date 3 Aug 2025”

Meadowsweet is everywhere up the hill, an anti-inflammatory and good for digestion, it's going to be dried for a tea. There's lots of red clover around too, anti-inflammatory too but also an antioxidant! #foraging

Today’s lunch, fresh from the woods…

A new offering for this week's #PoemsAbout #WaxTears. I found this prompt really challenging, so thanks @alanparrywriter.co.uk/@thebrokenspine.co.uk for it! Thanks also to the wonderful fellow poets who helped me refine this poem 🙏 #poems #poetry #blueskyepoets #scottishpoetry