Jean Atkin
@jmatkin.bsky.social
British, mostly Scottish, poet in education + community projects / The Poetry Wire online courses / 3rd collection HIGH NOWHERE from IDP / out walking / plagued by the cat / www.jeanatkin.com
Pinned
Jean Atkin
@jmatkin.bsky.social
· Feb 1
I had a wonderful opportunity recently to share a poem with Shrewsbury-based sound artist Chris Renshaw, who has made a marvellous soundscape around it. Here's 'Real at Last' (about adventuring by bicycle with a woman friend back when we were 20). Thank you!
drive.google.com/file/d/112F5...
drive.google.com/file/d/112F5...
Reposted by Jean Atkin
Boosting Venezuela’s oil output by 500,000 barrels a day would cost $10bn and take 2 yrs
Raising production to 1.5mn barrels of oil a day (from current 1mn) would produce 550mn tons of CO2 a year
That's more CO2 than is emitted by countries like UK & Brazil
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Raising production to 1.5mn barrels of oil a day (from current 1mn) would produce 550mn tons of CO2 a year
That's more CO2 than is emitted by countries like UK & Brazil
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Trump taking ‘drill, baby, drill’ plan to Venezuela ‘terrible’ for climate, experts warn
‘Everybody loses’ if production supercharged in country with largest known oil reserves, critics say
www.theguardian.com
January 7, 2026 at 7:14 AM
Boosting Venezuela’s oil output by 500,000 barrels a day would cost $10bn and take 2 yrs
Raising production to 1.5mn barrels of oil a day (from current 1mn) would produce 550mn tons of CO2 a year
That's more CO2 than is emitted by countries like UK & Brazil
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Raising production to 1.5mn barrels of oil a day (from current 1mn) would produce 550mn tons of CO2 a year
That's more CO2 than is emitted by countries like UK & Brazil
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Reposted by Jean Atkin
Palestine Action hunger striker is ‘struggling to breathe’
As Heba Muraisi enters day 66 of refusing food, the length of Bobby Sands’s strike in 1981, campaigners warn she is at risk of brain damage
www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...
As Heba Muraisi enters day 66 of refusing food, the length of Bobby Sands’s strike in 1981, campaigners warn she is at risk of brain damage
www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...
Palestine Action hunger striker is ‘struggling to breathe’
As Heba Muraisi enters day 66 of refusing food, the length of Bobby Sands’s strike in 1981, campaigners warn she is at risk of brain damage
www.thetimes.com
January 7, 2026 at 12:27 PM
Palestine Action hunger striker is ‘struggling to breathe’
As Heba Muraisi enters day 66 of refusing food, the length of Bobby Sands’s strike in 1981, campaigners warn she is at risk of brain damage
www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...
As Heba Muraisi enters day 66 of refusing food, the length of Bobby Sands’s strike in 1981, campaigners warn she is at risk of brain damage
www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...
A glittering afternoon at Mitchell's Fold stone circle. The kind of snow that creaks underfoot. It was absolutely baltic. I wore my big mitts.
#shropshire
#shropshire
January 6, 2026 at 7:40 PM
A glittering afternoon at Mitchell's Fold stone circle. The kind of snow that creaks underfoot. It was absolutely baltic. I wore my big mitts.
#shropshire
#shropshire
Happy new year everyone! Wishing you catlike levels of content and comfort...
December 31, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Happy new year everyone! Wishing you catlike levels of content and comfort...
Eeek.
AI showing signs of self-preservation and humans should be ready to pull plug, says pioneer
AI showing signs of self-preservation and humans should be ready to pull plug, says pioneer
Canadian computer scientist Yoshua Bengio warns against granting legal rights to cutting-edge technology
A pioneer of AI has criticised calls to grant the technology rights, warning that it was showing signs of self-preservation and humans should be prepared to pull the plug if needed.
Yoshua Bengio said giving legal status to cutting-edge AIs would be akin to giving citizenship to hostile extraterrestrials, amid fears that advances in the technology were far outpacing the ability to constrain them. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
December 30, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Eeek.
This is joining my Desired Books list! Thank you @abrackenbury.bsky.social
A book stuffed with makeshift bookmarks! I have been waiting for Sarah Howe's 'Foretokens' since reading, in @PoetrySociety 'Poetry Review', her rueful, compassionate poem about... laundry
December 30, 2025 at 5:26 PM
This is joining my Desired Books list! Thank you @abrackenbury.bsky.social
Reposted by Jean Atkin
December 30, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Reposted by Jean Atkin
Early 14th century floor tile from St. Augustine’s Abbey in Canterbury. The tile was produced locally at Tyler Hill in the Forest of Blean - a major centre for tile production during the medieval period. The tiles are on display in the abbey museum. 📸 My own. #TilesOnTuesday
December 30, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Early 14th century floor tile from St. Augustine’s Abbey in Canterbury. The tile was produced locally at Tyler Hill in the Forest of Blean - a major centre for tile production during the medieval period. The tiles are on display in the abbey museum. 📸 My own. #TilesOnTuesday
Cinquefoil shadows at Acton Burnell.
December 30, 2025 at 7:24 AM
Cinquefoil shadows at Acton Burnell.
Ladybirds tucked into an electric fencepost on Boxing Day, sheltering from the frost.
#shropshire
#shropshire
December 27, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Ladybirds tucked into an electric fencepost on Boxing Day, sheltering from the frost.
#shropshire
#shropshire
Reposted by Jean Atkin
Born today in 1903: Joseph Cornell, the silent master of surreal shadow boxes and poetic film collage. (fot. Wikipedia) #JosephCornell
December 24, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Born today in 1903: Joseph Cornell, the silent master of surreal shadow boxes and poetic film collage. (fot. Wikipedia) #JosephCornell
Reposted by Jean Atkin
incredibly good shot from The Color of Pomegranates, like something cut out of a magazine for a collage
December 24, 2025 at 3:11 PM
incredibly good shot from The Color of Pomegranates, like something cut out of a magazine for a collage
'Stand here, sweetheart, and breathe
this air – but not too deep.
This morning’s sharp, it’s stacked
with spikes of ice.
Listen – for the crackling
of crystals in the blue. Imagine
a vast white temple flung
from ground to sky...'
'Anthelion', my poem on Poetry Advent Calendar now
Happy Christmas!
this air – but not too deep.
This morning’s sharp, it’s stacked
with spikes of ice.
Listen – for the crackling
of crystals in the blue. Imagine
a vast white temple flung
from ground to sky...'
'Anthelion', my poem on Poetry Advent Calendar now
Happy Christmas!
December 24, 2025 at 9:42 AM
'Stand here, sweetheart, and breathe
this air – but not too deep.
This morning’s sharp, it’s stacked
with spikes of ice.
Listen – for the crackling
of crystals in the blue. Imagine
a vast white temple flung
from ground to sky...'
'Anthelion', my poem on Poetry Advent Calendar now
Happy Christmas!
this air – but not too deep.
This morning’s sharp, it’s stacked
with spikes of ice.
Listen – for the crackling
of crystals in the blue. Imagine
a vast white temple flung
from ground to sky...'
'Anthelion', my poem on Poetry Advent Calendar now
Happy Christmas!
What a joy to the inbox the Poetry Advent Calendar from @annierutherford.bsky.social has been this Dec! So proud to have 'Anthelion' up there on Christmas Eve. Thanks Annie.
'Stand here, sweetheart, and breathe
this air – but not too deep.'
mailchi.mp/posteo/poetr...
'Stand here, sweetheart, and breathe
this air – but not too deep.'
mailchi.mp/posteo/poetr...
Poetry Advent Calendar: 24 December
mailchi.mp
December 24, 2025 at 9:37 AM
What a joy to the inbox the Poetry Advent Calendar from @annierutherford.bsky.social has been this Dec! So proud to have 'Anthelion' up there on Christmas Eve. Thanks Annie.
'Stand here, sweetheart, and breathe
this air – but not too deep.'
mailchi.mp/posteo/poetr...
'Stand here, sweetheart, and breathe
this air – but not too deep.'
mailchi.mp/posteo/poetr...
Fabulous (I mean that exactly) poem this morning from @samueltongue.bsky.social on the Poetry Advent Calendar! Thanks Sam and @annierutherford.bsky.social
mailchi.mp/posteo/poetr...
mailchi.mp/posteo/poetr...
Poetry Advent Calendar: 23 December
mailchi.mp
December 23, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Fabulous (I mean that exactly) poem this morning from @samueltongue.bsky.social on the Poetry Advent Calendar! Thanks Sam and @annierutherford.bsky.social
mailchi.mp/posteo/poetr...
mailchi.mp/posteo/poetr...
Reposted by Jean Atkin
December 22, 2025 at 5:31 PM
They're hanging shiny things on a tree. And they woke me up.
They have to be stopped.
They have to be stopped.
December 22, 2025 at 9:00 PM
They're hanging shiny things on a tree. And they woke me up.
They have to be stopped.
They have to be stopped.
I like this very much.
After years of being curious about my lineage, I finally received my ancestry results. Apparently I'm 12% Scottish Highlands cottage, 16% used bookstore, 9% October, 13% cat rescue, 11% rainswept cobblestone side street, 7% dimly-lit café in Prague, 17% scone, and 15% Oxford comma.
December 22, 2025 at 8:56 PM
I like this very much.
'Fingering the air, a leafless shimmer
glistens in his old skin. Little legions
pool black on his finery.'
Michael Mullen's birch is original and wintry. A perfect poem for today on @annierutherford.bsky.social Poetry Advent Calendar. I enjoyed it so much.
mailchi.mp/posteo/poetr...
glistens in his old skin. Little legions
pool black on his finery.'
Michael Mullen's birch is original and wintry. A perfect poem for today on @annierutherford.bsky.social Poetry Advent Calendar. I enjoyed it so much.
mailchi.mp/posteo/poetr...
Poetry Advent Calendar: 22 December
mailchi.mp
December 22, 2025 at 2:33 PM
'Fingering the air, a leafless shimmer
glistens in his old skin. Little legions
pool black on his finery.'
Michael Mullen's birch is original and wintry. A perfect poem for today on @annierutherford.bsky.social Poetry Advent Calendar. I enjoyed it so much.
mailchi.mp/posteo/poetr...
glistens in his old skin. Little legions
pool black on his finery.'
Michael Mullen's birch is original and wintry. A perfect poem for today on @annierutherford.bsky.social Poetry Advent Calendar. I enjoyed it so much.
mailchi.mp/posteo/poetr...
Why aren't all matchboxes this good?
December 21, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Why aren't all matchboxes this good?
today the light pauses
on the robin's question,
the dark shine on bark
on the robin's question,
the dark shine on bark
December 21, 2025 at 10:35 AM
today the light pauses
on the robin's question,
the dark shine on bark
on the robin's question,
the dark shine on bark
Reposted by Jean Atkin
Reposted by Jean Atkin
The running of the deer
December 20, 2025 at 5:50 AM
The running of the deer
Dolydd, the Workhouse at Llanfyllin, built to house 250 souls. Four courtyards: men; women; boys; girls. Husbands and wives separated, children over 7 separated from their parents. Two sorts of gruel.
December 20, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Dolydd, the Workhouse at Llanfyllin, built to house 250 souls. Four courtyards: men; women; boys; girls. Husbands and wives separated, children over 7 separated from their parents. Two sorts of gruel.