Thrilled with this beautifully produced little book about poetry and walking, the result of a collaboration with @richardnskinner.bsky.social Thank you @blackcatpress.bsky.social - and look, real Shropshire mud...

'Crossing Paths' launched this very day! You can buy a copy from @blackcatpoet.bsky.social - link in their bio :)

#NationalSnowdropDay, as I discovered later, after marvelling at drifts of them in the hills, tucked into rare sunshine in an ancient churchyard.

St Peter and St Paul's church in Muchelney, with its cloudy ceiling of angels tempting us to Com Up Yether.

I posted elsewhere about a lady in one of my Leeds Irish Health and Homes workshops who wrote 'I've had dementia / for as long as I can remember'. It came back to me reading @ravoon.bsky.social's tremendous debut 'Dirt Rich', full of technically brilliant, emotionally-devastating work like this:

CROW (Palindrome) Deft, I saw a crow over us, a sure vow or caw as it fed.

Pretty sure this won't surprise anyone who knows me, but this is one of my favourite speeches. I used to have a lovely copy framed on the wall of my study. It resonates as strongly today as it did when written.

I've just bought this beautiful book, reminded by the lovely presence of @nicolawriting.bsky.social on #Ramblings this week. Congratulations Nicola!

Great tree. Here, in #Cairngorms N. P. it is often underrated ( Pics controversially threatened sites). A diary (see: Feb 22 2024 @strathspeyherald.co.uk) on it touched also on world #wetlands day that highlights millions of people depend on wetland habitats #Alnus #Feàrn #Evelyn #riparianzone

I'm very excited about this beautiful new book, to be launched in February! Thank you @blackcatpress.bsky.social and my collaborator @richardnskinner.bsky.social (whose bright idea this was in the first place).

We have a new issue out in February. In the meantime, enjoy our latest offering! badlilies.uk/issue-twenty-two

New podcast episode with five fabulous poets, recorded for our November 2025 Poetry Spotlight event. @julwe1.bsky.social @lesleysharpe.bsky.social @zoebrooks.bsky.social @annasaund.bsky.social #poetry @cheltpoetfest.bsky.social #poetry www.mklitfest.org/podcasts

open.substack.com/pub/brentmol... ‘The U.S. economy, which relies on the dollar being the global reserve currency, will collapse. Inflation will make the post-COVID spikes look like a rounding error. Your savings will be worthless before the ink dries on the invasion orders.’

What a capture of the tractor-printed lanes of January.

Old photo: The city of Viroconium Cornoviorum, near the present-day Wroxeter, Shropshire, was the 4th-largest Roman settlement in Britain. In 2010, English Heritage recreated a town house on the site, using only the tools and materials available to the Romans. A view from the porch...

So delighted to have this little poem appear in @ampoetryreview.bsky.social, alongside a handful of others! Much gratitude to the editors!

Gorse and ice in the Shropshire hills yesterday.

No one cares until it’s too late. Until warnings become reality. Until the fire reaches their door. Until the system fails someone they love. But justice & change are needed before the breaking point. Justice demands more than words, it demands action. So, let’s do the work.

The ghosts of snowmen haunt the estates.

Worth signing, in hope. secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/...

I'm made up with this beautiful book cover created for me and @richardnskinner.bsky.social by the wizards at @blackcatpress.bsky.social

Boosting Venezuela’s oil output by 500,000 barrels a day would cost $10bn and take 2 yrs Raising production to 1.5mn barrels of oil a day (from current 1mn) would produce 550mn tons of CO2 a year That's more CO2 than is emitted by countries like UK & Brazil www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Palestine Action hunger striker is ‘struggling to breathe’ As Heba Muraisi enters day 66 of refusing food, the length of Bobby Sands’s strike in 1981, campaigners warn she is at risk of brain damage www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

A glittering afternoon at Mitchell's Fold stone circle. The kind of snow that creaks underfoot. It was absolutely baltic. I wore my big mitts. #shropshire

Happy new year everyone! Wishing you catlike levels of content and comfort...

Eeek.

This is joining my Desired Books list! Thank you @abrackenbury.bsky.social

Astronomical Clock Tower, Prague Watercolour #Art #Watercolour #Painting

Early 14th century floor tile from St. Augustine’s Abbey in Canterbury. The tile was produced locally at Tyler Hill in the Forest of Blean - a major centre for tile production during the medieval period. The tiles are on display in the abbey museum. 📸 My own. #TilesOnTuesday

Cinquefoil shadows at Acton Burnell.

Ladybirds tucked into an electric fencepost on Boxing Day, sheltering from the frost. #shropshire

Born today in 1903: Joseph Cornell, the silent master of surreal shadow boxes and poetic film collage. (fot. Wikipedia) #JosephCornell

incredibly good shot from The Color of Pomegranates, like something cut out of a magazine for a collage

'Stand here, sweetheart, and breathe this air – but not too deep. This morning’s sharp, it’s stacked with spikes of ice. Listen – for the crackling of crystals in the blue. Imagine a vast white temple flung from ground to sky...' 'Anthelion', my poem on Poetry Advent Calendar now Happy Christmas!

What a joy to the inbox the Poetry Advent Calendar from @annierutherford.bsky.social has been this Dec! So proud to have 'Anthelion' up there on Christmas Eve. Thanks Annie. 'Stand here, sweetheart, and breathe this air – but not too deep.' mailchi.mp/posteo/poetr...

Fabulous (I mean that exactly) poem this morning from @samueltongue.bsky.social on the Poetry Advent Calendar! Thanks Sam and @annierutherford.bsky.social mailchi.mp/posteo/poetr...

Standing stones, Dartmoor. Gloom. #standingstones #landscape #photography

New blog post - I'm celebrating @candlestickpress.bsky.social jeanatkin.com/2025/12/23/t...

They're hanging shiny things on a tree. And they woke me up. They have to be stopped.

I like this very much.

'Fingering the air, a leafless shimmer glistens in his old skin. Little legions pool black on his finery.' Michael Mullen's birch is original and wintry. A perfect poem for today on @annierutherford.bsky.social Poetry Advent Calendar. I enjoyed it so much. mailchi.mp/posteo/poetr...

Why aren't all matchboxes this good?

today the light pauses on the robin's question, the dark shine on bark

The running of the deer

Dolydd, the Workhouse at Llanfyllin, built to house 250 souls. Four courtyards: men; women; boys; girls. Husbands and wives separated, children over 7 separated from their parents. Two sorts of gruel.

Such a harmonious chapel in the cold and wet. #llanfyllin

A short day reflection.

Derelict cottage, its window boarded with a tin sheet. The oak frame hardens into place. Lichen appears to be consuming the tin.

Brick and cobble collage in an alleyway in Shropshire.