Jon Stone
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shotscarecrow.bsky.social
Jon Stone
@shotscarecrow.bsky.social
750 followers 670 following 550 posts
Undercover skeleton. 💀 Writer/researcher/lecturer. Ludokinetic/interactive poetry 🃏, collaborative and amalgamatic writing. Editor at @SidekickBooks. 📚 He/him.

www.gojonstonego.com
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shotscarecrow.bsky.social
Jon Stone @shotscarecrow.bsky.social · Nov 22
Hey! I haven't really introduced myself properly on Bluesky since it all took off. I'm a poet, researcher and lecturer who writes semi-fantastical/dreamish sequences, experiments with game-poem crossover, and works with @kirstenirving.bsky.social to edit/make collaborative themed hybrid books. ✍️👹
A collage of many books: the Sidekick Hipflasks (Roll Again: A Book of Games to Play, You Again: A Book of Love-Hate Stories, Look Again: A Book of Hidden Messages, Say It Again: A Book of Misquotations), School of Forgery by Jon Stone, Sandsnarl by Jon Stone, Dual Wield: The Interplay of Poetry and Video Games by Jon Stone, Unravelanche by on Stone, the Sidekick Headbooks (No, Robot, No!; Aquanauts; Bad Kid Catullus; Battalion).
Reposted by Jon Stone
davebonta.bsky.social
This week in the poetry blogs w/ @suefinch.bsky.social @velveteenrabbi.bsky.social @linarvitvideopoet.bsky.social @mcrucefix.bsky.social @emmalee1.bsky.social @jwikeley.bsky.social @kimmoorepoet.bsky.social @richardjnewman.bsky.social @shotscarecrow.bsky.social 1/4
www.vianegativa.us/2025/11/poet...
Poetry Blog Digest 2025, Week 45
A personal selection of posts from the Poetry Blogging Network and beyond.
www.vianegativa.us
November 11, 2025 at 12:34 AM
shotscarecrow.bsky.social
On my way to #Poetry in Aldeburgh. Have got my hands on Ragged Band of Travellers: Writing from the Threshold of Dungeons & Dragons, a new anthology from Calque Press based on our Future Karaoke event series! Also: Sidekick catalogues!
November 8, 2025 at 10:51 AM
shotscarecrow.bsky.social
Why write poetry in a crowded field, with AI encroaching? Poetry in Aldeburgh is this weekend, so I've written a reintroduction essay for my website, loosely related to my panel.

shotscarecrow.substack.com/p/essay-the-...
ESSAY / The Amalgamist's Workshop
A new-ish statement of intent
shotscarecrow.substack.com
November 4, 2025 at 10:53 AM
shotscarecrow.bsky.social
Keep the Halloween feels flowing!
November 2, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Reposted by Jon Stone
sidekickbooks.bsky.social
Over on Substack, we dive into the process of designing 2018's Batallion. And is that a Halloween Special deal I see mentioned in the first para?

sidekickbooks.substack.com/p/cover-proc...
Cover Process: Battalion
Building a bat for Halloween
sidekickbooks.substack.com
October 28, 2025 at 10:35 AM
shotscarecrow.bsky.social
So much to lap up here, as ever!
October 28, 2025 at 10:34 AM
shotscarecrow.bsky.social
Finishing a few tasks then heading off to this -- the Transformation Poetry Showcase at Thrive, where I will introduce seven poets.
October 27, 2025 at 5:05 PM
shotscarecrow.bsky.social
New poem/brief commentary on Substack: substack.com/home/post/p-...
POEM / Lightning Conductor
An earlier version of this poem was published in Der Greif and broadcast on BBC Radio 4
substack.com
October 26, 2025 at 10:51 AM
shotscarecrow.bsky.social
Tried a new exercise in class today which I'm very pleased with: have one of your characters climb to the highest point within ten miles and look out in all directions. Detail everything they see.
October 24, 2025 at 6:59 PM
shotscarecrow.bsky.social
If you're thinking of submitting and want to take up Broken Sleep's suggestion (which you should!) but don't know where to start among their vast and diverse range of titles ... well, 'Unravelanche' is currently the only one of my pamphlets still in print: www.gojonstonego.com/toys/unravel...
October 23, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Reposted by Jon Stone
eleanorholmes.bsky.social
RESOURCES / Play as Disruption, Fighting as Intimacy
open.substack.com/pub/shotscar...

Thank you @shotscarecrow.bsky.social Jon Stone for exploring my poem 'The Crab Man' n your fantastic Substack 'Stray Bulletin' 🦀
RESOURCES / Play as Disruption, Fighting as Intimacy
A National Poetry Day resource pack and a mini anthology to browse
open.substack.com
October 23, 2025 at 10:09 AM
shotscarecrow.bsky.social
I should have finished this before the start of term -- it's the final part of my big catch-up on the year's creative output so far, this time focusing on New Work. There are lots of pictures!

shotscarecrow.substack.com/p/i-goon-mar...
"I goon-march and glide", Part 3
Savage sirens -- Winking bottles -- Murky creatures -- Old tales
shotscarecrow.substack.com
October 17, 2025 at 8:09 AM
shotscarecrow.bsky.social
These have arrived, and I am celebrating with a glass of beetroot juice. It's the seventh 10 Poets book!

You can get it here: sidekickbooks.com/booklab/book...
Physical copy of Ten Poets Spend the Night in a Vampire's Castle, with Lego minifig of Strahd von Zarovich from Dungeons & Dragons stood atop it. A photograph of the Foreword. "A tall figure descends the stairs at the centre of the great hall. He is the very picture of calculated languor and boredom, though passion burns in the depths of his bright, dissimilar eyes. He wears a frock coat like a second skin. His open shirt collar erupts from it like the spathe of an arum lily. He is himself peculiarly pale -- not the pallor of death, but that of a beautiful alabaster vase. There are fine blue veins upon his features. He is possessed of a boldly prominent brow and delicately cut nose. The hairline recedes around the temples, but the hair itself is dark and thickly curled. The smile strikes at you like a knife -- it is contemptuous, almost vindictive. Vampire? Or poet?
October 16, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Reposted by Jon Stone
aruwriting.bsky.social
Your final reminder, Cambridge! Alice Willitts and Christina Thatcher will be performing their #poetry tonight, at the Recital Hall at ARU. A conversation-led reading, with time for questions from the audience!
aruwriting.bsky.social Cambridge Writing Centre 🖋️ @aruwriting.bsky.social · Sep 26
On the 15th October, we're hosting a special performance by poets Christina Thatcher and Alice Willitts -- full details here:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/silence-sp...
October 15, 2025 at 3:28 PM
shotscarecrow.bsky.social
Doing a night (well, two hours) of fighting games and #poetry with the students this evening. Here are the ten thematically appropriate poems I've selected for it.

gojonstonego.com/blog/2025/10...
VS. Night Mini-Anthology – Share Your Toys
gojonstonego.com
October 10, 2025 at 7:44 AM
shotscarecrow.bsky.social
It's not just that. In conservative ideology, the sole purpose of art is to confer cultural sophistication and prestige. By definition, it has to be something few can access, or do -- otherwise associating yourself with it does nothing to boost your status.
nikitagill.bsky.social Nikita Gill @nikitagill.bsky.social · Oct 8
I am saying once again that the Conservative attack on the Arts is because they are incredibly envious of artists who they perceive as a group that has “too much” cultural power, a type of influence Conservatives crave but will never have because they’re anti-intellectuals with no imagination.
October 8, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Reposted by Jon Stone
eleanorholmes.bsky.social
📣 Fabulous resources below from @poetrysociety.org.uk including a really lovely one on the theme of PLAY by Jon Stone
@shotscarecrow.bsky.social 📣
poetrysociety.org.uk The Poetry Society @poetrysociety.org.uk · Oct 2
Visit bit.ly/NPC25Resources to read it, along with two other writing guides by Emma Purshouse and Anna Selby. ✍️
October 8, 2025 at 6:30 AM
shotscarecrow.bsky.social
Going over my slides for Tuesday -- it's 'poetry as soapbox' week, which means comparing the styles of Gboyega Odubanjo and Tony Harrison. Hits in a way it didn't before now they're both gone.
October 5, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Reposted by Jon Stone
eleanorholmes.bsky.social
Well this is a lovely surprise for @poetrydayuk.bsky.social having my poem 'The Crab Man' 🦀 from 2014 NPC used for close reading / writing prompts on the theme of #play for NPD by @shotscarecrow.bsky.social - this is the right Jon Stone?
Hello, and thank you 🙏
poetrysociety.org.uk/wp-content/u...
The Crab Man by Eliot North Turn left, close the gate Enter Mariner’s Lane. The road to the shore Is all salt and tar. Go right down to Correction House Bank. Smell the fish guts, Feel it pull you. Push Gossip’s voice Far from your mind. Ignore the shudder Of trains, overhead. Down Tanner’s Bank Pick your way. Head held high, Nose to the wind, Past empty warehouses. Go to The Crab Man. Block out the warning Tone of her voice. See him in his red robes, Inside the chainmail door. Feel the cleaver’s rhythm Smashed over and over. Watch how he stills, Cocks an ear to the sound. The swish of metal skirts Closing behind you. Filmpoem of The Crab Man by Eliot North (Eleanor Holmes) on The Poetry Society website:https://poems.poetrysociety.org.uk/poets/eliot-north/
October 2, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Reposted by Jon Stone
sidekickbooks.bsky.social
This year's #nationalpoetryday theme is 'play'! How about a #poem and a #dicegame from the same book? Here's Abigail Ottley's 'The Sea Always Wins' ... 1/2

@poetrydayuk.bsky.social
ABIGAIL OTTLEY / The Sea Always Wins - Sidekick Books
Abigail Ottley The Sea Always Wins or, The Ageing Wreck Diver Speaks of the Ocean (after Roland Morris of Penzance, Cornwall) The sea is an indifferent lover. She may be your delight, your mistress, y...
sidekickbooks.com
October 2, 2025 at 3:55 PM
shotscarecrow.bsky.social
Start of a new term is hectic, and a little harrowing, but I think I'd be far more heavy-hearted if I didn't get to walk around a buzzing uni full of all different kinds of young people talking, laughing, hanging out, planning where to go next. The bastions of civilisation haven't fallen just yet.
October 2, 2025 at 12:02 PM
shotscarecrow.bsky.social
Anyone know of any online lit journals that might want a readymade review of a recent poetry book? I have one going spare.
October 2, 2025 at 9:09 AM
shotscarecrow.bsky.social
RIP Tony Harrison.
National Trust Bottomless pits. There's one in Castleton, and stout upholders of our law and order one day thought its depth worth wagering on and borrowed a convict hush-hush from his warder and winched him down; and back, flayed, grey, mad, dumb. Not even a good flogging made him holler! O gentlemen, a better way to plumb the depths of Britain's dangling a scholar, say, here at the booming shaft at Towanroath, now National Trust, a place where they got tin, those gentlemen who silenced the men's oath and killed the language that they swore it in. The dumb go down in history and disappear and not one gentleman's been brought to book: Mes den hep tavas a-gollas y dyr (Cornish-) 'the tongueless man gets his land took.'
September 27, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Reposted by Jon Stone
jordanmagnuson.bsky.social
Are you a fan of expressive short-form videogames? Check out the first Game Poems Community Showcase at gamepoems.org/showcase

Please play, share, and leave comments!
Submissions to Game Poems Community Showcase #1
gamepoems.org
September 26, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Reposted by Jon Stone
zackpolanski.bsky.social
"Polanski is adamant that Labour no longer deserves to be thought of as progressive.

"The Labour Party is so dead and gone in terms of being a progressive force. You don’t need to be in the Labour Party: @greenparty.org.uk time is now.”

www.newstatesman.com/politics/lab...
Labour vs the left
While Keir Starmer focuses on the threat of Reform and the populist right, is his real problem a resurgent progressive politics?
www.newstatesman.com
September 24, 2025 at 7:50 PM