Bruise
@bbruise.bsky.social
Let's write a better future. “Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently." Rosa Luxembourg
linktr.ee/BenBruges
linktr.ee/BenBruges
Why is engagement on Bluesky so low?! There are very many people following very many people, but there appears to be very little debate or exchange of ideas going on. Do you have any idea why that might be? I want to engage with a poetry audience who are up for challenging poetry. Any suggestions?
February 10, 2026 at 12:44 PM
Why is engagement on Bluesky so low?! There are very many people following very many people, but there appears to be very little debate or exchange of ideas going on. Do you have any idea why that might be? I want to engage with a poetry audience who are up for challenging poetry. Any suggestions?
A new poem published by the delightful people at @ausauthora.bsky.social - I think of it as modern myth-making. See if it resonates with you?
Sharon's Mouthful
Modern myth-making in this newly published poem
open.substack.com
February 10, 2026 at 12:42 PM
A new poem published by the delightful people at @ausauthora.bsky.social - I think of it as modern myth-making. See if it resonates with you?
Reposted by Bruise
FILM NIGHT - to inspire and organise! Join Hastings People's Party for a community film night or short films and discussion, with contributions from local housing activists.
Wednesday 11 February / 7pm / Quaker Meeting House, 5 South Terrace, Hastings
Wednesday 11 February / 7pm / Quaker Meeting House, 5 South Terrace, Hastings
February 10, 2026 at 10:04 AM
FILM NIGHT - to inspire and organise! Join Hastings People's Party for a community film night or short films and discussion, with contributions from local housing activists.
Wednesday 11 February / 7pm / Quaker Meeting House, 5 South Terrace, Hastings
Wednesday 11 February / 7pm / Quaker Meeting House, 5 South Terrace, Hastings
New poem published on new Substack. Read or read and follow. I've included an audio recording as well.
open.substack.com/pub/benbruge...
open.substack.com/pub/benbruge...
Talking English
Are you interested in the meanings encoded in language?
open.substack.com
January 27, 2026 at 2:18 PM
New poem published on new Substack. Read or read and follow. I've included an audio recording as well.
open.substack.com/pub/benbruge...
open.substack.com/pub/benbruge...
I just published Reading poetry medium.com/p/reading-po...
Reading poetry
I thought you might like to hear me read some of my poems. I wanted to keep it simple — a short introduction and then the poem. Recorded…
medium.com
January 21, 2026 at 11:16 PM
I just published Reading poetry medium.com/p/reading-po...
Excuse the bloody photo. You might like the poem that goes with it and the collection of poems that are available in a downloadable PDF. Enjoy! (And subscribe) From lovely people @thebrokenspine.co.uk
open.substack.com/pub/benbruge...
open.substack.com/pub/benbruge...
'A Goring of Butchers'
A poem published in a downloadable PDF
open.substack.com
January 6, 2026 at 3:14 PM
Excuse the bloody photo. You might like the poem that goes with it and the collection of poems that are available in a downloadable PDF. Enjoy! (And subscribe) From lovely people @thebrokenspine.co.uk
open.substack.com/pub/benbruge...
open.substack.com/pub/benbruge...
Reposted by Bruise
Impeach. Convict. Remove. Now.
January 3, 2026 at 6:31 PM
Impeach. Convict. Remove. Now.
Reposted by Bruise
Give it another hour or so, and it'll be a year exactly since a WhatsApp message from my sister informed me that our father had died.
Speaking of WhatsApp, here's a poem about my (largely textual) relationship with my dad, written roughly 14 months before he passed.
Speaking of WhatsApp, here's a poem about my (largely textual) relationship with my dad, written roughly 14 months before he passed.
January 3, 2026 at 8:16 AM
Give it another hour or so, and it'll be a year exactly since a WhatsApp message from my sister informed me that our father had died.
Speaking of WhatsApp, here's a poem about my (largely textual) relationship with my dad, written roughly 14 months before he passed.
Speaking of WhatsApp, here's a poem about my (largely textual) relationship with my dad, written roughly 14 months before he passed.
Reposted by Bruise
If travel through time and space had allowed Dante and Samuel Beckett to collaborate on something, they would have created Jools Holland’s Hootenanny
December 31, 2025 at 8:44 AM
If travel through time and space had allowed Dante and Samuel Beckett to collaborate on something, they would have created Jools Holland’s Hootenanny
Reposted by Bruise
Happy new year.
December 31, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Happy new year.
HNY via Samuel Beckett
December 31, 2025 at 6:53 PM
HNY via Samuel Beckett
Are you interested in a free PDF of poetry to download? How about the latest edition of Harrow House Journal?
substack.com/@benbruges/n...
And also my new Substack account to follow.
substack.com/@benbruges/n...
And also my new Substack account to follow.
Poetry by Ben Bruges (@benbruges)
Are you interested in a free PDF of poetry to download? How about the latest edition of Harrow House Journal?
“Harrow House was born of a desire to create a healing space for poets to share works cen...
substack.com
December 30, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Are you interested in a free PDF of poetry to download? How about the latest edition of Harrow House Journal?
substack.com/@benbruges/n...
And also my new Substack account to follow.
substack.com/@benbruges/n...
And also my new Substack account to follow.
Reposted by Bruise
It is an honor to have two new hyper vulnerable poems in the latest issue of SALAMANDER, a journal I’ve been trying to burrow into for a decade. If you need your Bell Jar fix, want to hear about my study abroad to France 20 years ago, or want a splitter explained, read these!
December 30, 2025 at 6:44 PM
It is an honor to have two new hyper vulnerable poems in the latest issue of SALAMANDER, a journal I’ve been trying to burrow into for a decade. If you need your Bell Jar fix, want to hear about my study abroad to France 20 years ago, or want a splitter explained, read these!
Walking down from the coastal path into Tenby, and came across this blue plaque. I thought I'd share.
December 30, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Walking down from the coastal path into Tenby, and came across this blue plaque. I thought I'd share.
Reposted by Bruise
If there was a justified humanitarian Zionist movement, it has mutated now into a monster.
Perhaps ISIS began by feeding the poor. Perhaps the swastika used to mean "good luck" in Sanskrit but not today.
Those who continue to describe themselves as Zionists are ignorant or guilty by association.
Perhaps ISIS began by feeding the poor. Perhaps the swastika used to mean "good luck" in Sanskrit but not today.
Those who continue to describe themselves as Zionists are ignorant or guilty by association.
December 28, 2025 at 3:18 PM
If there was a justified humanitarian Zionist movement, it has mutated now into a monster.
Perhaps ISIS began by feeding the poor. Perhaps the swastika used to mean "good luck" in Sanskrit but not today.
Those who continue to describe themselves as Zionists are ignorant or guilty by association.
Perhaps ISIS began by feeding the poor. Perhaps the swastika used to mean "good luck" in Sanskrit but not today.
Those who continue to describe themselves as Zionists are ignorant or guilty by association.
Attempting to start a Substack for my poetry. Please subscribe or follow.
open.substack.com/pub/benbruge...
open.substack.com/pub/benbruge...
Abraham's Children
Maybe attempting to create hope is a revolutionary activity?
open.substack.com
December 28, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Attempting to start a Substack for my poetry. Please subscribe or follow.
open.substack.com/pub/benbruge...
open.substack.com/pub/benbruge...
Reposted by Bruise
December 28, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Reposted by Bruise
My first poetry chapbook, "Talking to Irwin," should be published in 2026 by Kelsay Books. I will be posting about the publication date when available, where the book can be purchased, times and dates for a release event and (hopefully) readings in Louisville, Pittsburgh, and other venues.
December 26, 2025 at 12:33 PM
My first poetry chapbook, "Talking to Irwin," should be published in 2026 by Kelsay Books. I will be posting about the publication date when available, where the book can be purchased, times and dates for a release event and (hopefully) readings in Louisville, Pittsburgh, and other venues.
"I see literature as activist, particularly the epic forms of literature. It’s great to have lyric poetry that explores the self and identity, but the voice you choose gives you what you see, and if your voice is private, your vision will be private." Alice Oswald in the Paris Review
resonates.
resonates.
Alice Oswald, The Art of Poetry No. 119
“You come at poetry with the momentum of having failed. It’s only when other communication is absolutely impossible that a poem has to exist.”
www.theparisreview.org
December 23, 2025 at 5:04 PM
"I see literature as activist, particularly the epic forms of literature. It’s great to have lyric poetry that explores the self and identity, but the voice you choose gives you what you see, and if your voice is private, your vision will be private." Alice Oswald in the Paris Review
resonates.
resonates.
Why not read it online? www.theparisreview.org/interviews/8...
December 23, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Why not read it online? www.theparisreview.org/interviews/8...
Reposted by Bruise
Surely one of you has a subscription to the Paris Review and can shoot me a copy of this: Alice Oswald, The Art of Poetry No. 119. Please? Pretty please?
December 23, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Surely one of you has a subscription to the Paris Review and can shoot me a copy of this: Alice Oswald, The Art of Poetry No. 119. Please? Pretty please?
Reposted by Bruise
Starmer’s government is letting the hunger strikers die.
December 23, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Starmer’s government is letting the hunger strikers die.
Make the mag - print, fold, read.
December 23, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Make the mag - print, fold, read.
Reposted by Bruise
Excited to share that two new poems of mine are now published in @darkwinterlitmag.bsky.social!
Read them both here:
www.darkwinterlit.com/post/a-fores...
Read them both here:
www.darkwinterlit.com/post/a-fores...
December 11, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Excited to share that two new poems of mine are now published in @darkwinterlitmag.bsky.social!
Read them both here:
www.darkwinterlit.com/post/a-fores...
Read them both here:
www.darkwinterlit.com/post/a-fores...
Reposted by Bruise
Over the moon that my poem “Two Headless Snowmen” is in @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social's Winter Anthology! ❄️ Grateful to @matthewmcsmith.bsky.social for my first-ever Pushcart Prize nomination! 🏆
December 18, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Over the moon that my poem “Two Headless Snowmen” is in @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social's Winter Anthology! ❄️ Grateful to @matthewmcsmith.bsky.social for my first-ever Pushcart Prize nomination! 🏆