Thanks to @matthewmcsmith.bsky.social and @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social for hosting an excellent #poetry open mic last night - an amazing group of poets sharing some incredible work! A privilege to be part of it!

Open Mic tonight on Zoom, hovering over planet earth. 🌍 🌟

Please consider reposting this with ALT text, so I can share it to my poetry friends in their 70's and 80's using text to speech readers, and indeed to anyone who relies on text to speech to consume the Internet freely.

Nothing more irritating than the boy done good coming home to patronise his people. Ugh. Seen it many times. #poetry #poetrycommunity #writing

‘Grizzled, old word merchant’ Virtual cake 🎂 to you all.

Reviewing @louisepoetical.bsky.social 's The How in the World over at @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social 📚

Hullo @tomsnarsky.bsky.social #smallpoemsunday #poetry Thanks as always for your curating!

For #smallpoemsunday and host @tomsnarsky.bsky.social ‘Dissociation’.

TopTweetTuesday challenge next week on Tuesday - Twitter only. #poetry #poetrycommunity #writing #writingprompts

Looking forward very much to this! 🤩

‘this is poetry as bright and fleeting as embers’ 🔥 Our Black Bough book of the month is Louise Longson’s ‘The How in the World’ - Hedgehog poetry. Reviewed by @victoriaspires.bsky.social @louisepoetical.bsky.social @hedgehogpress.co.uk www.blackboughpoetry.com/book-reviews...

Working through submissions for next year’s Christmas and Winter submissions. Perhaps another 300 e-mails / 900 poems to read and respond to. @matthewmcsmith.bsky.social @paulwritespoems.bsky.social are editing.

SHARE AWAY!!! Announcing a new project - a platform each Friday. #FRAGMENTSFRIDAY’ - 18 words or less - a startling, inventive poem. Tag in #fragmentsfriday and @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social & share one startling fragment of your own poetry. No A.I. generated poetry!

With the @sixnationsrugby.bsky.social around the corner, a flash-fragment on Welsh great #BarryJohn 🏉 #rugby @welshrugbyunion.bsky.social #wales #welshrugby

For @hool415.bsky.social Ju’s #PromptCombo #tracks this week I’m sharing this wee #poem. Hope you like the bonus photo Ju, of the west Highland line near Plockton. Thanks to the crew.

Thanks to Angela for putting so much effort into this 👇 🙏

Bon día nois i noias. One of mine for #promptcombo #tracks with thanks to host @hool415.bsky.social ‘Early Train to Barcelona’

A love poem of sorts. @hool415.bsky.social is hosting #promptcombo on the theme of ‘tracks’. Hope you like the poem and you’re welcome to share. Thank you

A poem for extreme Republicans, corrupt politicians and people who act with impunity. You can never quite get away with it. 👁️ 🪱 #poetsofbluesky #poetry #writing

Good luck with your forthcoming book @tomsnarsky.bsky.social - for #smallpoemsunday a micro #poetry #writing #poet #writing

T.S. Eliot at the Ministry of Sound. #tseliot #modernism #eliot #thewasteland @tseliotprize.bsky.social @tseliotfoundation.bsky.social

Don’t worry, this poem will be shadow-banned and don’t worry as we won’t have to be sad soon when it’s the Gaza riviera. #gaza #genocide #shadowbanning #peace

Friday poem from a speed write. 4 min 49 secs. #poetry #micropoem #poetic #poetrycommunity

Get your poems in…

The submission window is open until this Sunday 1st Feb ❄️ @paulwritespoems.bsky.social and @matthewmcsmith.bsky.social look forward to reading your poems. blackboughpoetry.com/events

‘the image of the cheeto king rises’ 🇺🇸 On the themes of fascism, authoritarianism and dictatorship, a poem for the weekly event that is #TopTweetTuesday on Twitter Thanks to all readers and contributors. 🙏

For @tomsnarsky.bsky.social #smallpoemsunday ‘UnMerry Go Round’. Hat tip to the main man. #poet #poetry

Poem on vulnerability and sealing yourself up. #poem #poetry #writing

Poem for Friday. Quick write. #thedoors

thewombwellrainbow.com/2023/05/11/w... I try to avoid explaining individual poems & leave meaning to the reader, but if you’re interested in a more general overview of my approach to poetry, this interview with @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social is a great place to start

Deadpool and Wolverine of the poetry community🤩

Meeting of #poet-friends - @paulwritespoems.bsky.social and I - editorial team for the next Christmas - winter anthology. Paul edits The Book Bag 💼 📖 📚

‘The poet dresses the impossibly-perfect mannequin in the window of fabrication’ 🖊️ 💎 The prompt this week on Twitter’s TopTweetTuesday is ‘egotistical sublime’ and here’s a poem about the idea of originality and poetic genius.

New poem. The illusion of spring. #poetry #poetry #poetic #writing

🛎️ CALL for POETRY SUBMIS*IONS 🛎️ Christmas-winter anthology 2026 👇 www.blackboughpoetry.com/events #writing #poetry #poet #poetic #writers #poetic

Fabulous news! 💙 My poems "Horseshoe Crab Blood" and "Becoming a Galaxy" are accepted for The Book Bag x Write Here, Right Now Unwhispered Legacy Anthology! Thank you so much @paulwritespoems.bsky.social #poetry #poetrysky

For #smallpoemsunday and host @tomsnarsky.bsky.social a new poem ‘Plaintive’. Thanks Tom. #poetry #writing #poet #smallpoem #micropoem

‘And on a dark night, I am not a refuge for myself’ @racheldeering.bsky.social from ‘In the Shadow of Gods’ www.blackboughpoetry.com/rachel-deering

‘When Babylon has fallen, we will love and recall the salt-slap, cold linen, on burnished oak.’ James McConachie from ‘Consolamentum’ @jamesmcconachie1.bsky.social www.blackboughpoetry.com/consolamentu...

Tickets Available Now. 🎟️ shorturl.at/Ocvzw

‘The hounds in that house, stirred in the kish of the tremor’ Before the monster Grendel attacked the great hall. For #TopTweetTuesday and our theme - tales for children 👹 #norse #beowulf #myth

For #smallpoemsunday and host @tomsnarsky.bsky.social a tribute to lovely, shiny, Turkey #teeth 🦷 #poem #poetic #micropoem #dentistry

Many thanks to Black Bough Poetry and @matthewmcsmith.bsky.social for including this in the excellent new Winter Anthology.

Poetry publication opportunity - call from Wed 28th January to Sun 1st Feb. Normal submis*ions are submit up to 3 poems but you can submit 5 if you bought our current anthology ❄️ 🦌 www.blackboughpoetry.com/events @paulwritespoems.bsky.social

Thank you, @MatthewMCSmith and @blackboughpoems for publishing “Winterspell” in the glorious Christmas & Winter anthology. I am elated to share these pages with so many talented poet colleagues. Happy New Year to all! 🌟

‘Those black pens politicians use to sign bombs will turn into vipers’ 🖊️ 🐍 ‘the sky will throng with rainbows and an unruly Druid flashmob’ 🌈 @fiddes.bsky.social in our Christmas - Winter anthology www.blackboughpoetry.com/news

‘We press lucent hours into winter’s book’ 📖 ❄️ 🌒 @dizzylynn.bsky.social in our Christmas - Winter anthology www.blackboughpoetry.com/news

‘Brycheiniog’s sting of rumfire cheek’ ‘The acid reflux of excess’ ‘A ribboned skull and rarebit verse’ Leigh Manley in our Christmas - Winter anthology. ❄️ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🔥 🥃 www.blackboughpoetry.com/news

‘Underhill Park, a pelt on the season’s belt’ 🌳 🌲 ❄️ ‘Mumbles hushed’ 🌊 🤫 ‘A cave of flowers waits to rise’ 🌺 Manda Eliot with ‘Winter Petals’, set in Swansea. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 www.blackboughpoetry.com/news

‘Salads dwindle and soup steams’ 🥣 ‘Making layers of summer’s T-shirts’ ☀️ Sue Spires’s ‘Three Ways into Winter’ ❄️ www.blackboughpoetry.com/news @spiropoetry.bsky.social