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poetbex.bsky.social
Bex Hainsworth
@poetbex.bsky.social
3.1K followers 2.9K following 360 posts
Teacher and Poet. Pamphlets - Walrussey (The Black Cat Poetry Press, 2023) and Circulaire (Written off Publishing, 2025).

Circulaire available to purchase here: https://writtenoffpublishing.com/shop/p/circulaire-bex-hainsworth
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poetbex.bsky.social
Happy Valentine's Day!! 💕

The winners of the Circulaire draw are @pdevonald.bsky.social and Charys Ellmer over on Instagram! Your free copies will be on their way to you this week 💘

Thank you to everyone who entered, spread the word, and shared their favourite love poems! 💛☕️
February 14, 2026 at 3:11 PM
poetbex.bsky.social
ICYMI: My ekphrastic poem ‘The Fall of [Man] and the La[men]tation’ is in the latest issue of The Marrow 🍎

You can read the full poem here: www.themarrowpoetry.com/issue-six/th...
February 13, 2026 at 5:44 PM
Reposted by Bex Hainsworth
stonecirclereview.bsky.social
Stone Circle #ThrowbackThursday poem : "Pufferfish" by Bex Hainsworth (@poetbex.bsky.social) #Tbt

stonecirclereview.com/pufferfish/
Pufferfish
by Bex Hainsworth   La Specola Zoological Museum, Florence She hangs like a novelty lampshade in this bright aquarium, sterile light crimping into pale waves across the bristled balloon of her body...
stonecirclereview.com
February 12, 2026 at 2:15 PM
poetbex.bsky.social
GIVEAWAY REMINDER! 🚨

This Valentine's Day, I'm giving away TWO free copies of Circulaire, my collection of love poems. 💘

Please like and comment your favourite love poem below and I'll enter your name into the draw! 💕
February 11, 2026 at 6:16 PM
poetbex.bsky.social
Delighted to have a poem in Issue Six of The Marrow! 🍎

'The Fall of [Man] and the La[men]tation' is an ekphrastic poem after the diptych by Hugo van der Goes and you can read it here: www.themarrowpoetry.com/issue-six/th...
The Fall of [Man] and the La[men]tation — The Marrow International Poetry
by Bex Hainsworth
www.themarrowpoetry.com
February 9, 2026 at 5:55 PM
poetbex.bsky.social
FREE GIVEAWAY ALERT!! 🚨

I'm giving away TWO copies of Circulaire, my collection of love poems, this Valentine's Day! 💘

Please like and comment your favourite love poem below and I'll enter your name into the draw 💕
February 8, 2026 at 6:08 PM
poetbex.bsky.social
So excited to finally get a #shelfie of my poetry publications in my new library!! 📚
February 7, 2026 at 6:29 PM
poetbex.bsky.social
Delighted to have a poem in the TIDAL LIGHT issue of @cosmicdaffodil.bsky.social! 🌊

You can read ‘flying mobula’ below and the rest of the wonderful issue here: static1.squarespace.com/static/62f08...
February 2, 2026 at 5:44 PM
Reposted by Bex Hainsworth
paulwritespoems.bsky.social
This Weeks Book Bag is Circulaire by
@poetbex.bsky.social published by
@writtenoffbooks.bsky.social

Also shoutouts/news @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social
@iamb.uk @louisepoetical.bsky.social @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social @thebrokenspine.co.uk

And more
paulwritespoems.bsky.social Paul @paulwritespoems.bsky.social · 22d
This week in The Book Bag, Circulaire by Bex Hainsworth published by Written Off Publishing.

Take 5 and settle in.

'... in my opinion is a masterclass on poetry about life'

Plus news, opps, shoutouts and of course an eclectic playlist.

#TheBookBag
The Book Bag: Circulaire by Bex Hainsworth
Welcome back to The Book Bag. I hope you’ve had a poetic week. What a week. Bristol for a conference and back again. A lot of train travel (where I got to talk to some great people and listen to their stories). It did mean I got to meet up with the man, the myth, Matthew MC Smith for a catchup. Did I get lost walking to the restaurant I had picked? Yes! Was it a good choice though? Yes! Aside from my whistle stop 23 hours in Bristol, I spent a little time editing some of my own work and emailing all the wonderful poets who submitted to the Unwhispered Legacy Anthology.
paulwritespoems.com
January 25, 2026 at 8:14 AM
Reposted by Bex Hainsworth
citizen-chris.bsky.social
Read about a few mentoring opportunities I’m offering in @paulwritespoems.bsky.social’s fantastic The Book Bag this week, featuring @poetbex.bsky.social: paulwritespoems.com/2026/01/25/t...
Mentoring here: www.chriscampbellpoetry.co.uk/about-3
January 26, 2026 at 12:47 PM
poetbex.bsky.social
So chuffed about this wonderfully thoughtful review of my latest chapbook, Circulaire, by @paulwritespoems.bsky.social! 💛

I still have signed copies available. If poetry about home, love, and womanhood is your jam, drop me a DM! (£10 via PayPal, I cover p&p) ☕️

paulwritespoems.com/2026/01/25/t...
The Book Bag: Circulaire by Bex Hainsworth
Welcome back to The Book Bag. I hope you’ve had a poetic week. What a week. Bristol for a conference and back again. A lot of train travel (where I got to talk to some great people and listen to th…
paulwritespoems.com
January 28, 2026 at 6:34 PM
poetbex.bsky.social
Delighted to have a poem in Issue 34 of Sky Island Journal! 🐍

You can read 'Portrait of My Sensory Overload as Two
Minor Cobra-Headed Egyptian Goddesses' below and the rest of the wonderful issue here:
skyislandjournal.com/issues#/issu...
Portrait of My Sensory Overload as Two Minor Cobra-Headed Egyptian Goddesses Bex Hainsworth I: Meretseger Her name means ‘she who loves silence,’ which makes sense when you have only the dead for company. She protects the Theban necropolis, haunts the blissfully empty uncoiling of the desert. Patron of artisans, I wish I had her patience. Listen for the click of copper and faience, the hiss of crumbling sand. When the world swells, I shrink it to the grains rubbing the feet of her small rock temple, picture myself lying down in the heat there and curling my limbs into a sun disk. II: Renenutet Surrogate mother, goddess of fertility and fields. Like you, I am childless with many children. You wrapped pharaohs in your glittering skin, held them from death to birth. I lay out the exam papers like flattened sheaves, imagine Yorkshire wheat, childhood games of hide and seek. I close the curtains, my desk becomes an altar, your shrine inside the cool stone of a granary. I am ready to sift and grind.
January 27, 2026 at 6:42 PM
Reposted by Bex Hainsworth
paulwritespoems.bsky.social
This week in The Book Bag, Circulaire by Bex Hainsworth published by Written Off Publishing.

Take 5 and settle in.

'... in my opinion is a masterclass on poetry about life'

Plus news, opps, shoutouts and of course an eclectic playlist.

#TheBookBag
The Book Bag: Circulaire by Bex Hainsworth
Welcome back to The Book Bag. I hope you’ve had a poetic week. What a week. Bristol for a conference and back again. A lot of train travel (where I got to talk to some great people and listen to their stories). It did mean I got to meet up with the man, the myth, Matthew MC Smith for a catchup. Did I get lost walking to the restaurant I had picked? Yes! Was it a good choice though? Yes! Aside from my whistle stop 23 hours in Bristol, I spent a little time editing some of my own work and emailing all the wonderful poets who submitted to the Unwhispered Legacy Anthology.
paulwritespoems.com
January 25, 2026 at 7:57 AM
poetbex.bsky.social
"Fans of poetry on womanhood will love this collection. This book is an excellent addition to anyone who likes contemporary writing and in my opinion is a masterclass on poetry about life."

Absolutely blown away by this review of Circulaire by the wonderful @paulwritespoems.bsky.social 💛☕️
paulwritespoems.bsky.social Paul @paulwritespoems.bsky.social · 22d
This week in The Book Bag, Circulaire by Bex Hainsworth published by Written Off Publishing.

Take 5 and settle in.

'... in my opinion is a masterclass on poetry about life'

Plus news, opps, shoutouts and of course an eclectic playlist.

#TheBookBag
The Book Bag: Circulaire by Bex Hainsworth
Welcome back to The Book Bag. I hope you’ve had a poetic week. What a week. Bristol for a conference and back again. A lot of train travel (where I got to talk to some great people and listen to their stories). It did mean I got to meet up with the man, the myth, Matthew MC Smith for a catchup. Did I get lost walking to the restaurant I had picked? Yes! Was it a good choice though? Yes! Aside from my whistle stop 23 hours in Bristol, I spent a little time editing some of my own work and emailing all the wonderful poets who submitted to the Unwhispered Legacy Anthology.
paulwritespoems.com
January 25, 2026 at 5:33 PM
poetbex.bsky.social
I adored Midden Witch by Fiona Benson. As soon as I read the endorsements, I started salivating - poems about witches, remedies, history, and womanhood. An absolute poetic feast of a collection! 🍂
January 14, 2026 at 6:21 PM
Reposted by Bex Hainsworth
csmithpoet.bsky.social
Thank you so much. So pleased it resonated with you. 💜
poetbex.bsky.social Bex Hainsworth @poetbex.bsky.social · Jan 11
I spent my weekend with Bycatch by @csmithpoet.bsky.social (@ninearchespress.bsky.social). These poems about caring for elderly parents, exploring memory and home, are raw, intimate, and intricately captured. This collection will stay with me for a long time! 💙
January 11, 2026 at 6:20 PM
poetbex.bsky.social
I spent my weekend with Bycatch by @csmithpoet.bsky.social (@ninearchespress.bsky.social). These poems about caring for elderly parents, exploring memory and home, are raw, intimate, and intricately captured. This collection will stay with me for a long time! 💙
January 11, 2026 at 5:10 PM
poetbex.bsky.social
So pleased that this poem has found a home in the wonderful Shooter Literary Magazine! ✨

'Eulogy for my grandfather as Prospero' is part of Issue 20: Sweet Hereafter 🧙‍♂️
Eulogy for my grandfather as Prospero Each spring term, my students begin The Tempest. Our first lesson, I retrieve my grandfather’s copy of the Collected Works of Shakespeare, circa 1883, from my desk drawer. Relic with gold lettering. Sacred. Spell book. The class is hushed as a curtain; his story is new to them, but after twelve years, I know my lines by heart. Bookish, bespectacled, but exiled from the duchy of academia to the island of wool trading. University? Nowt practical to be learned there, my lad. Married in 1958, my grandmother, midwife, matter-of-fact, attended every literary festival, never complained, slept through Henry V. My mother, Miranda-wild, was more curious about his growing library, each sea-salted text. The Open University was a sail on the horizon. He graduated before I was born; I remember a gowned photo in front of the family fine China. He looms, large and gentle, in all my dreams. With one wreck of a hip, he wielded the metal crutch like a staff, its clanking grey matching storm clouds of hair no comb could tame. From actor to director, he sat with me in the warm cave of living room, helping me learn my part for the nativity play. His leaving was unscripted. Saturday morning phone call, one clot, Caliban, canker, exeunt. I was left with the grief of all our unwritten scenes, awkward preteen, proto-playwright, half-poet. Preparing for first year exams, I was gifted my inheritance: his archives, leatherbound legacy. Fingers tracing the folio, looking for a date, I found a slip of paper covered in his handwriting, inky incantations, conjuring his voice, his benign ghost. Each spring term, children pass his books around the room, examine notes and spines with wonder. Prospero is released, each page prickles with magic.
January 7, 2026 at 6:19 PM
poetbex.bsky.social
Happy New Year, everyone! 🎉

If you want to start your 2026 off with some poetry, Circulaire is a pamphlet about farewells, new beginnings, and coming full circle 💛

Available from Written Off Publishing here: tinyurl.com/4cw3e27r

Or DM me/comment for a signed copy, £10 via PayPal, I cover p&p ☕️
January 2, 2026 at 7:13 PM
Reposted by Bex Hainsworth
jenthorne.bsky.social
I really do. I'm not sure how you make leg shaving and foot pain so wonderful!
December 19, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Reposted by Bex Hainsworth
jenthorne.bsky.social
I've got my copy and can heartily recommend it. Such a lovely poetry book, full of personal moments, beautifully told. Love it. Well done @poetbex.bsky.social ❤️
December 19, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Reposted by Bex Hainsworth
poetbex.bsky.social
Buy indie this Christmas! 🎄

My publisher, @writtenoffbooks.bsky.social, is an unfunded press relying on sales of books like my pamphlet, Circulaire, to stay afloat for 2026.

You can grab your copy of Circulaire here and it will arrive before Christmas! 🎁
writtenoffpublishing.com/shop/p/circu...
December 14, 2025 at 5:42 PM
poetbex.bsky.social
Buy indie this Christmas! 🎄

My publisher, @writtenoffbooks.bsky.social, is an unfunded press relying on sales of books like my pamphlet, Circulaire, to stay afloat for 2026.

You can grab your copy of Circulaire here and it will arrive before Christmas! 🎁
writtenoffpublishing.com/shop/p/circu...
December 14, 2025 at 5:42 PM
poetbex.bsky.social
It's Walrus Awareness Week! 🦭

To celebrate, I'm selling my remaining author copies of Walrussey (@blackcatpress.bsky.social, 2023) for just £5 so you too can be aware of walruses! 💙

DM me for a signed copy, £5 via PayPal/BACS, I'll cover p&p 🌊
December 10, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Reposted by Bex Hainsworth
blackboughpoetry.bsky.social
The BLACK BOUGH @pushcartprize.bsky.social nominations for this year.

Ashley Linkletter
@lozzawriting.bsky.social
@andyperrincycling.bsky.social
@poetbex.bsky.social
Guinevere Clark
Jude Brigley

Well done to all!
December 7, 2025 at 4:20 PM