Some thoughts on Louis MacNeice on the move, inspired by and shamelessly indebted to @johnclegg37.bsky.social. jwikeley.substack.com/p/goodbye-to...

Great stuff. Lots of nice quotes but Hugo Williams contributing in both 1962 and 2026 trumps everything ("Ted Hughes?! I can’t believe I wrote that. I’ve never liked him"). Congratulations to Jamie and everyone at TLM for pulling it off.

The first two pamphlets from Headless Poet, enjoying a moment in the sun not so long ago. www.headlesspoet.com

Some weekend reading from me. First up, a terrific edition of the Writer’s Bookshelf with @jwikeley.bsky.social. mathewlyons.substack.com/p/the-writer...

Really enjoyed this and, as a regular Writer's Bookshelf reader, was very flattered to be asked! Thank you @mathewlyons.bsky.social.

This week in the poetry blogs with @jntod.bsky.social @jwikeley.bsky.social @richardjnewman.bsky.social @billymills.bsky.social @mayacpopa.bsky.social @robin-gow-poet.bsky.social @victoriamoul.bsky.social @suefinch.bsky.social @alinaetc.bsky.social 1/3 www.vianegativa.us/2026/04/poet...

Poetry Notebook 24/04/26 On Leontia Flynn, the poetry of stuff, and a season of sonnets. jwikeley.substack.com/p/poetry-not...

how write book what words good how make good write

I was very glad to do this one, and to spend some time walking London with Hill's poems. Such a loss.

Back to my old tricks (bothering publicity teams for review copies of books I can barely afford the time to read, let alone write about)

Welcome to my new show about the history of commercial fishing, or the Cod Past podcast.

Tremendous poem in today's @parisreview.bsky.social mail out: mailchi.mp/theparisrevi...

Proofs! Very exciting. @victoriamoul.bsky.social Pre-order the real thing: www.headlesspoet.com/shop/p/poems...

Back to my old tricks (putting £1 on Labour to win in G&D at 4/1)

Paul Gauguin's Armchair - 1888 https://botfrens.com/collections/46/contents/14353

"There is a difference between paying attention to an ending and a poem which is genuinely attentive to its own end—which has been, from the first line, a thing in time, moving through it. " Some thoughts for the blog on endings in poetry, via Muloon, Allnutt & Kunial. substack.com/home/post/p-...

Introductions are the way poetry survives. They are also, I think, an endangered art. Which is why I'm starting a poetry press. Here's a little more about what that all means (and how you can help): jwikeley.substack.com/p/why-im-sta...

🏠

The daffs are coming out, and so are the @badlilies.bsky.social. Delighted to have two new poems in this early spring posy.

Why I'm starting a poetry press. And how you can help 👇 Introducing, Headless Poet... jwikeley.substack.com/p/why-im-sta...

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:

Well, I read that wrong.

This is one of the few positions in the book world which is both deeply unpopular, genuinely brave and completely correct.

Bad Lilies is cooking up a BEAST of an issue for next month. Subscribe to our email list and get early access to our submission windows! www.badlilies.uk/subscribe

This week in the poetry blogs with @victoriamoul.bsky.social @emmalee1.bsky.social @jwikeley.bsky.social @pearlpoet.bsky.social @billymills.bsky.social @kent-nj.bsky.social @salenagodden.bsky.social @robin-gow-poet.bsky.social @linarvitvideopoet.bsky.social 1/3 www.vianegativa.us/2026/01/poet...

Here's a thing I wrote for Carcanet about my forthcoming book: featuring toast, marmite, Tom Baker, and taphophobia

New edition of Peter Didsbury's "new and collected poems" this April. I am very excited. Poetry's best kept secret. www.bloodaxebooks.com/ecs/product/...

Me, last year, on how Larkin made it new.

My bit on Larkin's The Less Deceived, which is 70 this year -and every bit as good as The Whitsun Weddings. Thanks as ever to @engelsbergideas.bsky.social & thank you again to @plsoc.bsky.social for hosting the live version.

A Poetry Notebook enters the Kingdom of Winter, with cameo appearances from Christina Rossetti, Frost, Stevens, Larkin and Toby Martinez de las Rivas. jwikeley.substack.com/p/snow-on-sn...

"These days, I stress that close reading is not magic. Its power lies in argument: always vulnerable, nothing simpler and yet nothing harder." @bostonreview.bsky.social www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...

I have a new poem, about ancient history, in the winter edition of @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social. Very pleased I am about it too. You can get a copy and read some other pieces online here: thelondonmagazine.org/product/curr...

This was a lot of fun. Thank you @plsoc.bsky.social for the invitation. Print version to follow. And here is the beautiful piece by Rachel Cooke I mentioned at the start. Such absences: www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...

I have a new poem, about ancient history, in the winter edition of @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social. Very pleased I am about it too. You can get a copy and read some other pieces online here: thelondonmagazine.org/product/curr...

Our December / January 2026 issue is out now! Cover image by Tom Johnson, cartoon by Dan Sperrin. Order your copy here: thelondonmagazine.org/product/curr...

Many words of the year are in fact more than one word

I'll be on a ship in Canary Wharf reading some poems - not all by me, thankfully - for The Little Review launch party tomorrow from 1300hrs. Why not come along? Ticket includes a (little) magazine. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/guest-even...

This week in the poetry blogs w/ @suefinch.bsky.social @velveteenrabbi.bsky.social @linarvitvideopoet.bsky.social @mcrucefix.bsky.social @emmalee1.bsky.social @jwikeley.bsky.social @kimmoorepoet.bsky.social @richardjnewman.bsky.social @shotscarecrow.bsky.social 1/4 www.vianegativa.us/2025/11/poet...

And very much looking forward to it too!

A friend and I wrote to Larkin from 1960s New Zealand, quite baffled by the poem. He wrote back, explaining the various references very straightforwardly, and entirely without condescension. Pretty impressive.

“It’s both funny and serious. The speaker’s a shit. That’s always serious.” Philip Larkin joins the culture wars. jwikeley.substack.com/p/solemn-sin...

A taste of my forthcoming book, thanks to @badlilies.bsky.social - www.badlilies.uk/graeme-richa...

Someone - I think it was @jwikeley.bsky.social – pointed out a while ago how different post-war English poetry might look if Douglas had lived.

New post: why children's books are the most important genre, plus another run out for my bit on @questingvole.bsky.social's The Haunted Wood (now out in paperback): jwikeley.substack.com/p/the-end-of...

Still Life with Pottery and Two Bottles - November 1884 https://botfrens.com/collections/46/contents/3109183

What, if anything, does To Autumn have to say about the history of rural labour? I went walking with Keats... jwikeley.substack.com/p/walking-wi...

Interesting times as always this week in the poetry blogs with @robin-gow-poet.bsky.social @wendypratt.bsky.social @jwikeley.bsky.social @kimmoorepoet.bsky.social @richardjnewman.bsky.social @edmundprestwich.bsky.social @salenagodden.bsky.social 1/3 www.vianegativa.us/2025/10/poet...

"Is it dusk yet?" ask the Minervan owls impatiently, itching to spread their wings. Photo of Nouvelle-Aquitaine clock tower by Bianco Da Vinci