Beth Brooke
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bethbpoet.bsky.social
Beth Brooke
@bethbpoet.bsky.social
2.1K followers 1K following 1.4K posts
Poet, Quaker, retired teacher, socialist, runner (just) , proud Omi . She/her
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bethbpoet.bsky.social
Beth Brooke @bethbpoet.bsky.social · Sep 1
Now available from Dempsey & Windle www.dempseyandwindle.com/bethbrooke.h...
The cover of my new book. The black and white photo shows my father learning to parachute jump during World War 2
Reposted by Beth Brooke
crisortunity.bsky.social
Meanwhile
extremetemps.bsky.social Extreme Temperatures Around the World @extremetemps.bsky.social · 2d
‼️EXTRAORDINARY DAY: 30 DEGREES IN FRANCE
One of the most insane events Europe has ever lived

29.8 Trois Villes HOTTEST NOVEMBER DAY IN FRENCH HISTORY
29.3 Oloron
29.2 Lanne en Baretous
20 stations >27C !

SPAIN 29.4 Granada

Next days
THOUSANDS OF RECORDS allover Europe except Central Mediterranean
November 13, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Reposted by Beth Brooke
antonyjohnston.bsky.social
Once again @booktrust.org.uk, a UK charity which gifts books to disadvantaged children, is running its Christmas donation drive. I’ve been a BookTrust supporter for many years; please consider making a donation to this excellent cause 📚💖

www.booktrust.org.uk
Visit BookTrust
BookTrust transforms lives by getting children and families reading. We are the UK's largest children's reading charity. Each year we reach 3.4 million…
www.booktrust.org.uk
November 13, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Reposted by Beth Brooke
bdralyuk.bsky.social
Cannot wait to read your work!
montrealprize.bsky.social Montreal International Poetry Prize @montrealprize.bsky.social · 2d
2026 MONTREAL PRIZE JURY MEMBER

BORIS DRALYUK

Boris Dralyuk is the author of “My Hollywood and Other Poems” (@pauldrybooks.bsky.social, 2022), and an award-winning translator and critic.

Find him @bdralyuk.bsky.social and bdralyuk.wordpress.com!

#poetry #PoetryPrize #poet #poem #poetrycommunity
November 12, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Reposted by Beth Brooke
jameswsthomson.com
This is one of the most sickening things I've read in a long time. We need names *yesterday*
War tourist foreigners ‘paid £80k to shoot at civilians’ during Siege of Sarajevo
Prosecutors are examining allegations that foreigners paid between €80k and €100k to take part in a ‘sniper safari’
www.independent.co.uk
November 12, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Reposted by Beth Brooke
haikucrush.bsky.social
#Haiku is alive!

The judges @haikucrush.bsky.social are pleased to announce... #poems by Mo Schoenfeld @moschoenfeld.bsky.social of #England are in The Best Haiku 2025 #anthology, available via tinyurl.com/TheBestHaiku/

"Writing haiku continues to be as much a spiritual exercise as... "

#poetry
Pictured in front of a rapid river is Mo Schoenfeld of Southeast #England, UK. The three judges at HaikuCrush.com selected two of her haiku -- "my father's funeral... " and "straying far from roots... " -- for publication in The Best Haiku 2025 international #anthology. The annual collection is available via http://TinyURL.com/TheBestHaiku/ "Writing haiku continues to be as much a spiritual exercise as it is a creative one (for me)... ," she notes. You can also follow Mo on Mastodon at Zirk.US
November 11, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Reposted by Beth Brooke
vikkicwrites.bsky.social
A new winter-themed offering 'ADVENT' written for #Toptweetuesday hosted by @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social @matthewmcsmith.bsky.social

Thank you for the magical inspiration across all seasons 🤍

#poetrycommunity #WritingCommunity #poetry #imagist #winter
ADVENT Snow falling in continuous tense as if nothing has strayed. And what to do but begin again, decorating this palace for you. Unpacking the tangled fable, choiring all the ways to give and give. The field off-white, its halflight a train carrying would-be joy towards silence. Who would have witnessed the blue horses candling the steps of my body? Or December’s thin bell we pretend is not the toll. Our feet invisible under white —but our prints everywhere on Earth. Vikki C.
November 11, 2025 at 4:41 PM
bethbpoet.bsky.social
Remembering my father and all his comrades today. ❤️
My father circa 1941 in his army uniform
November 11, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Reposted by Beth Brooke
maryanncorbett.bsky.social
Twelve years ago today, my husband had a cardiac arrest and collapsed to the floor during breakfast. We give thanks every day for his survival. There are poems about that. This is one.
Seeing Defibrillators, After Like roadside shrines, they brood in liminal spaces, bloodied with scarlet kindergarten hearts, lightning-impaled. In glass-and-metal cases. Alive as mines. What are the odds, they hiss, of keeling over? Of strangers witching over you, in arts of shock and awe? Your breast bared, like a lover rapt by rough gods?
November 10, 2025 at 2:24 PM
bethbpoet.bsky.social
So I did some interval runs this morning. First for months because of the sciatic injury. Lungs felt good. Tomorrow will tell whether the slight muscle ache in my left thigh persists or is ok. Fingers crossed
November 11, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Reposted by Beth Brooke
bestforbritain.org
SUPERB and angrily unvarnished response, by former BBC chairman, Lord Patten.

"I don't think that we should allow ourselves to be bullied into thinking that the BBC is only any good, if it reflects the prejudice of the last person who shouted at it." ~AA
November 10, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Reposted by Beth Brooke
ipsc.bsky.social
Show your solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Well, if you are or have a shop, restaurant, business, community organisation, trade union, arts space, podcast, make an important statement by becoming an Apartheid Free Zone
Sign up! apartheidfree.ie

#FreePalestine #BDS
Apartheid Free Zones - Apartheid Free Zones
Apartheid Free Zones are a new initiative that will help to transform our local communities into spaces of solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice and equality. By pledging to su...
apartheidfree.ie
November 10, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Reposted by Beth Brooke
frogandtoadbot.bsky.social
“I will read the seeds a story,” said Toad. “Then they will not be afraid.”

Toad read a long story to his seeds.
Toad sits in the dark by his garden, reading a story to his seeds by candlelight. From "The Garden" In *Frog and Toad Together*
November 10, 2025 at 5:37 PM
bethbpoet.bsky.social
I went out with a good friend who told me something that made me sad. Some people who had been at the launch of A Long Way Down told her what a horrible man my dad must have been . I thought I had written something full of love and empathy. Tell me I am right 🙏
Everything Afterwards Was Just An Anticlimax There are too many unasked questions for him to answer now; the years after were an anticlimax nothing ever as alive after the guns fell silent and the smoke cleared. What could ever be as vivid as that hour when, before the dawn betrayed them, they made their way like ghosts to the river, committed themselves to the water, clung to the sides of the boat while others oared their way across to the other side, stroke by silent stroke.
November 10, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Reposted by Beth Brooke
markantonyowen.com
What more can I do but echo the cries of praise from other poets who read last night? You've created another great space for poets, @paulwritespoems.bsky.social – and a unique one, in that you're encouraging writers to air work not yet perfected. Like a reading and a workshop, rolled into one! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
November 10, 2025 at 6:50 AM
Reposted by Beth Brooke
thebrokenspine.co.uk
Mark it down: Dec 20th @ 20.00 — #PoemsAbout #OpenMic + #ChristmasParty returns! Poets, readers, friends — one final night to lift your words before the year ends. 🎤✨

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1967176915...
A Christmas tree made of soft, out-of-focus lights glows against a dark blue background. The blurred bulbs form a tapering triangle of reds, greens, yellows, and oranges. White text on the left reads: “#POEMSABOUT VIRTUAL CHRISTMAS PARTY & OPEN MIC 20.12.25 @ 20.00 — Hosted by Alan Parry.” The Broken Spine logo, shaped like a black fountain pen nib, appears at the top right.
November 9, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Reposted by Beth Brooke
booktrust.org.uk
Christmas should feel magical for all children.

And every child deserves to experience the joy of stories.

Will you help to share the #MagicOfBooks with the children who need it most? ✨

https://bit.ly/3LxZycG
November 9, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Reposted by Beth Brooke
michaelrosenyes.bsky.social
Over at my YouTube Channel there are 11 poetry workshops, ideal for teachers teaching poetry. In toto, they've had 336,000 views. Looks like some people are finding them useful!
www.youtube.com/c/MichaelRos...
Kids’ Poems and Stories With Michael Rosen
Official Michael Rosen Channel Every video and playlist here is approved by Michael himself. If it’s on this channel, it’s the real deal and safe for children. You may see “YTP” or “poop” remixes on...
www.youtube.com
November 9, 2025 at 5:26 PM
bethbpoet.bsky.social
A little poem to celebrate my grandson’s nursery outing to collect leaves
Nursery Outing They found autumn in the park, glowing pieces spread across the grass, bright with shades of colours they could not yet begin to name, but they gathered handfuls, knew each leaf was treasure.
November 9, 2025 at 2:00 PM
bethbpoet.bsky.social
Tree on the way to Charminster to visit my parents grave .
Beech tree displaying pale green, rust-coloured and yellow leaves. Bright against a cloudy sky
November 9, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Reposted by Beth Brooke
kelliagodon.bsky.social
"her memory is a cloud she can't hold..."

Lots of feels with this poem for my mum. Sent with love for anyone with a parent or loved one with Alzheimer's/dementia. It's a journey.

(And thank you @poetsorg.bsky.social and Rick Barot for sharing this one. It means a lot.)
October 7, 2025 at 5:22 PM
bethbpoet.bsky.social
Brilliant
susanlleary.bsky.social Susan L. Leary @susanlleary.bsky.social · 5d
M. Cynthia Cheung ♥️

from COMMON DISASTER (Acre Books)

I absolutely love this poem!

@acrebooks.bsky.social
Still Life The backyard foxes are lean this winter, and the birds bright. Most days I can't bring myself to do anything but watch the vixen root for something. A run of good days means I'll spend hours rearranging the pantry, as if preparing to paint a Dutch still life. All that's missing is a milkmaid. Or a dead bird. My dress, wrinkled and sleeveless, is nothing like the sky. The foxes grow thinner, and I wonder whether I should feed them, though I don't really know what they eat. Nights stretch and I sleep little, but it's the days, the sun at four o'clock, that are the most difficult-when the movement of clouds appears full of peril. People once drilled holes into other people's skulls, just to let that darkness out.
November 9, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Reposted by Beth Brooke
booktrust.org.uk
It's #WorldGiftDay! We know that creating a fun celebration when giving out our #Bookstart packs can really help to get families reading.

Find out more about how our programmes are designed to engage families in our latest impact report: https://bit.ly/43S8CPR
A woman and baby opening a BookTrust pack. The text reads partners use BookTrust packs as a way to open up conversations about reading. An early years practitioner handing a BookTrust pack to a smiling man. The text reads gifting creates a celebratory moment, which supports positive family engagement. A woman and baby reading a book. The text reads for families, hearing and seeing how to use BookTrust resources at home creates greater impact on reading habits. An early practitioner shows a book to a woman and small child. Text reads hearing from a relatable, trusted early years partner reinforces or builds belief in the importance of reading.
November 8, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Reposted by Beth Brooke
theglobeandmail.com
In this English city, memories of Canadian soldiers and nurses loom large
Tens of thousands of Canadians convalesced and passed through Buxton during the First World War
www.theglobeandmail.com
November 8, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Reposted by Beth Brooke
rotherwrites.bsky.social
Welcome one and all for this week's @thebrokenspine.co.uk for the #PoemsAbout theme of #LockedDoors, and why they might be locked, what lies behind them.
Until Alan returns please keep the sharing and feedback alive. It took a long time to build #PoemsAbout to the community it is today. 🎯
The Other Side of Truth Some of them don’t look like doors at all. Take wallets and bank accounts for instance; neither you nor I can see over those walls. We take it on trust what’s on the other side. There’s always something there, something you can rely on; call it truth. But this truth is only ever half of the story, even if it is real. One day you find the key or the ladder to that treasury of wealth, usually money. Your illusionist milks the audience, pulls back the curtain, to reveal nothing. A blank, a void. And that’s the other side of truth. Ugly. © Glenn Barker November 2025
November 7, 2025 at 7:18 AM
Reposted by Beth Brooke
beninquiring.bsky.social
Ohhhhh that’s where that mean comes from!
matthewjdowd.bsky.social Matthew Dowd @matthewjdowd.bsky.social · 7d
happy bday French writer Albert Camus, b.1913.
“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.
And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”
November 8, 2025 at 1:07 PM