Debra Nordyke
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dnwritespoetry.bsky.social
Debra Nordyke
@dnwritespoetry.bsky.social
230 followers 300 following 820 posts
Writer of poetry. To walk as a warrior, embracing grace, into the storms of darkness to breathe out light. Weaving the evil threads life hurls with the threads of wonder. Beauty is cultivated in darkness.
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dnwritespoetry.bsky.social
I am quite late to posting, Thanksgiving! #PoemsAbout #NoFuture! Confident this poem is in a state that needs revision and editing...please provide suggestions if something pops into your thoughts! All comments welcome!
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
@karenpgonzalez.bsky.social
December 1, 2025 at 11:57 AM
dnwritespoetry.bsky.social
Here is my poem "Ocean" from The Amphibian Literary & Art Journal. ❤️ #PoemsAbout #BlueSkyPoets
November 26, 2025 at 1:29 PM
dnwritespoetry.bsky.social
I am thrilled and honored to share, my poem "Ocean" was selected to be included in The Amphibian Literary & Art Journal, Autumn/Winter 25-26 Issue 9 Refuge! It is an exquisite and beautiful Journal, a hard copy version that I can hold in my hand! Sweet!
theamphibianlit.wordpress.com
The Amphibian Literary and Art Journal
for the culturally amphibious
theamphibianlit.wordpress.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Reposted by Debra Nordyke
ianbrownlie.bsky.social
Short this week, and not particularly sweet.
#DogTags #PoemsAbout #Haiku
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
Snow blood-stained and wrapped In a muddle of bodies Metal tags unread
November 21, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Reposted by Debra Nordyke
silviapassiflora.bsky.social
#1200 Dog Tags

Time-travel plot twists
dog tags uncover secrets —
dates don’t match the war

#PoemsAbout #DogTags #haiku #senryu #poem #writing #writingcommunity
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
November 21, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Reposted by Debra Nordyke
daletudgehumor.bsky.social
Sometimes you write the feeling of a thing rather than the thing itself. If the feeling you have about the thing you're writing lines up with the feeling the thing creates—that's a good thing.

#DogTags #PoemsAbout
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
@karenpgonzalez.bsky.social
@thebrokenspine.co.uk

#poem
I Misheard "Dogtags" as "Dog Tag" and Wrote This Instead by Dale Tudge @daletudgehumor The dogs chased each other through the park in that glorious, magnificent, absolutely essential ritual known as Dog Tag— having immediately forgotten who was "it," because who cares, really, when there's running to be done, friends to chase, and possibly something suspicious near that bin. One barked "Tag!"—or possibly "Run!"— or conceivably "I'm coming to get you in the most delightful way!"— and the other pretended not to understand, because the misunderstanding is half the joy, the chase is the other half, and the catching is definitely another half, and frankly, dogs have never been terribly concerned with fractions when there's this much fun happening right now. -Dale Tudge
November 21, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Reposted by Debra Nordyke
deemclachlan.bsky.social
Time for another #FridayPoem. Still struggling with the #poemsabout prompt this week so instead here’s the fresh start of a snowy day in a #haikuset
#haiku #poetry #poems #poets #poetsofbluesky #poetrycommunity #alttext #HaikuAltText #PoemAltText
Whiteout a haiku set by Dawn Mclachlan In the silent night Snow came down like memories and cleansed the landscape Smoothed to sugar-white Harshness sweetened to the eye Winter confection From the far forest Rooks rise in conversation Punctuating sky Now the dead trees In the disguise of winter Cannot be discerned In the pink of dawn An unexplored day stretches As if newly born
November 21, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Reposted by Debra Nordyke
artbyseranya.bsky.social
Lucky and Moon,
Would-be
Dog-tags,
Were they
A-live…
©️ #Seranya #Poetry 🦄

#PoemsAbout #DogTags
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
@karenpgonzalez.bsky.social
✌️❤️🦋
November 22, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Reposted by Debra Nordyke
drnaturegirl.debbiemross.co.uk
Good morning #BlueskyPoetry pals @thebrokenspine.co.uk & @alanparrywriter.co.uk facilitating today’s #PoemsAbout #DogTags this fag packet offering is for a friend’s husband, Dave who was killed in Afghanistan in 2012. He was military police not army but she wears his ID.Dogtag jewellery is a thing.
A short poem by Debbie Ross for hashtag poems about hashtag Dog Tags hosted by Broken Spine Arts and entitled Signaculum A signaculum was worn by Roman soldiers in a leather pouch suspended around the neck on their enrolment. This disc, made of lead, bore the name of the recruit and their assigned legion. The text of the 2 stanza poem follows: There was no mouth left to place your tag, the bits of you scattered across a foreign field. Barely any need for a 'body' bag. Your service and your sacrifice I wear around my neck - symbol, memorial, commitment to fight back.
November 21, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Reposted by Debra Nordyke
anna-orridge.bsky.social
Anxiety. Walk on wet sand, compacted
enough to support your weight, a line
of footprints behind you. Sense of self
firm as the name engraved on a dog tag.
Then the sand is water logged, striding
feet consumed. What castle to build
of this, what name to make out
on the gleaming tag? #PoemsAbout
November 21, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Reposted by Debra Nordyke
zentinl.bsky.social
For #PoemsAbout #DogTags I did not feel I had the right to write. Finally, a meager offering emerged. Thank you to all those who serve and have served.

Thank you @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @thebrokenspine.co.uk.

#poetrycommunity #poetry #poems #blueskypoets #blueskypoetry
November 22, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Reposted by Debra Nordyke
jenthorne.bsky.social
Such a good prompt this week with remembrance still weighing on my mind.

#Dogtags
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
#PoemsAbout
#poetry #poetrycommunity #blueskypoets
Marked   Stamped, we begin.   Fed through waiting links.   We warm ourselves against his skin, and mark the beat beneath.   Mud claims strength. He crouches, chanting our rosary.   Staccato guns punctuate rhythms of march and halt.     The trench is deep,  his breathing shallow. We press against the rifle’s stock, imprinted on his heart.   Night.   White flares rupture the empty sky.   He runs.   We whip against his sweated breast.   Then stillness.   The weight shifts. Breath silenced.   Hands divide us.     One remains,  kept to the chest that lies still.   One torn away, carrying his name out from the smoke.     Soil closes in.   I rest against the ribs,   metal to bone,   unmoving in the dark.     No stone above.  No carved word to honour him.   Only the chain’s last echo,   a name unspoken,   held in the earth.
November 21, 2025 at 6:43 AM
Reposted by Debra Nordyke
rburrows.bsky.social
Morning @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk - thanks for the #PoemsAbout #Dogtags prompt. I hope this works if you weren’t a fan. Happy Friday!
November 21, 2025 at 6:14 AM
Reposted by Debra Nordyke
rotherwrites.bsky.social
It's Friday, it's not Crackerjack, but it is time for another episode of #PoemsAbout. A difficult theme this week with #DogTags, and a natural leaning towards the military. I have no idea if this one works.
Join in the conversation; post, like, comment and repost. 📬
The Ordinariness of Things It’s the bitter relish of conditioning, eyes to sight, range load the duty program horror-fantasy-reality game safety catch off, initiate offensive. Bin the logic, break out the Shock and Awe toolkit, practice, perfect, engage combat autopilot. Now is everything but nothing without the pieces: soldier, sailor, airman and factory worker. This week: stamping widgets knob, lever, switch, key 997, 998, 999, 1000 shift over, head for home town, household unit, me and you. Next week: stamping military IDs regular, volunteer, conscript 997, 998, 999, 1000 battle rhythm, always on blood group, service number, surname. © Glenn Barker November 2025
November 21, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Reposted by Debra Nordyke
thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social
For #poemsabout #Dogtags @alanparrywriter.co.uk @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social
Dogtags Since the autocracy got in promising more freedom, less immigrants, reduce crime figures we wear Electronic Dogtags. Those who refused were deported. Natives, close friends, the sick and elderly. Surveillance tags used to buy goods and services prices tailored to your job, and where you live. Injected Just above your fifth vertebrae, so removal will break your spine. Links to ai in your phone and Appliances in the home, who decide when you eat, exercise, have sex, your social life. For your own safety, and those of others.
November 21, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Reposted by Debra Nordyke
stacebot.bsky.social
This week's #PoemsAbout #DogTags got me thinking about what should the world know about you in an emergency?

Thank you to the host
@alanparrywriter.co.uk and
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
and to all of the other writers.

#poetry #poem #writing #PoetryCommunity #BlueSkyPoets
Dog Tag On hold with the repair shop I draw concentric circles on a lavender piece of junk mail. I write my own name so many times it starts to feel vulgar— unspeakable. There’s a flyer telling me to be all I can be-- dog tags dangling. The small weight of a name you can’t put down. To pass the time, I make a list of the three things the world would need to know to save me. But nothing comes. Only my own breathing down the dumb phone and the blank page waiting.
November 22, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Reposted by Debra Nordyke
merrildsmith.bsky.social
Good morning! For #PoemsAbout #DogTags Another tough one! Thank you to @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @thebrokenspine.co.uk #Poetry
Poem: Weighted Silence The air is heavy with silence, the quiet is a roar of denial– there is no war, no marching bands no cheering crowds no reports of fallen soldiers, (tagged and tattooed in advance) no one cries, no one is seen crying, all support, we’re in full support, this operation’s to protect and save— do not say otherwise, wiser to say nothing at all. The air is heavy with silence. That silence is heavy with fear.
November 21, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Reposted by Debra Nordyke
poetry-with-hart.bsky.social
They folded the flag
corner by careful corner
honor kept in a triangle box.
One dog tag,
medals with meaning
illegible with distance and time.
Mantelpiece memories,
all that remains
are echoes of the coffin closing.

@thebrokenspine.co.uk

#poemsabout #dogtags #poem #poetry #4amwritersclub #poemaday
November 21, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Reposted by Debra Nordyke
sueimnw.bsky.social
For this week's #PoemsAbout #DogTags with thanks to @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk and everyone involved.
November 21, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Reposted by Debra Nordyke
johnchmura.bsky.social
I don’t usually post #PoemsAbout @thebrokenspine.co.uk this early, but I’m taking some antihistamines and may sleep through a good portion of the night, or not. Will post a reel for #DogTags in the comments.
DOG TAGS Send them into space, all of the dog tags and toe tags, Trumps’ three Purple Hearts, and the mindset of men who pay dear and trade cheap that the God who abandoned this sorry blue world might see the joylessness of man’s desiring and act as a “signpost up ahead” so benevolent passengers may be forewarned drifting near our debris field on their judicious excursions coming from and returning to, hopefully, better planets smelling of ginger melon balls and mint, where space travel was a glorious culmination, not an escape or an escapade, where they needn’t keep people like me as pets or souvenirs anymore.
November 21, 2025 at 5:45 AM
Reposted by Debra Nordyke
bundtkake.bsky.social
#poemsabout #dogtags #poetry

@alanparrywriter.co.uk
@thebrokenspine.co.uk

F LAT tin Talisman
Flat tin An inch and a half of slightly Off center Stampedletters HILTXXXXXD N. H. A POS & Numbers X4X -XX-XXXX Identity on a bubblegum machine chain USMC M ROMAN CATHOLIC The smallest Cheapest Record Of Is Or Was Priceless Trauma Stored on flat tin Off center stampedletters and numbers Edges encased in black rubber To silence the noise Loss. Honor. Pride Yellowed tape on a St Christopher medal On the s ame 25 cent chai n As quiet as they can possibly be For how much they say
November 21, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Reposted by Debra Nordyke
karenpgonzalez.bsky.social
I offer this for #poemsabout #dogtags @thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk #StayCreative #PoetsSupportPoets
Ukrainian Dog Tags     No one wore them We all knew who they were Boys at play in vineyards And wheatfields Almost grown Into fine men Ploughed under On battlefields Watered with tears - Bloodied homeland Invasion Reaps only what it sows karen pierce gonzalez
November 21, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Reposted by Debra Nordyke
andywilliamson.com
Maybe a bit off-script for #poemsabout #dogtags but it's what emerged - a quick poem on names and seasons of a relationship. Thanks @alanparrywriter.co.uk & @thebrokenspine.co.uk #poems #poetry
Call me by any name spring sunshine graces your smile birds sing in praise of all the saints as we amble through the market holding hands you call me by any name that means love summer heat warms to our conversation young birds fledge, their nests left behind we run for the bus, not fast enough to catch it you call me by names only we can know autumn comes early, rains close around us the birds will leave for warmer lands as smoke from cosy hearths fills the air you call me in a hushed voice winter is hard, a northerly wind brings snow those who are left search for shelter you are wrapped up against the elements you call me to say goodbye
November 21, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Reposted by Debra Nordyke
philippabowe.bsky.social
Morning poets! Struggled a little with the #PoemsAbout prompt this week, #DogTags. Looking at the history of them I discovered soldiers in the American Civil War pinned paper notes to their backs, so went with that. Happy Friday! 💜
Thanks as ever to @thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk
Shaded grey box with a poem: all that remains we don’t cry when they leave us women with our smarting wombs and unbroken backs we don’t cry when the silence from the front line is louder than sorrowing words we don’t cry when their bodies return paper notes pinned to backs shaking letters telling us who and where we cry once we bury them flooding their graves clutching our relics tight to our ragged hearts
November 21, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Reposted by Debra Nordyke
rayhourigan.bsky.social
Mystery deepened,
Archaeological dig
Uncovered dog tags.
#PoemsAbout #DogTags #haiku #senryu #poem #writing #writingcommunity
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
November 21, 2025 at 7:19 AM