Glenn Barker
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rotherwrites.bsky.social
Glenn Barker
@rotherwrites.bsky.social
890 followers 850 following 1.7K posts
[My words] "are shut up tight inside themselves like boxes, yet they would open up, unfolding quite wonderfully, if only" [I could interest them], Sylvia Plath
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rotherwrites.bsky.social
Glenn Barker @rotherwrites.bsky.social · Sep 23
It's a rare recognition of the impact of your writing when it features as one of only six.

Welcome the first issue of Six, a microjournal for poems on womanhood in all its awkward liminality.

Thank you @hannahflynn-poetry.bsky.social for allowing me to reflect on the female experience.
Reposted by Glenn Barker
mwplovesmusic.bsky.social
I #lifttothesky this wonderful community that has held me up and supports each other so lovingly.
November 10, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by Glenn Barker
johnadlam.bsky.social
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
Today I #LiftToTheSky The Book of Bogs, edited by Anna Chilvers and @clareshawpoet.bsky.social - which I am proud to have helped crowdfund. It's gorgeous & important in equal measure - deep layers of poetry and prose to warm our winters 🙏❤️
www.littletoller.co.uk/shop/books/l...
The Book of Bogs
This new anthology from over forty writers, including Robert Macfarlane, Amy Liptrot, Alys Fowler and Patti Smith explores peatlands and bogs, and argues for their importance.
www.littletoller.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Reposted by Glenn Barker
philippabowe.bsky.social
Today's #LiftToTheSky goes to @victoriamelekian.bsky.social, as modest as she is talented. Her reading of some of the tender, beautiful poems from her book The Accidental Courage of Our Lives is hugely enjoyable. 💫
@thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mlck...
Sheila-Na-Gig Editions Presents Poet Victoria Melekian, October 2025
YouTube video by Sheila-Na-Gig Presents
www.youtube.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:49 AM
Reposted by Glenn Barker
drnaturegirl.debbiemross.co.uk
For today’s #LiftToTheSky I’d like to boost @rotherwrites.bsky.social a northern poet who writes with originality, truth and verve. You can find his work here and in various anthologies as well as a showcase here feversofthemind.com/2023/08/15/a...

A great supporter of the #poetrycommunity too.
A Poetry Showcase from Glenn Barker
Bio: Glenn, started writing during pandemic silence and confinement. He is drawn to the edges of what we see: the impressions that lie just beyond perception; and also the dynamics of the human psy…
feversofthemind.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Reposted by Glenn Barker
poetry-with-hart.bsky.social
Good morning, my #lifttothesky this week is @dnwritespoetry.bsky.social. She is a wonderful part of the #poemsabout community, gives fantastic feedback to everyone every week, and is a brilliant poet to boot. All the warmest of hugs 🤗

#poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #poets #writers #skypoet
November 10, 2025 at 9:51 AM
rotherwrites.bsky.social
What a difference a day makes...in the life of a shaggy inkcap, or lawyers wig (here with its two junior acolytes).
November 10, 2025 at 10:58 AM
Reposted by Glenn Barker
thebrokenspine.co.uk
Mark it down: Dec 20th @ 20.00 — #PoemsAbout #OpenMic + #ChristmasParty returns! Poets, readers, friends — one final night to lift your words before the year ends. 🎤✨

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1967176915...
A Christmas tree made of soft, out-of-focus lights glows against a dark blue background. The blurred bulbs form a tapering triangle of reds, greens, yellows, and oranges. White text on the left reads: “#POEMSABOUT VIRTUAL CHRISTMAS PARTY & OPEN MIC 20.12.25 @ 20.00 — Hosted by Alan Parry.” The Broken Spine logo, shaped like a black fountain pen nib, appears at the top right.
November 9, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Reposted by Glenn Barker
thebrokenspine.co.uk
Last week burned bright. This week: #Desire — ache, hunger, want, undoing. What pulls you toward the flame? New theme begins Friday. Don’t post early. Use Alt Text. Tag #PoemsAbout to be found. For Saturday prompts: shorturl.at/0Xm7A
A halved papaya lies open on a dark, wet surface. Its glistening red interior, filled with pomegranate seeds and dripping juice, carries a sensual, sexually suggestive tone. Scattered berries surround it. The Broken Spine logo, shaped like a black fountain pen nib, appears top left. "@thebrokenspine.co.uk" is written top right in white. At the bottom right, bold white text reads: "Read Repost Reply #POEMSABOUT #DESIRE".
November 9, 2025 at 7:44 PM
rotherwrites.bsky.social
Thank you for all your likes and reposts, and for your reposts:

@karenpgonzalez.bsky.social
@lozzawriting.bsky.social
@janpsolivagant.bsky.social
@thepaulconnolly.bsky.social
@fhpowellwriter.bsky.social
@anntigone.bsky.social

#PoemsAbout #LockedDoors
November 9, 2025 at 1:47 PM
rotherwrites.bsky.social
Thank you all for your likes and feedback, and for your reposts:

@thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social
@jenthorne.bsky.social
@bethbpoet.bsky.social
@deemclachlan.bsky.social
@poetryman1.bsky.social

#PoemsAbout #LockedDoors
November 9, 2025 at 1:45 PM
rotherwrites.bsky.social
In the garden this morning, Coprinus comatus, commonly known as the shaggy ink cap, lawyer's wig, or shaggy mane. The barrister and their two articled clerks?
November 9, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Reposted by Glenn Barker
bethosmond.bsky.social
Thanks @catbloke.bsky.social for giving my work a home. This would have done for the #poemsabout prompt for #manequin a few weeks back:
Jumble It came from a jumble sale Like all my toys Obsessed with Pipework, poetry with strangeness and charm
November 8, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Reposted by Glenn Barker
johnchmura.bsky.social
#PoemsAbout #LockedDoors
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
Let’s get some comments going on this exceptional poem by @rock-rex.bsky.social
November 8, 2025 at 5:17 AM
Reposted by Glenn Barker
rock-rex.bsky.social
"Incarceration".

#poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetsofbluesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #PoemsAbout #LockedDoors
@alanparrywriter.co.uk o.uk
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
i. Inside The echo turns each shout into an utterance in some impenetrable tongue — not just unknown, but of an unknown family. He cannot even make out questions, protests, or commands — and are those conversations, or just unconnected comments on the weather, prayers, news headlines, imprecations? ii. Outside The wing wall’s stuccoed with the words of prisoners; from windows opened to their narrow full extent the shouts spill out: the banter, insults, sometimes sympathy, in layers of linguistic guano built up on the concrete blocks. Locked doors make other contact hard; raised voices in the open air are suited best to boisterousness, not to intimacy. iii. Within The copper beeches are in leaf, great mounds of dark pink set against the late-Spring sky. Across the valley, past the dead white remnant of a lightning strike, out where the woods begin, a raven’s cronk wings echoless across the sheep-flecked fields. Two hares lurk nervously beside the hedgerow at the edge of open ground; the clatter of a vintage tractor fails to shatter the essential calm. And yet he feels unease unfurling, fronds of fear that fernlike spread within him, spores provoking panic — but he tries to run too late. One step, maybe two, and everything dissolves, dispersed by sudden gusts of waking wind. And he is back here in this narrow bunk, the window barred and steel door locked, the stale air mocking his curtailed escape.
November 7, 2025 at 6:02 PM
rotherwrites.bsky.social
I am in need of a reasonably priced microphone to record some poetry readings. 🎤
I've tried using my mobile, but it ain't cutting any mustard. 🎤
There's a wide choice. I'm not sure about the acoustics at home. So, desktop or lapel version dear poets? 🎤

#PoetsOnBluesky
#poetrycommunity
November 7, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Reposted by Glenn Barker
poetry-with-hart.bsky.social
Not sure what to say about this one for #poemsabout of #lockeddoors. It's an old one I edited from a would-be collection I have trouble going back to titled "Acts in Madness." Anyway, I have two more simmering for the #prompt, so stay tuned.

@thebrokenspine.co.uk

#poem #poetry #skypoem #skypoetry
In Case of Fire, Break Glass We put up barriers. The plywood shook in my mind’s eye. A living creature ready to smash forward crushing the illusion of family cohesion. We put up barriers Lock in the sins Lock down the loss Lock away the violence. We put up barriers barricaded windows slept in the living room fortified in our fears. We put up barriers Lock in your heart Lock in familial loyalty Lock the windows on both sides We put up barriers He can’t leave without us losing him we lose the family He can’t run away. We put up barriers no one can run away locks on both sides baseball bat in the closet In case of fire, break glass.
November 7, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Reposted by Glenn Barker
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 Glenn Barker
janedougherty47.bsky.social
A poem about raw grief and trauma, even if they're not mine.
#PoemsAbout #LockedDoors for @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk
November 7, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Reposted by Glenn Barker
dnwritespoetry.bsky.social
What's up my fellow poets! Are we looking behind #LockedDoors! #PoemsAbout
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
@karenpgonzalez.bsky.social
Have a most lovely day! #KeepWriting!
November 7, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Reposted by Glenn Barker
merrildsmith.bsky.social
Good morning! A poem for #PoemsAbout #LockedDoors. This is a revision of an old poem. Thank you, as always to @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @thebrokenspine.co.uk for these weekly prompts!
Poem Threshold The massive door has always been locked until now it stands slightly open like parted lips whispering yes. You imagine a turquoise sky, peach sorbet clouds— the opposite of this grey-shrouded world. You touch the weathered wood dotted with knotted eyes, wonder how far eternity is-- how wide? How deep? But there is the latch, undone, there is the handle, so, you inhale, exhale, and pull-- a sea-salt breath brushes your skin as you step over the sill. No more doors. No more locks. This is where your life begins.
November 7, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Reposted by Glenn Barker
hannahflynn-poetry.bsky.social
When I saw the theme for this week I thought all my poems are about locked doors!

The #poemsabout #lockeddoors gives me the perfect opportunity to reshare my poem "Host", which was published by @viridinelit.bsky.social in its summer issue on Identity

@thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk
Host by Hannah Flynn You took me to your house once- a stone's throw from mine. I wasn't allowed any further than the living room; you stayed on the other side. Surrounded by grown-ups, I was the silly little girl, who had locked herself out. They were nice enough-for people who knew you wouldn't stay long. One made me a cup of tea. I saw us in negative: you white and snowy, me lurking in the corner shadows. Always the hostess and never the invited. Geisha of the tea. Cleaner of the sheets. Hider of the stains.
November 7, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Reposted by Glenn Barker
fiftywords.bsky.social
Here’s one for #PoemsAbout #LockedDoors @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk
Door Without Passage The door leans in its frame, neither closed nor open, its seam of light a promise without witness. You wait, learning the hours by dustfall, the years by the wood's slow warp, believing each breath of hinge a signal of permission. But no hand denies you, no voice refuses. The weight of your own doubt, that drowns out the silence, keeps returning. And at the end, when your body bends toward earth, the door inclines, not to admit, not to refuse, only to cast a shadow where nothing stood.
November 7, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Reposted by Glenn Barker
rburrows.bsky.social
My #PoemsAbout #LockedDoors was a bit of a hurried affair - which is ironic considering the subject matter! And yes I know she’s a hermaphrodite -maybe that’s my picturebook-writing coming through or maybe it’s significant - you decide! 😊Thanks @alanparrywriter.co.uk 🥰 @thebrokenspine.co.uk #poetry
November 7, 2025 at 7:06 AM
Reposted by Glenn Barker
johnchmura.bsky.social
#PoemsAbout #LockedDoors
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
I will put a reel in the comments, or I won’t.
LOCKED DOORS I’ve learned or been reluctantly convinced to trust the math so if Monty Hall may he rest in peace resurrected his game show host self and showed me Schrödinger’s pussy or a goat behind door number two I would switch my choice but I wouldn’t like it. I want bigger balls to fall faster, I want Columbus to land in India, I want eels born from mud, I want my wife to have less teeth than me, I want ice smaller than water, and I want 77 million Americans to be and to vote smarter, but they ain’t and they’re maybe never gonna.
November 7, 2025 at 7:00 AM