In the spirit of sharing things here... This poem was in the Amethyst Review in March 2021, and I posted the video last month on my blog. A peaceful, 1-minute meditation for #smallpoemsunday

Some good news for your timeline ... 🐳

Hullo @matthewmcsmith.bsky.social @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social and to the 18 word #fragmentsfriday

Happy #WorldBookDay! Our brilliant Poets in Schools are delivering workshops and assemblies to thousands of young people across England this week. Interested in booking a poet to visit your school? Fill in our enquiry form and get in touch with our Education team at bit.ly/PoetsInSchools

Tax exiles stuck in London desperately trying to get *back* to Dubai to avoid becoming tax resident in the UK? Just great stuff. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

FT comments section this morning - saying what everyone else is thinking, right?

📷 Ottoman Grave Stone in Kosovo "One day, time will also break the cup of your life, O heart, Whether you become a Persian Shah or a Chinese Emperor. Never let the marks of worldly affairs remain in your heart, Abdî. Make your heart pure as a mirror, so it may be filled with light." ✏️ Abdî, 17th C

When will we ever learn?

The moon is rising

At least 31 killed in Lebanon after Israeli strikes, following Hezbollah attacks, as the Iran front widens. This is how regional wars metastasize: tit-for-tat becomes multi-front. Civilians pay first and most. Escalation may feel decisive, but it rarely stays contained.

Starmer's ability to find the exact sweetspot which pisses off everyone is extraordinary. He's a savant.

Meet the 15 poets whose work you can read (and hear read) from March 15th 2026 as part of wave twenty-five of @iamb.uk. #poetry #newpoetry

Bill Day @billdayart.bsky.social

FIFA Peace Prize winner becomes first US President to bomb eight countries in one year

You’re gonna love this one !!

@concordmoose.bsky.social Would it be going too far to say that this is actually beautiful?! bsky.app/profile/did:...

Reform’s vow to scrap the Renters Rights Act shows they’re “in the pocket of rogue landlords”, the Housing Secretary has claimed www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...

As the warmongering of a self-styled ‘peacemaker’ scatters shrapnel & body parts across the Middle East, & sends flames soaring over the region, which may yet engulf the world, it seems appropriate to dwell on what war is & what it isn’t in the company of one of its greatest witnesses, Wilfred Owen👇

And the worm moons crawl in, the worm moons crawl out The worm moons that crawl in are lean and thin The ones that crawl out are fat and stout Your eyes fall in and your hair falls out Your brains come tumbling down your snout Be merry my friends Be merry

"Operation Epic Fury" www.france24.com/en/asia-paci...

Footage from Minab, Iran, shows the aftermath of an Israeli-US strike on a girls' elementary school that reportedly killed more than 50 people.

I dont think irans nuclear program is located in elementary schools for young girls but apparently thats what we’re bombing

Trump is a war criminal now, too. Lock him up.

Recommend this Military Briefing by the FT about the evolving situation in #Iran . www.ft.com/content/be65...

I went to Iran some years ago. I am thinking about the Iranian people today. The photo is from Tehran and is the outside of a nursery.

Still tired but beginning to feel better after this virus so, let’s celebrate with a poem. One for the Canadians and for parents everywhere 😁

NUMBER ONE,SHE'S A WOMAN. NUMBER TWO,SHE'S A CLINTON..

Nothing is quite absolute and whether you’re seeking or fleeing, all roads lead home. Move far enough in one direction, landfall always rolls around again like dawn. 'Hemisphere' @petegreensolo.com A short book A long poem An impossible journey A snip at £6: longbarrowpress.com/current-publ...

Fine poem

@thebrokenspine.co.uk #PoemsAbout #Spent Thanks Alan. One published a while back in the wonderful Butcher's Dog.

A really lovely collection

Starmer under pressure after Greens win Gorton and Denton by-election ft.trib.al/ab0Lxc3

Poem. Originally published by Ink Sweat and Tears.

The Epstein administration in Washington refuses to release the remaining files. If there’s nothing to hide, why keep them classified? Transparency builds trust. Silence breeds suspicion. What are they afraid we might see? #EpsteinFiles #Transparency #Accountability #OpenGovernment #Democracy

Poem. Originally published by Ink Sweat and Tears.

📢 Today's the day! You can now buy the @waterstones.bsky.social exclusive edition of @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social's The Blockbusters. Thanks to Waterstones & Macmillan for each generously donating 50p to BookTrust for every copy of the Waterstones exclusive edition sold 💕 https://bit.ly/4b4TC5g

This is a Nazi move. Stripping people of rights, invalidating their IDs, setting them up for criminalization and imprisonment. If you don't support trans rights, you support fascism.

This👇 The combined voters supporting Greens, Labour, Lib Dems & Conservatives in Gorton and Denton is more than double people supporting Reform. Proportional Representation would allow voters to say 'if my first choice party can't win, then I want my vote to go to...'

Odd: lots of talk in the media about how the press should be more critical of Royals and less collusive (a "conspiracy" says David Dimbleby). But no mention I've heard of Prince Harry's sustained critique of the relationship between the Palace and the tabloids which is a notable theme of Spare.

Thought my cold/lurgy was getting better so kept a date with a pal in Salisbury. Now I’m under 2 blankets and a cat, shivering. 🥶

Watching the curling. Mystifying 🥌

This would be a good day for Nigel Farage and partner to explain where they got the cash to buy the constituency house outright. He said he bought it, then he said it was his GF, but no one explained where they got the £885,000 from? Where are the papers who pursued Rayner?

Who is open for pamphlet subs?

Ireland 🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪 💪🏻 Yippee!

Absolutely insane story about a middle-aged woman from Hertfordshire who got arrested, shackled, and detained by ICE and held in a prison for eight weeks.... while on holiday... with a valid tourist visa... as she tried to leave the country.

And yet the Justice Department never spoke to him or found it worth investigating…..

#PoemsAbout #UnderTheSkin @thebrokenspine.co.uk Took a little break from the polemical this week. Will put a reading in the comments.