I’m delighted that the brilliant @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social has published three ‘Not Advent’ #poems of mine in The Starbeck Orion. Alongside them is a recording of them all, which, since they were written in the pandemic, I’m calling ‘Christmas Triptych, 2020’ #poetrycommunity #poetsonbluesky

Congratulations Diana @dianahenderson.bsky.social The prominence accorded here to Marlowe’s mighty line prompted me to record a speech that’s very special to me. From Tamburlaine the Great Part One #poetrycommunity #marlowe #Shakespeare

Delighted to have 3 poems in the excellent Manchester Review. Contrasting pieces. The first recalls my time writing satire. The third’s an older philosophical reflection. Sat between them, the short #poem ‘Again’ reflects my recent style @manchesterreview.bsky.social #poetrycommunity #poetsonbluesky

Great fun to record Marlowe’s thunderous pentameters, which always land much better than you think they will. Heightened but with their own naturalness. And it was a terrific warmup for this open mic event on Sunday, hosted by the brilliant @paulwritespoems.bsky.social Who is else is going?

An answer to the thread below is creativity, poetry especially. Poetry can be reflective. But it’s also a form of resistance, of defiance. It can change the world, shifting perception, thought, belief. And its urgent striving to say what cannot otherwise be said is sacramental, numinous, almost holy

The vitality of Marlowe’s language is sustained into Tamburlaine Part 2 (even less often performed than Pt1). This extract, a wonderfully OTT description of power’s destructive caprice & a despot’s tendency to elide their own petty emotional need with the dynamics of rule, matches anything in Brecht

Taking liberty with the theme @dragonslayerma.bsky.social #promptcombo #nightfall

Good morning, Fidel, and Blwyddyn Newydd dda i ti and all friends in the #PoetryCommunity #Blueskypoets #PoetsSupportPoets Here’s my #Nightfall - written in better weather than we’re currently enjoying! #PromptCombo @dragonslayerma.bsky.social

#vss365 #thingstowriteabout #promptcombo #nightfall @dragonslayerma.bsky.social

Delighted that my poem The Inevitable has found a home in The Courtship of Winds #poetrycommunity #poetsonbluesky

Delighted that my poem The Inevitable has found a home in The Courtship of Winds #poetrycommunity #poetsonbluesky

Congratulations Diana @dianahenderson.bsky.social The prominence accorded here to Marlowe’s mighty line prompted me to record a speech that’s very special to me. From Tamburlaine the Great Part One #poetrycommunity #marlowe #Shakespeare

An answer to the thread below is creativity, poetry especially. Poetry can be reflective. But it’s also a form of resistance, of defiance. It can change the world, shifting perception, thought, belief. And its urgent striving to say what cannot otherwise be said is sacramental, numinous, almost holy

#promptcombo #nightfall #poetry #reading #voice Thanks @dragonslayerma.bsky.social for the encouragement! Thanks @thepaulconnolly.bsky.social for the tip!

Thrilled to have 2 poems published in issue 43 of the superb Seventh Quarry Magazine. Congratulations to all brilliant contributors and awesome editor Peter Thabit Jones. The Seventh Quarry/Swansea Poetry Magazine & Press ( @SeventhQuarry ) / X

250 million Coptic, Ethiopian Orthodox, some Orthodox and various other Christian denominations celebrate Christmas today. John Taverner was a convert to Orthodox Christianity. His work Song for Athene is on my mind today

Many thanks to Ed. Jack Caradoc of @dreich.bsky.social for publishing my 4 poems and 5 senryus in Jan issue. One I’d written for a #PoemsAbout prompt; the toffee-wrapper poem for a #vss365 employed #abstraction by #removing logic to #redefine its size in The Candyman’s Trumpet🎺. #Oulens #2WordPrompt

Tune in to #RebeccaLeek's 1st #TheDittyBag episode of 2026. It's the contemplative, reflective gaze we all need right now! A heartfelt thank you to Rebecca for sharing a poem of mine written for children about reparation. 🫶🏻 #thedirigibleballoon #kidlit #poetry open.spotify.com/episode/56gN...

A very good morning my #PromptCombo darlings! We have reached the halfway point of my hosting duties. Here's a recording of me reading my poem 'Unforgettable Beauty that is #Nightfall' Thanks @thepaulconnolly.bsky.social , for this tip on this method of recording 😉 Big ♥️ Love Everyone.

The Starbeck Orion issue #14 Not Advent Anthology Day 14 of 25 featuring the poetry of @rock-rex.bsky.social Peter J King: the880.substack.com/p/the-starbe...

We’ve permission now to be our worst selves. Many take the offer. Anger’s widespread. How do you avoid temptation? If prevenient grace were real, a hand stretched from on high, whose grip arrested time’s onward hurtle into desolation, the mutual propulsion, hate to hate & back to hate, I’d accept it

For the #Epiphany, here’s Omnes de Saba venient by Lassus, sung by The Sixteen, together with my #AdventPoem recording of T.S. Eliot’s The Journey of the Magi (thread below 👇). Seems to me that these days the Wise Men are only bringing myrrh…

Delighted to have a poem in the wonderful The Candyman's Trumpet @dreich.bsky.social Huge thanks to Jack Caradoc - to subscribe free please message him. So many wonderful poets in each issue, a triumph

#inkmine #euphoric #nightfalls #promptcombo #viator #poem #dreams thought I'd go with a viator form just to be all fancy!

#PromptCombo #Nightfall #vss365 #spooked @dragonslayerma.bsky.social #newpoem / #photography: ©Jan Peters/Solivagant Wisdom, 2025/2025 & 2021 #WinterWords #poetry #woodland #nature #WolfMoon #HungerMoon #ecotone #solitude #deathpositive #monochrome #BW #Tuesday #LifeAndDeath

Today I’m starting my #AdventPoem series. My recordings of six seasonal poems, four of them mine, bookended by a twentieth & a fifteenth-century masterpiece. First, inspired by a Lancelot Andrewes sermon, TS Eliot’s glorious Journey of the Magi #poetrycommunity #poetsonbluesky #Advent #Christmas

Good morning, Fidel @dragonslayerma.bsky.social and the #PromptCombo crew. I posted this photo last week and decided that another wee #poem on #nightfall might be in order for this week’s prompt. I like the photo more than the poem, but still..

Hi Fidel, @dragonslayerma.bsky.social A super #promptcombo #Nightfall and yet my head was empty. Yesterday evening brought winter light into the garden. It was special - here's my observation.

Thank you Fidel, here’s another one while I read Milton by Blake. #promptcombo #nightfall

Yay- #promptcombo is back! Here is one I prepared earlier! #nightfall @dragonslayerma.bsky.social The Day Blades

Fidel, @dragonslayerma.bsky.social I loved your prompt poem for #PromptCombo #Nightfall and I was sure I had one somewhere that was on topic. I finally found it, from back in summer 2021, though I have reformatted it to share here. Happy New Year to the #PromptCombo community

Nobel Peace Prize Winner Machado praises Trump’s illegal kidnapping of Maduro and says he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. She also calls on Stockholm to give the Nobel Prize for Literature to Jeffrey Archer

Thank you so much Mr. Brookes @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social for this wonderful feature of my #artwork from 1989-90 a true #RetroArt moment for me: open.substack.com/pub/the880/p...

The Starbeck Orion issue #14 Not Advent Anthology Day 13 of 25 Binary Stars: featuring the poetry of Tim Boardman and Tim Fellows: the880.substack.com/p/the-starbe...

Nobel Peace Prize Winner Machado praises Trump’s illegal kidnapping of Maduro and says he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. She also calls on Stockholm to give the Nobel Prize for Literature to Jeffrey Archer

Passepied from Debussy’s Suite Bergamesque. I can’t live without it. The ending is magic. Music which has conjured motion, with moments of languor, shatters in fragments of tinkling beauty, a moment of loss perfected, disintegration made sublime. The nearest thing for me to Vinteuil’s little phrase.

Thanks @dragonslayerma.bsky.social for our first 2026 #promptcombo. My #nightfall poem is steeped in ancient Turkish traditions, superstitions and folklore. Happy new year to all. #poetry #poems

@dragonslayerma.bsky.social #promptcombo #nightfall

#inkMine (Mighty, Dormant, Latent) #Epiphany #Theophany #newpoem / #photography: ©Jan Peters/Solivagant Wisdom, 2026/2025 #Winter #Trinity #Baptism #DeathAndRebirth #DepthPsychology #Russia #Greece #Bulgaria #January #poetrycommunity #poetry #bskypoetry

#inkMine (Mighty, Dormant, Latent) #Epiphany #Theophany #newpoem / #photography: ©Jan Peters/Solivagant Wisdom, 2026/2024 & 2008 #Firewalking #JamesJoyce #Dubliners #DepthPsychology #Greece #Bulgaria #poetrycommunity #poetry #bskypoetry #MountTabor #Monochrome #BW #BlackAndWhite

Arguing with someone, even an enemy, while occasionally contemptuous, has some respect, albeit backhanded, built in. But ghosting, while sometimes necessary with those who are vexatious or abusive, is intrinsically contemptuous, especially towards those who have done us no harm Engage If possible

Hullo @dragonslayerma.bsky.social Fantastic theme Fidel of #nightfall for #promptcombo this week! Thank you for getting us all going with such a cracker.

Given daily revelations about promotion of vile uses of AI & constant evidence of algorithmic privileging of far-right causes, anyone staying on X & claiming that they do so to sustain a pocket of progressivism on there is simply deluding themselves & creating the traffic that helps X survive Leave

Thanks @dragonslayerma.bsky.social for the first #promptcombo of the year - #nightfall is a great choice. Bit slow getting up to working speed today but here's a quick poem to wish everyone a happy new year #poetry #poems

Hey Fidel @dragonslayerma.bsky.social I just remembered I have this wee #nightfall #poem which I can share for this week’s #PromptCombo I’ll see if I can write something new too. Thanks for sharing your gorgeous poem and for hosting.

#PromptCombo #NightFall @dragonslayerma.bsky.social #imagist a short one from the snowy north-east - HNY all

The night is dark and full of Navy SEALs #PromptCombo #Nightfall @dragonslayerma.bsky.social

#BedroomEyesPrompt #winterschill #poem #writing #writingcommunity #promptcombo #nightfall #madrigal @oldsoulprose.bsky.social @southernjam.bsky.social

"That Moment". #poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetsofbluesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #sfpoem #contactlight #alienbuddhapress #promptcombo #nightfall @dragonslayerma.bsky.social @alienbuddhapress.bsky.social @markknight63.bsky.social