Tickets available now. More than 80 author talks and events including comedy, music, politics, literary fiction, nature, children's & family events... take a look at the website!

Barnaby Harsent @jahshabby.bsky.social at our Christmas - Winter anthology launch last Sunday. www.blackboughpoetry.com/news

No secret sauce – just all the right ingredients: talent, talent and more talent. If you've yet to dip a toe into wave twenty-four of @iambapoet.com – with its special guest poet @johnglenday.bsky.social – make time for it over the festive period. 🎄🎁🦌

Guest feature at our #openmic on Zoom tomorrow - Victoria Spires @victoriaspires.bsky.social Book now to read or listen! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/black-boug... #poetry #spokenword

Life cracks on at a pace, and sometimes you don't have time to appreciate the good stuff. Like the Black Bough Christmas Anthology, featuring around 80 poems, including one of mine! It's an insanely good pounds-to-poem ratio, and means it's a gift that punches well above its weight. Link in bio.

Our bumper Christmas and winter anthology - check our bio for details! The perfect gift for the literary buff. Paperback under £10! Hardback also available and very posh! #christmasgifts #books #christmas #books

Morning #PromptCombo -ers. When it grows up, #ThisPoem wants to be a poem by @racheljeffcoat.bsky.social, @jenferoze.bsky.social, Katrina Moinet, @benedictan.bsky.social or @moette.bsky.social. It's not fussy 😉 Please help spread the word & sign up to hear these stellar readers. Link below ⬇️

NEWSLETTER 🗞️ Open mics, launches, a workshop to plan your 2026! blackboughpoetry.com/so/aePhMQGQI...

Wondering what to buy that special someone for Christmas? Wonder no longer. Get everyone you know a copy of this and then put your trotters up for the rest of December. Follow me for more life hacks.

Shoutout if you’re up for submitting in the new year for our Christmas & winter anthology! This year’s anthology is out very soon!!! @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social

One of the things I like about ekphrastic poetry is that it gives me an easy answer should someone ask, "what's the poem about?" So I'm made up to be in the line-up for "After..." for 2026, alongside some phenomenal writers. A gift that keeps on giving throughout the year! (Mine is end of June.)

Some fine #Halloween micropoems today. Go for it. Go for broke! Full tilt imagination. Up to 14 words long. Tag us in. @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social

Limited character count? No worries. Everything you need is on the lovely poster. But, in case... 28 November, 6.30pm Me and @justinrobertsonart.bsky.social at Margate Off License, talking books, records, and kidnapping Jon Dasilva. And then all down to Faith in Strangers for the afters.

@blackboughpoetry.bsky.social Halloween micro poetry comp entry... done @cheltpoetfest.bsky.social poetry comp entry... done @poetrysociety.org.uk poetry comp entry... done Now it's time to hit the mean streets of that London to see @gwennosaunders.bsky.social Decent day so far.

Micropoem competition time for Halloween (for the fantastic @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social) Written, fittingly, with ragged nerves after about two hours' sleep.

Right then @victoriaspires.bsky.social... I said I was going to give the #promptcombo a go and I've ended up with something that at least leans into the idea of #DreamLogic. Probably not finished, obviously, but leaving it for now...

Looking forward to this - if you're around this evening and fancy hearing some excellent poetry for free, then sign up!

HELLO PEOPLE OF BLUESKY Been knocked on my arse this week, but will be rising from my sick bed tonight, helped by the power of poetry! Come and join us if you can. Eight poets sharing fantastic work and all for free! CLICK BELOW FOR TICKETS! 7pm kick-off. Hope to see you there!

If you have an hour to spare on Saturday 25 Oct why not treat your ears to some of the best poetry going? @hool415.bsky.social @meggiepoet.bsky.social @saraswatinagpal.bsky.social @spiropoetry.bsky.social @jahshabby.bsky.social & Katrina Moinet, Zooming free! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/last-satur...

This promises to be a great evening of poetry, and it's free! Looking forward to hearing the rest of the line-up - just need to choose what I'm going to read before now and then. No pressure! Saturday 25th October 7pm.

If you're around on the 25th, this will be fun - and it's free! Which is the best value a Saturday in October is likely to bring...

I did a LOT of big features over the summer, nice they're starting to come out now. This was one of the bigger ones... Again another true inspiration, and another model of embracing cultural abundance and optimism in scary times.

Contrary to my earlier claim to have started writing poems a couple of years ago, I just remembered these. Written in desperation as I didn't have enough gas in the tank to write proper match reports for a 2018 World Cup project. Happy World Poetry Day! 😂

Contrary to my earlier claim to have started writing poems a couple of years ago, I just remembered these. Written in desperation as I didn't have enough gas in the tank to write proper match reports for a 2018 World Cup project. Happy World Poetry Day! 😂

You have to write for the love, because the publishing process and response can be upsetting, and the accolades so few (especially for poetry) yet there are collections I love that received little attention. But that creative rush is very special – no one can take it away

This will be good. You should come. Paul is a very good egg.

Thanks to the support of a fantastic Sensei, Mr Lee Adams, and my son, Nat, I was awarded my black belt in Uechi Ryu karate this weekend. Doing a Dan grading in Germany, in front some of the very best in the world was incredible. An honour I'm very lucky to have been granted. Now the work begins.

So this has been in the world 24 hours now, and I'm blown away by the range of voices and the skill on show. I've had some very kind words for my own efforts, which is - of course - lovely, but this really works best seen as a collective, collaborative project - curated with care and skill.

The weekend's gone, but this Monday's a happier one than most thanks to @markantonyowen.com and wave 23 of iamb. Three poems from me to kick things off, the wonderful @victoriaspires.bsky.social closing the gig, and the quality throughout is superb! www.iambapoet.com/wave/23-barn...

Don't miss this, poets – the new wave, AND your chance to appear in a future one. I have two years' worth of spaces to fill. Help a publisher out? 🥹😉

A lovely review of what was a great evening.

Me: The first rule of Marketing is to concentrate on the value to your audience, not on how news makes "you" "feel". Also me: But I feel pretty fucking happy about this! Read (and hear) poems by 15 poets (of which I'm one) in the latest wave of iamb. Goes live in two weeks!

Me: The first rule of Marketing is to concentrate on the value to your audience, not on how news makes "you" "feel". Also me: But I feel pretty fucking happy about this! Read (and hear) poems by 15 poets (of which I'm one) in the latest wave of iamb. Goes live in two weeks!

A serving suggestion I can properly get on board with...

A good time to stock up My personal suggestions would be @rushikawick.bsky.social @danielghinds.bsky.social plus Fiona Benson and Tom Branfoot (neither of whom I can't find on here), but there's no shortage af great books on that list! 25% is a brilliant offer - don't (Broken) sleep!

Competition closes on 1st April. Final call from here. www.therialto.co.uk/pages/nature...

A sharply-worded, atmospheric, mysterious poem in our winter edition by BB newcomer @jahshabby.bsky.social - you should hear Barnie read too!

In my professional capacity (copywriter), I'm always telling clients to focus on their audience, not themselves. I couldn't be happier to break that rule to share the news that I've had a poem accepted for the @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social winter anthology. Follow for more me-related content.

A post of thank yous. To @favlit.org and The Little Green Bookshop for sponsoring and hosting. To @sarahhehir.bsky.social , Jake Nathan, and @jpseabright.bsky.social for being so erudite and ace. And to all those who gave their attention and shared their words. Better than I dared to hope!

Last call! Page vs. Stage: at @favlit.org TOMORROW! Where does poetry live its best life, between the covers or on the boards? You get a lively panel discussion, then the mic for yourself! Open mic slots available (first come, first served). Sat 1 Mar, 12:30pm @ The Arden Theatre. £10.

Page vs. Stage: at @favlit.org THIS SATURDAY! Where does poetry live its best life, between the covers or on the boards? Join in with a lively panel discussion, then take the mic yourself! Open mic slots available (first come, first served). Sat 1 Mar, 12:30pm @ The Arden Theatre. £10.

Page vs. Stage: at @favlit.org THIS SATURDAY! Where does poetry live its best life, between the covers or on the boards? Join in with a lively panel discussion, then take the mic yourself! Open mic slots available (first come, first served). Sat 1 Mar, 12:30pm @ The Arden Theatre. £10.

‘This was the time of the uncomfortable tempo and its equally uncomfortable dance style: the mechanical inexorable. You can hear this on the record and hear how well it suits Faithfull’s direct approach.’ Lavinia Greenlaw on 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Hello bluesky friends. I'm after some advice. I want recommendations for an audiobook about poetry (but not actual poetry). Matthew Hollis's "The Waste Land: A biography of a poem" is my gold standard (mainly as it's read by him). Pleaseandthankyou B

Hello bluesky friends. I'm after some advice. I want recommendations for an audiobook about poetry (but not actual poetry). Matthew Hollis's "The Waste Land: A biography of a poem" is my gold standard (mainly as it's read by him). Pleaseandthankyou B

Just finished a poem for my girlfriend of 31 years. I was going to present it as a Valentine's gift (though we never do them). I thought it was a sweet piece about partnership and facing life together. I just read it back and can confirm that it's actually... Bleak. As. Fuck. Oops!

VG from @georgemonbiot.bsky.social but as others have said the historical analogy is wrong. Chamberlain wasn't a Nazi fellow-traveller. AfD supporter and far-right propagandist Goodwin is much closer to Oswald Mosley.

Page vs. Stage: at @favlit.org Where does poetry live its best life, between the covers or on the boards? Join in with a lively panel discussion, then take the mic yourself! Open mic slots available (first come, first served). Sat 1 Mar, 12:30pm @ The Arden Theatre. £10.

There's some serious skill on display here from Camille Ralphs. Studied and clever, but lots of fun too.