Jan Noble
@jannoble.bsky.social
Knowing I’ll never reach you but being OK with getting close…”Jan Noble has gilded tonsils” (LPT) ★★★★★
https://jannoble.co.uk
https://jannoble.co.uk
Pinned
Two figures, in a landscape.
You and I, holding hands on a cold November day, watching the world go the other way…
You and I, holding hands on a cold November day, watching the world go the other way…
November 16, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Two figures, in a landscape.
You and I, holding hands on a cold November day, watching the world go the other way…
You and I, holding hands on a cold November day, watching the world go the other way…
Do a commercial and you’re off the artistic roll call. Forever. I was happy to take that risk…
Nº37 How I never became the voice of a Parisian perfume brand
Or how I found out that I had a price…
open.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Do a commercial and you’re off the artistic roll call. Forever. I was happy to take that risk…
Searching for a quick way out? Then this may not be for you… Sometimes we gotta go in deeper, we gotta push on through…
Nº36 Click to immediately exit this site
Or the story of a fall
open.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Searching for a quick way out? Then this may not be for you… Sometimes we gotta go in deeper, we gotta push on through…
In which I climb a cathedral, get lost in a shopping mall and have an encounter with a candle peddler…
Nº35 Smell this and feel exceptional
Or an elegy on a shopping mall…
open.substack.com
November 2, 2025 at 12:15 PM
In which I climb a cathedral, get lost in a shopping mall and have an encounter with a candle peddler…
Described by critic John Gibson Lockhart as a “vulgar cockney” John Keats was born above this London pub (formerly the Swan and Hoop) on this day in 1795.
October 31, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Described by critic John Gibson Lockhart as a “vulgar cockney” John Keats was born above this London pub (formerly the Swan and Hoop) on this day in 1795.
This is not a love poem. This is a death of love poem.
October 28, 2025 at 5:05 PM
This is not a love poem. This is a death of love poem.
What was the name of that town we didn’t visit? Where the train didn’t stop? That we passed by in rain? I’d like to go back there. Please, please take me back…
October 23, 2025 at 12:00 PM
What was the name of that town we didn’t visit? Where the train didn’t stop? That we passed by in rain? I’d like to go back there. Please, please take me back…
Really, what is wrong with you?
Nº34 What’s the matter with you?
Or the unendurable beauty of being ignored
open.substack.com
October 19, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Really, what is wrong with you?
It happens that I arrive in the rain…
18-11-25 →
18-11-25 →
October 17, 2025 at 8:15 AM
It happens that I arrive in the rain…
18-11-25 →
18-11-25 →
There’s plenty of badly built poetry out there that should come with similar warnings…
October 9, 2025 at 11:22 AM
There’s plenty of badly built poetry out there that should come with similar warnings…
October 8, 2025 at 9:55 AM
More howling into the void, more incantation intended to dispel the effects of bad poetry...
This week’s essay, and Nº 32 in the series, is online now. Free to read over on Substack
open.substack.com/pub/jannoble...
This week’s essay, and Nº 32 in the series, is online now. Free to read over on Substack
open.substack.com/pub/jannoble...
October 7, 2025 at 9:50 AM
More howling into the void, more incantation intended to dispel the effects of bad poetry...
This week’s essay, and Nº 32 in the series, is online now. Free to read over on Substack
open.substack.com/pub/jannoble...
This week’s essay, and Nº 32 in the series, is online now. Free to read over on Substack
open.substack.com/pub/jannoble...
An essay describing an encounter with my nemesis… and how I manifested the presence of another old ghost.
open.substack.com/pub/jannoble...
open.substack.com/pub/jannoble...
October 5, 2025 at 12:56 PM
An essay describing an encounter with my nemesis… and how I manifested the presence of another old ghost.
open.substack.com/pub/jannoble...
open.substack.com/pub/jannoble...
There are days like these. On the slant, on the tilt, out of focus, But here’s a window. And there. there’s the sea…
October 4, 2025 at 2:36 PM
There are days like these. On the slant, on the tilt, out of focus, But here’s a window. And there. there’s the sea…
Sending signals out to the universe. I am not in distress, I do not need assistance. I am not adrift, I am simply failing to maintain my position. I feel both the pull of the tide and a resistance to go with it, I feel the need for attatchment and yet a desire to break free. This is my flag.
October 3, 2025 at 10:20 AM
Sending signals out to the universe. I am not in distress, I do not need assistance. I am not adrift, I am simply failing to maintain my position. I feel both the pull of the tide and a resistance to go with it, I feel the need for attatchment and yet a desire to break free. This is my flag.
Reposted by Jan Noble
We’re sorry to learn of the death of poet Brian Patten aged 79. Brian was the youngest of the trio of best-selling Mersey Poets who shot to fame in the early 1960s. (Photo: Brian Patten by Chris Gleave).
September 30, 2025 at 4:03 PM
We’re sorry to learn of the death of poet Brian Patten aged 79. Brian was the youngest of the trio of best-selling Mersey Poets who shot to fame in the early 1960s. (Photo: Brian Patten by Chris Gleave).
Not exactly a eulogy for Tony Harrison… perhaps more a lament for the skinhead he encounters in ‘V’, a poem that had a profound effect on me when I first saw it. Yes, I saw and heard the poem before I ever read it…
Nº31 What Skinhead Danny taught me about art and poetry
Or a brief reflection on Tony Harrison’s ‘V’
open.substack.com
September 28, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Not exactly a eulogy for Tony Harrison… perhaps more a lament for the skinhead he encounters in ‘V’, a poem that had a profound effect on me when I first saw it. Yes, I saw and heard the poem before I ever read it…
I came to poetry not through books but in film. I stayed up to watch this as a kid when C4 broadcast it with a red triangle warning and was electrified by it. Described as a "work of singular nastiness" Tony Harrison’s ‘V’ is still very much a poem for our times. m.youtube.com/watch?v=WPut...
Harrison V Part 1
YouTube video by realthedeal33
m.youtube.com
September 27, 2025 at 12:33 PM
I came to poetry not through books but in film. I stayed up to watch this as a kid when C4 broadcast it with a red triangle warning and was electrified by it. Described as a "work of singular nastiness" Tony Harrison’s ‘V’ is still very much a poem for our times. m.youtube.com/watch?v=WPut...
Reposted by Jan Noble
Very sad to hear Tony Harrison has died. What a wonderful poet he was: the School of Eloquence, V, ‘A Kumquat for John Keats’… I met him once too when I was in my twenties, and he was very kind about my terza rima.
September 27, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Very sad to hear Tony Harrison has died. What a wonderful poet he was: the School of Eloquence, V, ‘A Kumquat for John Keats’… I met him once too when I was in my twenties, and he was very kind about my terza rima.
My Wednesday poem, a reworking of ‘Amour’ by the French Symbolist poet Germain Nouveau…
Open Heart Studio #29
Poem: 'Amour' after Germain Nouveau
open.substack.com
September 25, 2025 at 8:43 AM
My Wednesday poem, a reworking of ‘Amour’ by the French Symbolist poet Germain Nouveau…