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rotherwrites.bsky.social
Rother Writes
@rotherwrites.bsky.social
910 followers 870 following 1.9K 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
Rother Writes @rotherwrites.bsky.social · Dec 3
I am delighted and flattered to receive this Silver Branch nomination along with Jacky, Sue, Helen, Vicki and Oormila.

And I am indebted to Matthew Smith and Black Bough Poetry for seeing something distinct in my writing, and the value of the mentoring relationship the led to this 'Glamour'. ❤️
rotherwrites.bsky.social
This week I have been reading...'Love's Labours by Stephen Grosz, on the work of a psychoanalyst. Problem solving of a different kind. Unsettling.
December 31, 2025 at 6:02 PM
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janpsolivagant.bsky.social
Wishing all those #promptcombo #poemsabout #bskypoetry #poetrycommunity #poets a joyful & rewarding #NewYear #Sylvester #NeuJahr

My #100th #poem this year!

#newpoem / #photography:
©Jan Peters/Solivagant Wisdom, 2025

#yews #eternity #nature #trees #life #death #renewal #graveyard #churchyard
Yews at Lychgate They say we exhale the Grave’s putrid humours at Sundown, Sparking ignes fatui that Set verger and sexton affright. They say we emit florid Toxins on hot days that bring Vision and Swoon to those who Linger and cool in our shade. Patina of antiquity, though We are not old, Coeval only with the Gilded-Age tumulus we Quarter. Aura and orgone of Youth, though we keep Watch in churchyards many Centuries our Junior. We Blench from Senescence; Recoil at Solemnity. We Hollow at the Half-millennium mark; Buttress trunk husks with New root-shoots; Split vacuum core with Aerial kernel Struck deep in our Nullity. Our Isotopes confound: Radiocarbon probes Break down at our Absent wood-range Infancy. Our Being perturbs the Confines of Quick and Corpse, Clade and Kingdom. Hypocotyl nerve, Fungal tissue Mingle and merge: Our Chthonic, Archaic Synergy. As One, As Many, We place our Rootstock, Filament Bodies inside our Food - The Dead. ©Jan Peters/Solivagant Wisdom, 2025 ©Jan Peters/Solivagant Wisdom, 2025 Upper branches of a churchyard yew ©Jan Peters/Solivagant Wisdom, 2025 17th-cent. gravestone (foreground), ancient ash illuminated by the winter sun.
December 31, 2025 at 5:06 PM
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iamb.uk
Winter arrives beneath the cloak of the old blue-faced one. She moves over hills, through woods, in shadow. Tightening the land with frost. Shaping the weather. Come in out of the dark to where poems gather like embers. Listen and drink in the latest wave of @iambapoet.com.
www.iambapoet.com/wave/24
poets | wave 24 | iamb ~ poetry seen and heard
Read 46 poems from 15 emerging and established poets – and hear their authors read them too. Welcome to wave 23 of iamb.
www.iambapoet.com
December 15, 2025 at 12:00 AM
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bethosmond.bsky.social
I am very excited to share that my first poetry pamphlet is being published in 2026 with @vpresslit.bsky.social

#poemsabout
#poetsonbluesky

vpresspoetry.blogspot.com/p/our-poets....
Elizabeth Osmond is a neonatal consultant , national training advisor and prize winning poet… followed by publication history … her pamphlet Hatchery invites readers into the world of neonatal medicine and is forthcoming with V Press in 2026
December 30, 2025 at 6:37 PM
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bethosmond.bsky.social
I have a poem included in this anthology from the fantastic Intima Journal which you can pre order for three days only (until Jan 1st) with a 25% discount with the code PREORDER25 www.barnesandnoble.com/w/where-it-h...
Where It Hurts: Dispatches from the Emotional Frontlines of Medicine|Paperback
Candid literary accounts from frontline health care workers shed light on the challenges and triumphs of working in medicine, in this testament to human resilience, ingenuity, and compassion.Health ca...
www.barnesandnoble.com
December 30, 2025 at 11:18 AM
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blackboughpoetry.bsky.social
Our first TopTweetTuesday on Twitter for 2026 will be, you guessed it, a challenge…

26 words (max) on the theme of kicking over the traces/ new beginnings/ reinvention.

As ever, focus on imagery, metaphor, invention.

Happy New Year! May next year be a kinder, more humane one.
December 31, 2025 at 8:51 AM
rotherwrites.bsky.social
How do you reflect on everything after those first two, and intense, days of Christmas?
Here's a reflection from 2021 on the point at which we have arrived: the Third Day of Christmas and its accompanying French hens.
December 27, 2025 at 10:14 AM
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rhonagreene.bsky.social
🕊️Remembering dear Sarah Connor today, and thinking of her family and friends on the first anniversary of her sad passing. She is missed, and she is ‘always fire’ in our hearts.🔥

A poem ‘I went to the sea’ by Sarah to bring comfort.🕊️
I went to the sea by Sarah Connor from her collection Always Fire published by Sídhe Press
December 27, 2025 at 9:56 AM
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marcellenewbold.bsky.social
Little poem from a ‘festive event’ prompt from @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social, including a lesser known colour, archaic word, simile …
December 17, 2025 at 12:15 PM
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johnchmura.bsky.social
This is a beautiful poem masterfully read…
coastalpoet.bsky.social Jenevieve Carlyn @coastalpoet.bsky.social · 9d
A joy to be part of this year's anthology
@blackboughpoetry.bsky.social 🎄🎄🎄

The tree briefly seen in video's opening is from... last xmas! (Inspiration for my 'Wintersweet' poem in the 2024 anthology. Not quite evergreen. Still lovable)

❄️ Order the 2025 anthology here:
blackboughpoetry.com/news 💙❄️
Poem in Black Bough's Winter Anthology 2025
A video reading of my poem in this year's anthology
coastalpoet.substack.com
December 24, 2025 at 2:17 AM
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poetryman1.bsky.social
Best wishes to all here on #promptcombo #poemsabout
And all other great poet/poems arenas on #bluesky. Thanks for all your support and encouragement to me too and our support of others!👍 Have a banging break whatever you get up to! 😀🎄⛄️🎁👏
December 23, 2025 at 2:01 PM
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thepaulconnolly.bsky.social
Festive best wishes to all my friends on here, to all those who have been kind & supportive this year, to members of the #poetrycommunity, the #promptcombo & #poemsabout writers I have met, & to those who have participated in my own #poetrytheme prompt. Have a peaceful season & great 2026🙏🙏🕊️🎄
Videte miraculum
YouTube video by Stile Antico - Topic
m.youtube.com
December 24, 2025 at 8:16 AM
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johnchmura.bsky.social
Wishing everyone the best possible 2026, especially my #PoemsAbout family. I will put a reading in the comments. #Poem #NewYear
NEW YEAR’S 2026 Beyond the nocturnal glow of urbane light, disabled clocks and phone calendars, failed notifications and morbid warnings accumulate in uncivil space, a barren avoidance, the obdurate stillness, a pencil case of pines, obliging God’s hidden hand to write to us love letters in the morning sky that the warbler reads aloud over our flannel shoulders.
December 23, 2025 at 6:34 PM
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fiftywords.bsky.social
At this time of year I think the #PoemAbout community deserves a collective pat on the back and to offer a heartfelt thanks to @alanparrywriter.co.uk for his wonderful work
For the #PoemsAbout Community: Christmas 2025 Not a contest, but a gathering - lines offered like an unasked question, finding an answer simply by being there. A year has passed in Friday prompts, week turning to week, theme becoming occasion, occasion becoming community. We came with drafts and half-shaped thoughts, and found something steadier, not school or stage, a circle that let thoughts speak and wisdom listen. Encouragement arrived in small gestures: a like, a repost, a gentle reply, words leaning closer without needing to touch. Christmas now, and the year exhales, reflected not in gaudy lights or inflated Santas, but in the glow of many separate hands holding up one another's lines. So let this gratitude travel light, untussed, unforced, ungrand, thank you for the year, the words, the witnessing, and the shared act of showing up again. A season turns. Another will begin. And when it does, we shall meet again, pens ready, voices unbowed, a little kinder for having passed this way together.
December 24, 2025 at 4:46 AM
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owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social
Thank you! 🙏 Absolutely! I ran out of space there, but I’d like to add that the joy’s greater coz it’s with such an amazing publisher @thebrokenspine.co.uk and in fantastic company.
December 23, 2025 at 11:27 AM
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owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social
Holding the book that has your piece inside is a truly lovely feeling; got my copy a few days back. Thnx to @alanparrywriter.co.uk & @thebrokenspine.co.uk for making this possible. Also heartfelt thanks to all the support from #poemsabout community. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 🥳 🎉🎻 #keepwriting
December 23, 2025 at 11:16 AM
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karenpgonzalez.bsky.social
Once again @markantonyowen.com produces a stellar collection of #poems by so many talented #poets. I hope someday he reveals the secret sauce of this success. In the meantime, thrilled to be riding #Wave24 #PoetsOfBlueSky #StayCreative bsky.app/profile/iamb...
iamb.uk 𝒊𝒂𝒎𝒃 ~ 𝒑𝒐𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 @iamb.uk · 18d
Winter arrives beneath the cloak of the old blue-faced one. She moves over hills, through woods, in shadow. Tightening the land with frost. Shaping the weather. Come in out of the dark to where poems gather like embers. Listen and drink in the latest wave of @iambapoet.com.
www.iambapoet.com/wave/24
poets | wave 24 | iamb ~ poetry seen and heard
Read 46 poems from 15 emerging and established poets – and hear their authors read them too. Welcome to wave 23 of iamb.
www.iambapoet.com
December 16, 2025 at 10:33 PM
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thebrokenspine.co.uk
#PoemsAbout #Money drops Friday.
Write the debt buried under glitter.
Buy-now-regret-later.
Bank balance versus belonging.
Tag it right. Don’t post early. Use Alt Text. Get prompts: shorturl.at/0Xm7A
a close-up of a burning wad of currency held aloft in one hand, the sky-blue backdrop stark and clean. Branding unchanged. Bottom reads: "Read Repost Reply #POEMSABOUT #MONEY".
December 16, 2025 at 4:59 PM
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thebrokenspine.co.uk
This Friday: #PoemsAbout #Money — what gets spent, what gets wasted, what gets lost in the name of joy.
Write the receipts, the regret, the silent overdrafts.
Post from Friday. Tag it. Use Alt Text. Prompts: shorturl.at/0Xm7A
A hand holds several burning dollar bills against a flat, pale turquoise background. Flames consume the edges of the notes. The Broken Spine logo is top left, "@thebrokenspine.co.uk" top right. Bottom right text reads: "Read Repost Reply #POEMSABOUT #MONEY".
December 14, 2025 at 5:53 PM
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revrachelmann.bsky.social
Really proud of this programme. You can now turn in on BBC Sounds via the link.
Producer: Katherine Longworth
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Sunday Worship - Advent Authors: Jane Austen - BBC Sounds
The Ven Dr Rachel Mann reflects on Jane Austen to mark her 250th anniversary.
www.bbc.co.uk
December 14, 2025 at 12:37 PM
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coastalpoet.bsky.social
My poem in the Black Bough Christmas-Winter Anthology, 2025
A video reading of my poem in this year's anthology
coastalpoet.substack.com
December 10, 2025 at 9:51 PM
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karenpgonzalez.bsky.social
Next Tuesday! I'll be performing an adaptation of #CoyoteInTheBasketOfMyRibs on #TimeToArrive (#zoom & #facebook). Open mic signups when program opens. Dec. 16, 6pm pst. link: eyepublishewe.com Thanks to #DaneInce #Poetry #PoetryCommunity #mythicjourney #coyote #CreativeWriting #StayCreative
December 12, 2025 at 6:12 PM
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drnaturegirl.debbiemross.co.uk
Last guaranteed posting for ‘The Cookbook’ for #Christmas is Monday 15th. Grab your bargain - less than half price - copy now. Great value gift for yourself or a friend at £7. Postage extra (large letter rate) I can sign and add a message for your recipient too - DM when ordering.

#gifts #cookbook
A panel of title pages of the cook book by Highland Home Cook Debbie Ross breakfasts and brunches , easy breads, soups and lunches, Main meals snacks sides and sauces proper puddings baking. Each graphic has a background photo with the contents over laid. The final two frames are a graphic of the front and back of the book with text.
December 12, 2025 at 11:00 AM
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jenthorne.bsky.social
The impish whimsy has definitely been banished this week!!

@thebrokenspine.co.uk
#PoemsAbout #YouShouldntHave
#poetry #poetrycommunity #blueskypoets
Merry Christmases Year one, you blamed the buck’s fizz. Champagne never agreed with you. You were "merry", it was fine; My mother forgave you. Year two, you didn’t come at all. You blamed the Christmas Eve curry, Not the eleven pints of Guinness. But I forgave you. Years three, four, and five came and went in a blur. You ate your meal in the sitting room, Always preferring a liquid lunch. Away from us. Year six, I brought you whisky. It didn’t last the day. And neither did you. That’s when I knew. Year seven, you said you were trying. You should have tried harder To hide the bottles, And the betrayal on your breath. Year eight was bliss. You were gone, and I could breathe. Then came your knock. A gift in your hands. I said you shouldn’t have. And closed the door.
December 12, 2025 at 8:45 AM
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thebrokenspine.co.uk
omorrow opens the season of forced smiles: #PoemsAbout #YouShouldntHave.
Unwrap the wrong thing.
Write the heaviness behind the ribbon.
Post from Friday. Use Alt Text. Tag it. Saturday prompts: shorturl.at/0Xm7A
A dark-toned Christmas setting with a barely lit tree and perfectly wrapped presents, untouched. The tone is cold, almost theatrical. The Broken Spine logo top left, "@thebrokenspine.co.uk" top right. Bottom right: "Read Repost Reply #POEMSABOUT #YOUSHOULDNTHAVE".
December 11, 2025 at 9:24 AM