Joshua Blackman
@jjblackman.bsky.social
Poetry, photography, ecology etc. Poems in Ambit, the Poetry Review, the White Review & others.
Thanks to @newstatesman.com for publishing my sardonic state-of-the-nation poem. It’s out today from all reputable and (some disreputable) newsagents.
July 18, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Thanks to @newstatesman.com for publishing my sardonic state-of-the-nation poem. It’s out today from all reputable and (some disreputable) newsagents.
Reposted by Joshua Blackman
Finally, we revisited this poem by @jjblackman.bsky.social, from our sold-out June / July 2024 issue.
For more poems like this, and to avoid missing out a sold-out issue, you can save nearly 20% on the cost of 6 issues by subscribing to The London Magazine: thelondonmagazine.org/product/clas...
For more poems like this, and to avoid missing out a sold-out issue, you can save nearly 20% on the cost of 6 issues by subscribing to The London Magazine: thelondonmagazine.org/product/clas...
February 18, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Finally, we revisited this poem by @jjblackman.bsky.social, from our sold-out June / July 2024 issue.
For more poems like this, and to avoid missing out a sold-out issue, you can save nearly 20% on the cost of 6 issues by subscribing to The London Magazine: thelondonmagazine.org/product/clas...
For more poems like this, and to avoid missing out a sold-out issue, you can save nearly 20% on the cost of 6 issues by subscribing to The London Magazine: thelondonmagazine.org/product/clas...
Back from Paris where I had the pleasure of witnessing a Renoir unfold in real time.
January 14, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Back from Paris where I had the pleasure of witnessing a Renoir unfold in real time.
Three poems by James Tate on his birthday.
December 8, 2024 at 5:35 PM
Three poems by James Tate on his birthday.
Lying in bed pre-parkrun I can’t help but think of Jesus in his final hours.
November 30, 2024 at 8:20 AM
Lying in bed pre-parkrun I can’t help but think of Jesus in his final hours.
Listening to Pink Moon on vinyl I heard what I thought was the snickering of crickets. ‘Isn’t it nice they kept that in?’ I thought. Turns out it’s a real-life cranefly bumping idiotically against my window.
September 20, 2024 at 12:31 PM
Listening to Pink Moon on vinyl I heard what I thought was the snickering of crickets. ‘Isn’t it nice they kept that in?’ I thought. Turns out it’s a real-life cranefly bumping idiotically against my window.
Marrying in church because I hold God in higher esteem than Chichester District Council.
September 16, 2024 at 7:40 PM
Marrying in church because I hold God in higher esteem than Chichester District Council.
Welcome, new arrivals. Here’s a poem which featured in the June/July issue of The London Magazine.
August 13, 2024 at 9:41 PM
Welcome, new arrivals. Here’s a poem which featured in the June/July issue of The London Magazine.
How many paid entries to poetry competitions before it counts as a gambling addiction?
March 29, 2024 at 10:16 AM
How many paid entries to poetry competitions before it counts as a gambling addiction?
The most clear-eyed and cogent piece of writing on Gaza that exists. If I could project it onto the moon or into people's dreams I would: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Pankaj Mishra · The Shoah after Gaza
Memories of Jewish suffering at the hands of Nazis are the foundation on which most descriptions of extreme ideology and...
www.lrb.co.uk
March 27, 2024 at 7:45 AM
The most clear-eyed and cogent piece of writing on Gaza that exists. If I could project it onto the moon or into people's dreams I would: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Found an ancient 50 pence piece in my washing machine filter, so I guess I’m a mudlark now.
March 3, 2024 at 10:26 PM
Found an ancient 50 pence piece in my washing machine filter, so I guess I’m a mudlark now.
Reposted by Joshua Blackman
“I went [to Art school] because the government of the day paid for me to go and I didn’t have to pay them back” - Peter Capaldi. Things really were better in the past and we now seem to have become a society that only exists to serve the needs of the rich www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Peter Capaldi says posh actors are smooth, confident and tedious
The Doctor Who and Thick of It actor laments the lack of support for emerging talent from working-class backgrounds
www.theguardian.com
January 14, 2024 at 9:27 AM
“I went [to Art school] because the government of the day paid for me to go and I didn’t have to pay them back” - Peter Capaldi. Things really were better in the past and we now seem to have become a society that only exists to serve the needs of the rich www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
Almost wrote a concrete poem about snow but caught myself and instead wrote about sleet.
January 10, 2024 at 10:02 PM
Almost wrote a concrete poem about snow but caught myself and instead wrote about sleet.
Reposted by Joshua Blackman
I wrote about my memories of Molly Brodak t.co/bwxtWUMydJ
Patricia Lockwood · The Secret Life: On the poet Molly Brodak
Stolen clothes. Getaway cars, police sirens. It’s so much WORK to have a secret life. But work is what Molly Brodak...
t.co
January 8, 2024 at 9:42 PM
I wrote about my memories of Molly Brodak t.co/bwxtWUMydJ
For #smallpoemsunday, this by Kristín Ómarsdottír (translated by Vala Thorodds):
January 7, 2024 at 8:29 PM
For #smallpoemsunday, this by Kristín Ómarsdottír (translated by Vala Thorodds):
Reposted by Joshua Blackman
Going to solve the XL Bully crisis by breeding the XS Bully, a dog with the exact proportions and violent temperament of the XL but it’s the size of a human thumb
January 6, 2024 at 11:57 AM
Going to solve the XL Bully crisis by breeding the XS Bully, a dog with the exact proportions and violent temperament of the XL but it’s the size of a human thumb
I've received word that this poem I wrote will be appearing on a Brighton bus. I don't know which bus or which route, but if you get on a bus in Brighton between now and the end of February, you may well see it.
January 4, 2024 at 7:59 AM
I've received word that this poem I wrote will be appearing on a Brighton bus. I don't know which bus or which route, but if you get on a bus in Brighton between now and the end of February, you may well see it.
Watched ‘The Remains of the Day’ to set me straight for the year. No prevaricating from me milord. Let’s carpe that diem.
January 1, 2024 at 10:33 PM
Watched ‘The Remains of the Day’ to set me straight for the year. No prevaricating from me milord. Let’s carpe that diem.
Reposted by Joshua Blackman
Lászlo Moholy-Nagy, 7 a.m., New Year's Morning, c. 1930
January 1, 2024 at 4:31 PM
Lászlo Moholy-Nagy, 7 a.m., New Year's Morning, c. 1930
Two poems by James Tate, a poet I can’t stop discovering.
January 1, 2024 at 6:09 PM
Two poems by James Tate, a poet I can’t stop discovering.
Happy new year from this doleful bat etched on a wood burner on West Dean estate.
January 1, 2024 at 8:35 AM
Happy new year from this doleful bat etched on a wood burner on West Dean estate.
Reposted by Joshua Blackman
A brilliant essay by Rachael Allen on class, publishing and the mythical reader for Too Little/To Hard. It expresses the life-long alienation of being a working class writer & editor, but also speaks of our joyful & innovative legacies tlth.co.uk/difficultand...
Difficult and Bad — TL/TH
tlth.co.uk
December 30, 2023 at 5:19 PM
A brilliant essay by Rachael Allen on class, publishing and the mythical reader for Too Little/To Hard. It expresses the life-long alienation of being a working class writer & editor, but also speaks of our joyful & innovative legacies tlth.co.uk/difficultand...
Taking a tentative foray into the world of flash fiction. I've written a new piece here. Free to read, free to subscribe. open.substack.com/pub/cemetery...
Antagonist
Flash fiction
open.substack.com
December 29, 2023 at 12:31 PM
Taking a tentative foray into the world of flash fiction. I've written a new piece here. Free to read, free to subscribe. open.substack.com/pub/cemetery...
City I dislike: London
City I begrudgingly respect: Berlin
City I think is overrated: Rome
City I think is underrated: Prague
City I like: Bologna
City I love: Paris
City I dream of living in: Naples
City I begrudgingly respect: Berlin
City I think is overrated: Rome
City I think is underrated: Prague
City I like: Bologna
City I love: Paris
City I dream of living in: Naples
City I dislike: Paris
City I begrudgingly respect: Vienna
City I think is overrated: Rome
City I think is underrated: Tangier
City I like: Venice
City I love: London
City I dream of living in: New York
City I begrudgingly respect: Vienna
City I think is overrated: Rome
City I think is underrated: Tangier
City I like: Venice
City I love: London
City I dream of living in: New York
City I dislike: Boston or Philly
City I begrudgingly respect: Chicago
City I think is overrated: Austin
City I think is underrated: Birmingham
City I like: LA
City I love: Charleston
City I dream of living in: Charleston or Paris
City I begrudgingly respect: Chicago
City I think is overrated: Austin
City I think is underrated: Birmingham
City I like: LA
City I love: Charleston
City I dream of living in: Charleston or Paris
December 29, 2023 at 8:21 AM
City I dislike: London
City I begrudgingly respect: Berlin
City I think is overrated: Rome
City I think is underrated: Prague
City I like: Bologna
City I love: Paris
City I dream of living in: Naples
City I begrudgingly respect: Berlin
City I think is overrated: Rome
City I think is underrated: Prague
City I like: Bologna
City I love: Paris
City I dream of living in: Naples
Not sure I’ve seen a film as imaginative or ambitious as ‘The Boy and the Heron’. It was like the first time I read ‘The Third Policeman’. Dizzyingly creative.
December 28, 2023 at 9:59 PM
Not sure I’ve seen a film as imaginative or ambitious as ‘The Boy and the Heron’. It was like the first time I read ‘The Third Policeman’. Dizzyingly creative.