It's a pleasure to serve as EIC at SHINE international poetry series -- a labor of love, passion project -- where today we're launching 'Mapless,' by Kyla Houbolt, winner of our very first book prize! It's available on Amazon marketplace: tinyurl.com/yvmyasy3 #shinepoetry #poetrylovers #booklovers

Congratulations Kyla!!! Can’t wait to read it 👏💖👏

If you enjoy Black Bough content, #TopTweetTuesday #fragmentsfriday and the Silver Branch you are most welcome to send a hearty tip! 💵 This pays for website, zoom subscriptions, coffee, poetic stamina pills and morale! ko-fi.com/matthewmcsmi...

No usual #fragmentsfriday for the next three Fridays. Why not use this break to post summer / holiday pics and boost others’ work, review and rate others. What better opportunity? Back on Friday 7th August! If you’d like to tip… ko-fi.com/matthewmcsmi... #poetry #writing

Calling those poets slated to appear in wave twenty-seven of @iamb.uk who've not yet sent in their submission. If you need a little more time – perhaps because of the #ukheatwave – let @markantonyowen.com know as soon as you can. ❤️

Bit concerned by the number of poets still to send in their completed submissions for wave twenty-seven of @iamb.uk yet from whom I've so far heard nothing. The deadline is three days away – and with eight subs currently outstanding, I can see myself reaching for the reserves list fairly soon. 😕

‘Rachel Deering writes with scalpel-sharp precision, penning one of the finest poetry collections I’ve read in a long time’ ( @brionycollins.bsky.social ) @racheldeering.bsky.social www.blackboughpoetry.com/rachel-deering #poetry #nature

Highly recommended. If you love poetry then this needs to be in your collection!

A poem from me: 🖼️ L Paul Matthews

One for @coastalpoet.bsky.social's #poemsaloud at the end of a week that saw @afterpoetry.com and @iamb.uk announce nominees for @sundresspub.bsky.social's Best of the Net. This poem of mine from Release Three of @subruria.com was put forward for BOTN a few years ago by @eastridgereview.bsky.social.

So, coming down to the wire here, Mapless will be released on July 17th! Many thanks to @tomsnarsky.bsky.social for the advance praise for this collection.

Get one of the #poetry collections of the summer - Polly Oliver’s ‘Edges of Our Days’. @pollyoliverwales.bsky.social www.blackboughpoetry.com/polly-oliver... #poetry #poetrylovers #poets #books

🩵 ✨ 🩵 ✨ 🩵 ‘Edges of Our Days’ has arrived!!! Congratulations @pollyoliverwales.bsky.social on her gorgeous debut collection, hot off the press @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social 🌟👏 🩵 ✨ 🩵 ✨ 🩵

ANNOUNCEMENT: Join us on Saturday 8th August, midday, at Harry's Bar, Mumbles, Swansea to celebrate the in-person launch of Polly Oliver's 'Edges of Our Days' with guest readers. Unmissable! Diarise right now and let us know if you're coming! @pollyoliverwales.bsky.social #poetry #spokenword

Launched this Friday - Polly Oliver’s poetry collection ‘Edges of Our Days’ with Black Bough. @pollyoliverwales.bsky.social #poetrybooks #poetry #poet #poetrylovers #Gower

Celebrating the first proof copy of Polly Oliver’s debut #poetry collection at Harry’s Bar - with Polly and Gareth. Pictured - Polly and editor-poet @matthewmcsmith.bsky.social #mumbles #poetry #poetic #poet

The Bloomsday Festival is here! On 11-16 June 2026, we have more than 130 events throughout Dublin. To see the full programme for this year’s festival, check out bloomsdayfestival.ie Today, we are all Dubliners. #bloomsday #bloomsdayfestival

Summer arrives with its usual swagger: everything loud and bright and hot. For something cooler, dive into the latest wave of @iamb.uk. You'll find 45 poems by 15 poets – written and read by their authors. Enough to see you through the driest season. iamb.uk/index/wave/26

Poetry doesn't need more branding, networking, gatekeeping or performance. In this new piece, @alanparrywriter.co.uk reflects on why poetry still matters, the value of paying attention, and why ordinary lives remain the raw material of great writing. thebrokenspine.co.uk/2026/06/07/n...

Dear Friends and Interested Parties! Mapless will be released sometime in July and I hope this work will bring goodness to the lives of all who read it.

New on the site... for the next slot in our literary journals spotlight, we're introducing you to the brilliant Sci-Fi Ireland! irishwriterscentre.ie/.../literary...

Delighted to be included in this T.S. Eliot themed anthology, and thoroughly enjoyed hearing everyone read their poems last night!!

This Wednesday 10th June, you are cordially invited to the online Zoom launch of ‘Shored Fragments’. Get booking, get inspired by our poems in response to Eliot’s The Waste Land. 👇 👇 👇 shorturl.at/asE2f

Discover who's joining special guest poet @robinince.bsky.social in wave twenty-six of @iamb.uk from June 15th onwards. Huge congratulations to all the poets who made the cut! 🥳

I’m so honoured! Thank you @carmellapoetry.bsky.social 🌷💖😘

Thanks to @matthewmcsmith.bsky.social @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social for including my poems in this anthology of responses to Eliot's The Wasteland.

Fabulous to have your words again and a supreme sequence Lesley.

Energetic cormorant along the Royal Canal in Dublin. #BirdSky #SpeirGorm

Hey Bluesky fam, it’s that time of year again! This is my second year doing 🏳️‍🌈Sweat With Pride🏳️‍🌈 and this time it really does feel more poignant, since I’m literally fighting for my rights this year. Here’s the link to sponsor me if you want to: www.sweatwithpride.com/fundraisers/...

Congrats to the 15 poets of wave twenty-six: Alex Smith, Anna Maughan, Caroline Stancer, Clare Best, Deborah Gaudin, Elizabeth Osmond, Frances Klein, Francesca Leader, Jonathon Medeiros, Kate Vanhinsbergh, Lauren Parker, Rachel Burrows, Robin Ince, Victoria Moul and Zain Rishi.

Happy book anniversary for 'I Am Not Light' to Manchester poet, Louise Machen @louloumach.bsky.social Louise will continue to perform over the summer in the North. A true wordsmith and #spokenword maverick! tinyurl.com/bpab6xhj

@elcurwen.bsky.social - a brilliant addition to our Eliot edition!

Poets! Are you drifting in your craft and getting nowhere fast? Come to our workshop on Sun 9th Aug to get seriously informed...and serious about what you're doing. Head out with the start of a writing plan. Led by @matthewmcsmith.bsky.social www.eventbrite.co.uk/signin/?refe... #poetry #poet

We're back with an online OPEN MIC on Monday 8th June, 7:30PM + Three poems (5 mins each), per poet. Ideal for the nervous! Time to blow away the cobwebs. Why not make an impression? www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/black-boug... #poetry #openmic #spokenword

Get your tickets for SHORED FRAGMENTS - the launch of our Eliot-inspired anthology on Wed 10th June, 6:30pm. Contributors and audience, book here! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/online-lau... #eliot #modernism #tseliot

There's a discount running in my print shop at the moment to help soothe my injured car (primarily via her mechanic's bill) so if you've had your eye on something, use the code FECKINGCAR at checkout to get 10% off. Browse prints drawn and printed in aul' Ireland here - www.ciaraioch.com/artprints

1st place 🥇 Elizabeth Fevyer. #fragmentsfriday #poetry #writing #poet #poetic

2nd place #fragmentsfriday LJ Ireton #poetry #writing #poet

3rd place 🥉 on #fragmentsfriday - Helen Laycock @helenlaycock.bsky.social #poetry #writing

A poem from Regine Ebner’s collection ‘Mountains that See in the Dark’ #poetry #writing #regineebner www.blackboughpoetry.com/regine-ebner...

@jamesmcconachie1.bsky.social’s powerful collection ‘Consolamentum’. Available on Amazon. www.blackboughpoetry.com/consolamentu... #poet #poetry #spain #writer #rural

It’s been a good year for the roses 🌹 🎶

A peony for your thoughts!

‘What is love but the mother of the god gene?’ A poem inspired by #WallaceStevens for TopTweetTuesday on Twitter. #love #muse #touch #lovers #modernism #americanpoetry #poetry

From our Eliot-inspired anthology, profound words by Paul Brookes @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social www.blackboughpoetry.com/shored-fragm...

Just 1 week to go until writers Katherine O'Donnell and Rosamund Taylor will be in conversation about writing queer Irish womanhood, in celebration of Pride 2026! 🌈 More info & booking here: irishwriterscentre.ie/whats-on/wri...

A snippet from ‘Shored Fragments…’ our anthology responding to Eliot’s The Waste Land, available on Amazon. @richlyevocative.bsky.social www.blackboughpoetry.com/shored-fragments-eliot #poetry #eliot #modernism