Andrew Neilson
@andrewjamesneilson.bsky.social
Dishevelled wandering star. Director of Campaigns @thehowardleague.bsky.social Co-florist @badlilies.bsky.social andrewneilson.uk
Busy week, and month! I turned 50 in the month, launched a debut poetry pamphlet last week (see pic, notice the trainers doing all the hard work) and put out a fantastic new Bad Lilies issue with Kathryn Gray! Frankly, I'm now knackered.
October 31, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Busy week, and month! I turned 50 in the month, launched a debut poetry pamphlet last week (see pic, notice the trainers doing all the hard work) and put out a fantastic new Bad Lilies issue with Kathryn Gray! Frankly, I'm now knackered.
Michael Longley described the Virgil line here, a sly reference to Seamus Heaney (post-Nobel), as "a learned leg-pull". But I think the poem as a whole is more than that...deadly serious, even. One of his marvellous unfolding single sentences too.
October 12, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Michael Longley described the Virgil line here, a sly reference to Seamus Heaney (post-Nobel), as "a learned leg-pull". But I think the poem as a whole is more than that...deadly serious, even. One of his marvellous unfolding single sentences too.
Autumn, Suffolk.
October 12, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Autumn, Suffolk.
My pamphlet of poems, Summers Are Other, is officially out now. Here's a taster, a version of Du Fu that Linton Kwesi Johnson used as an epigraph to Time Come, his Selected Prose. rackpress.blogspot.com?m=1
October 4, 2025 at 5:37 PM
My pamphlet of poems, Summers Are Other, is officially out now. Here's a taster, a version of Du Fu that Linton Kwesi Johnson used as an epigraph to Time Come, his Selected Prose. rackpress.blogspot.com?m=1
Poem for a Shabbat. By @jsaphra.bsky.social.
October 3, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Poem for a Shabbat. By @jsaphra.bsky.social.
My poetry pamphlet Summers Are Other is available for pre-order now from Rack Press: rackpress.blogspot.com?m=1. I also have copies available if you message me. And they're out in the very occasional wild! Official launch in London on 29 October...more info to follow. 🙏
September 18, 2025 at 4:18 PM
My poetry pamphlet Summers Are Other is available for pre-order now from Rack Press: rackpress.blogspot.com?m=1. I also have copies available if you message me. And they're out in the very occasional wild! Official launch in London on 29 October...more info to follow. 🙏
Coming this autumn from Rack Press. Poems!
September 5, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Coming this autumn from Rack Press. Poems!
'The Viaduct': poem and construction. My uncle was a coal miner at Bilston Glen. Thank you to Gerry Cambridge of The Dark Horse for publishing the poem, and my thoughts on Seamus Heaney. This is a poetry magazine everyone should read.
August 30, 2025 at 5:58 PM
'The Viaduct': poem and construction. My uncle was a coal miner at Bilston Glen. Thank you to Gerry Cambridge of The Dark Horse for publishing the poem, and my thoughts on Seamus Heaney. This is a poetry magazine everyone should read.
Back from a trip to see my family in Scotland and what was awaiting me on my return but this grand wee magazine. Featuring the final part of a trilogy of essays therein I've written on excellence, entertainment, and edification...the final essay being on Seamus Heaney.
August 28, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Back from a trip to see my family in Scotland and what was awaiting me on my return but this grand wee magazine. Featuring the final part of a trilogy of essays therein I've written on excellence, entertainment, and edification...the final essay being on Seamus Heaney.
Poem by me. I've lived in London for most of my adult life but I am Scottish. This one is about another Scottish poet. Sometimes the emotions run so deep you have to access the language.
August 10, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Poem by me. I've lived in London for most of my adult life but I am Scottish. This one is about another Scottish poet. Sometimes the emotions run so deep you have to access the language.
Great poem by Rebecca Watts.
August 9, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Great poem by Rebecca Watts.
I just spent a moment staring at this old friend and feeling whole again. Reasons for why forthcoming. ❤️
August 2, 2025 at 6:06 PM
I just spent a moment staring at this old friend and feeling whole again. Reasons for why forthcoming. ❤️
A treasured possession. 'Black Spiders' (1982) by
@kathleenjamie.bsky.social
. Possibly the only poet I know of who shares my interest in the 5,000-year-old Caiy Stane. undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/edinburgh/ca...
@kathleenjamie.bsky.social
. Possibly the only poet I know of who shares my interest in the 5,000-year-old Caiy Stane. undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/edinburgh/ca...
July 19, 2025 at 8:41 PM
A treasured possession. 'Black Spiders' (1982) by
@kathleenjamie.bsky.social
. Possibly the only poet I know of who shares my interest in the 5,000-year-old Caiy Stane. undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/edinburgh/ca...
@kathleenjamie.bsky.social
. Possibly the only poet I know of who shares my interest in the 5,000-year-old Caiy Stane. undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/edinburgh/ca...
Cyril Connolly asked Wystan Auden to write a poem that would make him cry. Here is the poem. It has perhaps the greatest ending to a poem ever. It also (always) feels timely.
July 13, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Cyril Connolly asked Wystan Auden to write a poem that would make him cry. Here is the poem. It has perhaps the greatest ending to a poem ever. It also (always) feels timely.
July, not June. But still.#JaneKenyon
July 11, 2025 at 5:57 PM
July, not June. But still.#JaneKenyon
Apparently America has not had a Poet Laureate (Consultant to the Library of Congress) since April. Make of this what you will! Here's Anthony Hecht's (tongue-in-cheek) summary of the privileges incumbent to the role:
July 6, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Apparently America has not had a Poet Laureate (Consultant to the Library of Congress) since April. Make of this what you will! Here's Anthony Hecht's (tongue-in-cheek) summary of the privileges incumbent to the role:
Very proud of my daughter, Eleanor, getting a first overall in her first year studying Politics at York. If I'm the old block, she is very definitely more than just a chip. ❤️
July 1, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Very proud of my daughter, Eleanor, getting a first overall in her first year studying Politics at York. If I'm the old block, she is very definitely more than just a chip. ❤️
Happy people/places ❤️
June 22, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Happy people/places ❤️
Happy 160th birthday to the man.
June 13, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Happy 160th birthday to the man.
The pics in question!
May 18, 2025 at 6:03 PM
The pics in question!
Auden, as ever, being relevant and politically difficult.
May 13, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Auden, as ever, being relevant and politically difficult.
'The City of Dreadful Night' is a Victorian poem by Scottish poet James 'B.V.' Thomson. I've had call to think of it often as I mourn the fifth anniversary of the death of my old compadre Roddy Lumsden. Thank you @PoetryBrum for publishing this. Truth and tenderness! X
May 9, 2025 at 6:59 PM
'The City of Dreadful Night' is a Victorian poem by Scottish poet James 'B.V.' Thomson. I've had call to think of it often as I mourn the fifth anniversary of the death of my old compadre Roddy Lumsden. Thank you @PoetryBrum for publishing this. Truth and tenderness! X
Is this Annie Freud's best poem? It is very fine, and I think of it often.
May 4, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Is this Annie Freud's best poem? It is very fine, and I think of it often.
A horrible week at work responding to a horrible government announcement. And it started with saying goodbye to my daughter, going back to university. Empty nest syndrome is real and hard. Here is a poem I wrote about the little griefs of parenthood.
April 27, 2025 at 7:51 PM
A horrible week at work responding to a horrible government announcement. And it started with saying goodbye to my daughter, going back to university. Empty nest syndrome is real and hard. Here is a poem I wrote about the little griefs of parenthood.