More #poetry and #spokenword, this Friday at the Chemic Tavern in #Leeds. Featuring Elisabeth Sennitt Clough, @jamiethrasivoulou.bsky.social, and open mic. Come! www.leedsinspired.co.uk/events/chemi...

I see President Xi Jinping has spent his day in the company of massive weapons.

Thanks everyone who came along on Tuesday. Brilliant sets from @wendypratt.bsky.social and Liz McPherson, and a great open mic too. Thanks for having us, Chapel Allerton Arts Festival!

My new email newsletter is going out later this afternoon. When socials seem to be more full of ads and junk than ever, it's the most reliable way of finding out what I've got going on with writing and events stuff. Sign up on my website if you want to join the list.

We're launching this anthology at Heart in Headingley on Friday. Come and join us! Note the ticket price includes a copy of the book. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/there-are-...

I'm hosting a poetry event as part of Chapel Allerton Arts Festival next month. Tuesday 26 August at Brew+Bao on Stainbeck Lane. Headliner will be the wonderful @wendypratt.bsky.social, supported by Liz McPherson, plus an open mic. Come! chapelallerton.org.uk/poetry/

Thanks to everyone for coming along last night! We're back on Friday 26 September, with headliners @jamiethrasivoulou.bsky.social and Elisabeth Sennitt Clough. The optional theme is Sc for Scandium. See you then!

10 days to go!

Chemistry is back at the Chemic Tavern in Leeds on the 25th, with @rosiegarlandwriter.bsky.social and a double act appearance from @markconnors.bsky.social and @gillconnors.bsky.social. Plus the usual open mic, and an optional theme of Ca for Calcium. www.leedsinspired.co.uk/events/chemi...

Save the date! I'll be hosting a poetry night at Chapel Allerton Arts Festival, with two guest poets and an open mic. Tuesday 26 August at Brew + Bao on Stainbeck Lane. More details to follow nearer the time, but get it in your diaries now!

I seem to have got a week or two behind with plugging #DoubleDactyl of the Week. So here is a double header from Joe Williams and Sian Lang. Double dactyls – erudite and stretched real tight…

Another one of mine in Double Dactyl of the Week, this time on the subject of Oscar Pistorius. doubledactyls.wordpress.com/2025/06/12/d...

Another one of mine in Double Dactyl of the Week, this time on the subject of Oscar Pistorius. doubledactyls.wordpress.com/2025/06/12/d...

I'm headlining at Grand Plans in Linthwaite today, alongside Neil Clarkson and an open mic. 6pm start at the Sair Inn. Come! www.facebook.com/events/the-s...

I'm pleased to have my poem 'In 1984' included in the second part of the Fig Tree's Coal Mining Anthology. Have a read here. There are plans for a print version to come out at some point too. figtreepoetry.substack.com/p/the-fig-tr...

Thanks everyone for joining us last night for another great event, and thanks especially to Luke and Helen for their brilliant headline sets. We're back on Friday 25 July with headliners Gill & Mark Connors (as a double act) and Rosie Garland. The optional theme is Ca for Calcium. See you then!

Tonight! See you later at the Chemic Tavern in Leeds.

I don't know of anyone else who agrees - except for possibly @sarahhehir.bsky.social, who mentioned it in a review in Confluence magazine - but this is my favourite poem in 'The Taking Part'. Today, I am feeling it.

Looking forward to this!

Chemistry is back at the end of the month, with headliners @helenivory.bsky.social and Luke Samuel Yates. The optional open mic theme is K for Potassium. Friday 30 May at the Chemic Tavern in Leeds. www.leedsinspired.co.uk/events/chemi...

Clerichew #4 Pope Leo seems OK to me, though I would have given the job to Pope Bob. (Subject to change if it turns out he's actually got really horrible opinions or history.) #clerihew #pope #isthepopeacatholic

Should have insisted on Pope Bob.

Clerihew #95 Desislava Bozhilova successfully achieved what she strove for. She was the first female referee to do the finals of snooker's big three. #clerihew #snooker #wst #worldsnooker

I was delighted and honoured when @timfellows.bsky.social asked me to be the featured poet in Issue 8 of his poetry zine The Fig Tree. It was published this week, and you can read it here. Nice to see a few of my poetry friends included too! figtreepoetry.substack.com/p/the-fig-tr...

The Fig Tree Issue 8 is out! In all the excitement of launches and Coal Mining Specials, the original Fig Tree is back with Featured Poet Joe Williams. With thanks to Paul Brough as usual for the stunning artwork. figtreepoetry.substack.com/p/the-fig-tr...

It is 10 years and 1 day since the first time I got up and did poems in front of an audience. I honestly didn't know if I would ever do it again. I did, it turns out.

Clerichew 3 Justin Welby was archbishop for a spell. He got himself in a bind and resigned.

Clerichew 2 Pope Joan, about whom little is known, may have been the inspiration for papal testicular examination.

Clerichew Pope Francis was a man. This is an important qualification for pontification.

Dates, headliners and themes for the rest of 2025: 30/5: Helen Ivory + Luke Samuel Yates (K for Potassium) 25/7: Rosie Garland + Gill & Mark Connors (Ca for Calcium) 26/9: Jamie Thrasivoulou + Elisabeth Sennitt Clough (Sc for Scandium) 28/11: Matt Nicholson + Kristina Diprose (Ti for Titanium)

I've got a poem in this anthology about fruit. Coming very soon, and available to pre-order now. thereareonlysomanyways.square.site

My poem 'A Town of Shadows' is one of the Ink Sweat & Tears nominations for the Forward Prize Best Single Poem. I don't think I'll win, but it's a great honour to be thrown into the mix. Thanks IS&T and @helenivory.bsky.social. Well done Natasha and Elly too. inksweatandtears.co.uk/our-2025-for...

New Kindle version of the 'Poems for the NHS' anthology I was in a few years ago. Free with Prime and very cheap without, but the editor asks that you make a donation to NHS Charities Together if you download it. (Sorry for Am***n link - I believe it's the only way to get it.)

Interesting job vacancy. Do you have what it takes to stop people feeling up Molly Malone's bronze tits? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Thanks to everyone who came along on Friday. We'll back on Friday 30 May, with @helenivory.bsky.social and Luke Samuel Yates as headliners, and the optional chemical theme of K for Potassium. See you then!

Tonight!

The widescreen version of the 'Barbara Goes to the Pictures' film from The Hyde Park Picture House is now up on my YouTube. Have a look here. Like and subscribe! www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7Y0...

Chemistry is this week! See you on Friday at the Chemic Tavern in Leeds. www.leedsinspired.co.uk/events/chemi...

10 days till Chemistry Poetry is back at the Chemic Tavern in Leeds. With headliners @suewallaceshaddad.bsky.social and Helen Kay, plus open mic. Optional theme Ar for Argon. Come! www.leedsinspired.co.uk/events/chemi...

I'm pleased to be included in the new issue (or wave, as they call it) of Iamb, an online poetry zine that features the poets reading their own work, as well as the printed versions. Check out my contributions here, and have a listen to the other poets too.

Crocuses yawn, sparrows nest, daffodils trumpet the sun. Spring has returned. With her, she brings a basket of 45 poems – some delicate, some fierce, all of them rich in colour. Sit where you're comfortable, and reach in, to wave twenty-one of @iambapoet.com. #newpoetry iambapoet.com/wave/21

Saturday night in Ben Rhydding. I'll be doing a set of Ashington poems, and a set of everything else. Maybe not quite everything. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-purple...

One in the new @vizcomic.bsky.social.

Phew, my invitation to join the Illuminati was almost lost to the spam filter!

Meet the cohort of @iambapoet.com's wave 21 – Andrea Small, Bob Perkins, Fred Schmalz, Gillian Craig Spiller, Jane Robinson, Joe Williams, Kelly Davis, Maggie Mackay, Marie Little, Mark Carson, Moira Walsh, Perry Gasteiger, Robin Helweg-Larsen, S Reeson and Theresa Donnelly. iambapoet.com/wave/21

Another of mine makes it to Double Dactyl of the Week. doubledactyls.wordpress.com/2025/03/01/d...

#DoubleDactyl of the Week tonight features Joe Williams in session.

Clerihew #81 Blake Lively spent several weeks living in a hive. She was training for a role as a bee, you see. #clerihew

What, ANOTHER gig? Oh yes! Come see me and singer-songwriter Andrew Metheven at the Purple Room. St John's in Ben Rhydding (just outside Ilkley). Saturday 8 March at 8pm. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-purple...

I'm back in #Hexham next week, headlining at Quillseekers. I think it'll be the first time I've done a poetry gig in Hexham that I didn't organise myself! Thanks @caitlinkendall83.bsky.social for inviting me. Friday 28 February, 8pm start, at the Forum Cinema. PAYF entry, and there's an open mic.