Ian Brownlie
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ianbrownlie.bsky.social
Ian Brownlie
@ianbrownlie.bsky.social
640 followers 880 following 280 posts
Writer of poetry/fiction for children/adults | Fiction: Times/CH LL | Poems: Dirigible, Tyger Tyger, Little Thoughts, The Toy | SHINE, streetcake, Audi Locus | Pushcart nom '26 | he/him
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ianbrownlie.bsky.social
Having a teenage daughter, #ship only has one meaning for me these days.
@thetoypress.bsky.social
#WordOfTheWeek #WritingCommunity #WritingForChildren #PoetryCommunity #PoetryForKids #KidLit #WordPrompt
'I'll show you a ghost ship!' claimed Prue Spooky stuff, so right in my purview But then she said 'Nowt's sublimer Than this picture of Slimer Who I ship with – from Mario – King Boo!'
November 19, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Reposted by Ian Brownlie
jamiesmart.bsky.social
I do not understand authors, broadcasters, voice artists, YouTubers, ANY creative artists using quick and cheap AI for their cover images and not realising: it will be you next.
November 18, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Reposted by Ian Brownlie
shinepoetry.bsky.social
Poetry fans, the 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY ISSUE of SHINE Quarterly is just around the bend! Stay tuned...

#shinepoetry
#poetrycommunity
#internationalcommunity
SHINE Quarterly Issue 5 promo
November 8, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Ian Brownlie
ianbrownlie.bsky.social
Yesterday, I requested a story of mine was taken down, as the website also featured a story written by ChatGPT.

Just went on Instagram and saw possibly my favourite author, Margaret Atwood, had posted an AI picture of herself.

Totally deflated. #AI #WritingCommunity
November 17, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Reposted by Ian Brownlie
thetoypress.bsky.social
Hello, here is your #wordoftheweek!
(Amended slightly due to repetition)

#writingcommunity #writingforchildren #writingprompt #poetryforkids #poetrycommunity #poetryforchildren
#illustrationcommunity #illustrationprompt #kidlit
November 17, 2025 at 12:03 PM
ianbrownlie.bsky.social
Yesterday, I requested a story of mine was taken down, as the website also featured a story written by ChatGPT.

Just went on Instagram and saw possibly my favourite author, Margaret Atwood, had posted an AI picture of herself.

Totally deflated. #AI #WritingCommunity
November 17, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Reposted by Ian Brownlie
thebrokenspine.co.uk
This year is almost over, and we’re inches away from making something incredible happen. A free-to-enter poetry award with real cash prizes. The finish line is in sight. Can you help us get there? 🔗
A Poetry Award That Puts Poets First – And You Can Make It Happen - The Broken Spine
Poets deserve more than empty prestige. They deserve real recognition, real opportunities, and real support. That is why I am launching The Broken Spine
shorturl.at
November 17, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Reposted by Ian Brownlie
littlethoughtspress.com
Today is the last day to enter our #kidlit #poetrycontest!
November 15, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Reposted by Ian Brownlie
jumpingjulespoetry.bsky.social
Thanks Rob Jelly for having me on BBC Upload last night, interview and 2 poems. I really enjoyed listening, feel rather special. I’m on after about 17 minutes, link below 🙂🌟

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Upload with Rob Jelly - 13/11/2025 - BBC Sounds
Poet Julie Stevens and artistic director Ali Pretty.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 14, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Reposted by Ian Brownlie
sueimnw.bsky.social
For this week's #PoemsAbout #Desire with thanks to @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk and all those participating.
November 14, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Reposted by Ian Brownlie
alanparrywriter.co.uk
Too long for me to post the text really, this is my #PoemsAbout #Desire

I read my poem, I Want, here.

vm.tiktok.com/ZNdENbt9c/
TikTok - Make Your Day
vm.tiktok.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:49 PM
ianbrownlie.bsky.social
Looking forward to reading all of the other #PoemsAbout #Desire. Here's mine.
@thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk
run i want what i want what i need what i lust after must i forget the regret the forced laughter the demons that purr in my soul tear a hole take their toll on my psyche and make it unlikely to love and feel love and be loved and to feel this is love
November 14, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Reposted by Ian Brownlie
thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social
For #poemsabout #desire @thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk Three faces of desire:
Allow Me to see the skull in your passion the teeth in your desire to caress the bones of your delight the sinews of your breath to delve the niches of longing the cleft of floods My Freezing Desire for you clichés my words. We shiver as we touch. Each caress brings striations of ice over skin, blood bubbles to the surface. Our cold air stretches our lungs makes it hard to breathe. My body is alabaster, yours marble. Sex is a fridge turned up highest. Someday we must defrost. We Must Damage Each to feel anything for one another. I take this razor and cut your cheek until it bleeds. You reply with a needles stab in my leg. The blood drips as we continue our intimate conversation. Clearly this is most intense love and desire.
November 14, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Reposted by Ian Brownlie
jumpingjulespoetry.bsky.social
Looking forward to hearing my interview and poem on BBC Upload tonight and Saturday night at 6pm with Rob Jelly. Thanks Rob!
November 13, 2025 at 8:59 AM
ianbrownlie.bsky.social
Time to get back on #track with @thetoypress.bsky.social's #WordOfTheWeek. Or is it?

#WritingCommunity #WritingForChildren #PoetryCommunity #PoetryForKids #KidLit #WordPrompt
Do You Really Want to Get Back on Track? Like a train tied to stations, in the same old locations, always on fixed durations, with no chance of vacation. Is there not some temptation to resist this stagnation? Perhaps instead take advantage of coming off the rails. Glide over the countryside, towards a port. Chug up to a ferry, and take a trip overseas. Join a traffic jam and blare your superior train horn, then break free and pick up speed. Do the locomotive in a town you don't know the name of. Head deep underground. Take flight, if you can, or simply jump up and feel the air step aside as you rise. And then, one day, return to your rails. Or don't.
November 11, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Reposted by Ian Brownlie
stefankarlsson.bsky.social
Lately I’ve been tucking #kidlit poetry zines into neighborhood Little Free Library boxes 📚

Everyone has the power to make something beautiful—something that reflects your hopes for a kinder, more joyful world—and share it with others ✨

#NationalPoetryMonth #poetry #zines #PoetryCommunity
April 14, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Reposted by Ian Brownlie
littlethoughtspress.com
👀 #kidlit writers & artists! We will be open for submissions again on November 20th for Issue 13: Head, Shoulders, Spleen & Nose!

www.littlethoughtspress.com/theme
Theme announcement for Issue 13: Head, Shoulders, Spleen & Nose.
November 10, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Reposted by Ian Brownlie
thetoypress.bsky.social
Thank you for all your supportive comments on our post yesterday.

Here is your #wordoftheweek!

#writingcommunity #writingforchildren #writingprompt #poetryforkids #poetryforchildren #poetrycommunity
November 10, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Reposted by Ian Brownlie
thetoypress.bsky.social
We would usually have opened up submissions again by now, but we are taking a pause to think about what's next.

For the past few editions, we haven't recouped all of our costs and this is largely down to the increasing expense of sending out contributor copies...
November 9, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Reposted by Ian Brownlie
lozzawriting.bsky.social
It's here! What a terrific collection of words this is. Delighted to have my flash, "Who's afraid of little old me?" on P42. Watch this space for a novella in flash with this character. Link below. Take a peek at everyone! @underbellypress.bsky.social Thanks!

@pdevonald.bsky.social issue bud!
underbellypress.bsky.social Underbelly Press @underbellypress.bsky.social · 11d
I’m thrilled to share Issue 5 of Underbelly Press!

Our website (in bio) features a PDF copy to download or read as a flipbook: underbellypress.wixsite.com/home/copy-of...
New Release Issue 5 08 November Underbelly Press In the background is a yellow circle. In the middle of the circle is the Issue 5 cover, it reads: Issue 5, Autumn 25 Underbelly Press at the top and below a crisp picture of orange maple leaves in the foreground and a blurred blue-green background.
November 8, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Reposted by Ian Brownlie
stacebot.bsky.social
For this week's #PoemsAbout #LockedDoors, I'm thinking about trying to open and failing.

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

#poetry #poem #writing #PoetryCommunity #BlueSkyPoets
letters never sent i keep writing you letters about a stone in my throat, about triangles— the way mistakes keep repeating in me. but letters always break apart. sometimes they begin: i am one useless excuse for a human being. sometimes they start with a recipe for cake without eggs, and a few lines from a favorite story— instructions for vanishing inside my own life. the words feel like glass in the envelope. i unfold it, let them fall.
November 7, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Reposted by Ian Brownlie
zoomburst.substack.com
#poemsabout #lockeddoors
I seem to write a lot about teachers... ahh well.
Miss When she stood at the blackboard in front of 4B She was a locked door An old style, dark green door A decorative stained glass panel above, Giving only a hint of the light that shone within She knew her stuff That much we knew But you had to be keen to pick any of it up She made no allowance for our age We could sink or swim for all she seemed to care I met her at a conference, years later The door ajar, the light escaping Recognising me instantly She asked how I had done since the days of 4B And of my classmates, who she knew by name How we would have marvelled to have seen her like this
November 7, 2025 at 9:09 AM
ianbrownlie.bsky.social
My #PoemsAbout for the prompt #LockedDoors
Thanks @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk
It's a counterpoint to my children's poem Outside In, which ends:

"But where else can we all explore
A world with countless open doors?"

dirigibleballoon.org/poem/Outside... @northernjim.bsky.social
inside a door two doors some doors multiple doors as many doors as you can think of plus one door and one more door all locked
November 7, 2025 at 10:31 AM
ianbrownlie.bsky.social
Thanks to @thetoypress.bsky.social for their #WordOfTheWeek #Spark. Here's where my brain went this week:

#WritingCommunity #WritingForChildren #PoetryCommunity #PoetryForKids #KidLit #WordPrompt
Super-disappointing Lightning Lady and Water Man went out on their first date. She bolted there quite early, but he flowed in rather late. He dampened down her glow talking of his best friend the shark. “This isn’t working out,” she said. “I just don’t feel a spark.”
November 5, 2025 at 10:07 AM