Ink Sweat & Tears
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inksweatandtears.co.uk
Ink Sweat & Tears
@inksweatandtears.co.uk
510 followers 210 following 360 posts
Online poetry magazine posting daily. We publish & review poetry, prose, filmpoems, word & image and print publish as IS&T Press. Editing internships. Posts by Sairah Ahsan & Kate Birch.
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inksweatandtears.co.uk
Paula R. Hilton's 'Eating Apple Pie with Louisa May Alcott' is a comedy of desire and memory.

Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/paula-r-hilt...

#InkSweatAndTears #Poetry #LouisaMayAlcott
Image of an elaborate knife slicing through a pastry crust. Text: Eating Apple Pie with Louisa May Alcott you wasted wishes on trivialities —dessert and necromancy Paula R. Hilton copyright
December 6, 2025 at 10:00 AM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
In Lee Campbell's 'ONE DAY', hope builds and builds, embodied by pistachios, for future happiness.

Watch it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/lee-campbell/

#FilmPoem #InkSweatAndTears
December 5, 2025 at 4:55 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
Alice Huntley's 'The tenderness of beans' is an intimate and sensual reflection on shelling beans from a pod, which evokes a tenderness usually reserved for infants.

Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/alice-huntle...

#InkSweatandTears #PoemOfTheDay #Gardening
Closeup photograph of peas nestled in a pod. Text overlayed on image reads: you began nestled in darkness. Text in top left reads: the tenderness of beans. Text in bottom right reads: Alice Huntley (C)
December 5, 2025 at 10:20 AM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
Rhonda Melanson's 'Holy Ground' meditates on gardening, particularly the more spiritual fruits of labour and earth.

Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/rhonda-melan...

#InkSweatandTears #Gardening #NatureWriting
Photograph of picked strawberries. Text overlayed on photograph reads: Extracted their baby knowledge considered their plucked sacrifice. Top left text reads: Holy Ground. Bottom right text reads: Rhonda Melanson (c)
December 4, 2025 at 1:16 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
Clive Donovan's 'Three Winds' explores space and the emotive, even transformative, force of nature.

Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/clive-donova...

#FeaturedPoem #InkSweatandTears #NaturePoetry
December 3, 2025 at 10:00 AM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
Gary Akroyde's 'Cracks in the Concrete' looks at urban scenery with the intent of finding beauty in the mundane and dirty.

Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/gary-akroyde/

#InkSweatandTears #UrbanNature #Poetry
Photograph of yellow dandelions bedded in a crack in the concrete. Text overlayed on photograph reads: we frisked the dirty water for dazzling orange carp. Top left text reads: Cracks in the concrete. Bottom right text reads : gary akroyde copyright
December 2, 2025 at 10:15 AM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
Revisiting 'Reconnaître', exquisite Word & Image from Helen Pletts and Romit Berger originally published on IS&T in November 2017 and this time accompanied by a fine translation by Ma Yongbo. @mayongbo.bsky.social

inksweatandtears.co.uk/helen-pletts...

#InkSweatandTears #WordandImage #Translation
Central image of a young girl dancing under the stars with a bird (corncrake) dancing next to her. Just visible in the sky the text: 'I use the skills of the corncrake tonight. / I need to remember in the hatchling hour, that I was here, –' Outer text: (Top) Reconnaître (Below) Word & Image / Translation from Helen Pletts, Romit Berger, Ma Yongbo 马永波
December 1, 2025 at 4:30 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
Borrowing its title from the PhD of Brian May, Nathan Curnow's 'A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud' marries the wonder and vertigo of scientific discovery with that of music making.

inksweatandtears.co.uk/nathan-curnow/

#InkSweatandTears #SciencePoetry #BrianMayQueen
Photograph of a stadium concert bathed in golden light. Text overlayed on photograph reads: a riff generates a reaction an equation must be neat. Top left text reads: a survey of radial velocities in the zodiacal dust cloud. Bottom right text reads: Nathan Curnow (c)
December 1, 2025 at 11:00 AM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
Mic drop! Heading into December, we look back at our winning September and October Picks. You can now hear Clara-Læïla Laudette read 'The purpose' at inksweatandtears.co.uk/september-20... and we've a fine recording of @tadhgcarey.bsky.social's 'Pivotal' here inksweatandtears.co.uk/october-2025...
Graphic of a black mic on a yellow background.
November 30, 2025 at 6:06 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
Paul Short's 'Midnight Swingball' captures the vertigo and shape of the restless unease before sleep arrives. @paulwritespoems.bsky.social

Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/paul-short/

#Insomnia #InkSweatandTears #Poetry
Photograph of the moon in a pitch black night sky. Text overlayed on photograph reads: the creak-scratch of snoutswoons. Text in top left corner reads: Midnight Swingball. Text in bottom right reads: Paul Short (C)
November 30, 2025 at 10:05 AM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
Ash Bowden's 'Composting' introduces magic and conspiracy to the ordinary scene of a compost bin. @ashbowpoet.bsky.social

Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/ash-bowden

#Composting #FeaturedPoem #InkSweatandTears
Photograph of purple and pink worms. Text overlayed over photograph reads: stinking and silent as an ancient earthen vat. Top left text reads: Composting. Bottom right text reads: Ash Bowden (c)
November 29, 2025 at 10:46 AM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
Mallika Bhaumik's 'In search fo a tawaif's tale (Dilli love)' represents the city as a mosaic of the traditional, inspirational, modern and mundane.

Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/mallika-bhau...

#Poetry #FeaturedPoem #InkSweatandTears
Photograph of overlapping Persian carpets. Overlayed on photograph, text reads: tapestry of time woven haphazardly. Top left text reads: In search of a tawaif's tale (Dilli love). Bottom right text reads: mallika bhaumik (c)
November 28, 2025 at 10:30 AM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
Jena Woodhouse's 'The Kelpie' uses myth and memory to make sense of present-day suffering and illness.

Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/jena-woodhou...

#ChronicIllness #Poetry #InkSweatandTears
Photograph of a field of heather at sunset, interrupted by a large oak tree. Text overlayed on photo reads: the kelpie, known generically as pain, a predator immune to time. Text in top left corner reads: The Kelpie. Text in Bottom right reads: Jena Woodhouse (c)
November 27, 2025 at 10:15 AM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
Kate Bailey's 'Us and Them' satirises a contemporary hostility to our neighbours.

Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/kate-bailey/

#Poetry #InkSweatandTears #FeaturedPoem
Image of a wire fence with a hole in it. Us and Them who break in and sit on the grass Kate Bailey copyright
November 26, 2025 at 11:30 AM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
Ibrar Sami's 'Return' explores the theme of resurgence in both its destructive and constructive iterations.

Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/ibrar-sami

#InkSweatandTears #Poetry #FeaturedPoem
Photograph of warm yellow sunlight filtered through mist in the mountains. Text overlayed on photograph reads: inside the chest of the proletariat the collapsing mist of darkness. Text in top left corner reads: Return. Text in bottom left corner reads: Ibrar Sami (c)
November 25, 2025 at 10:00 AM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
We are now open for Submissions for our annual '12 Days of' feature. @helenivory.bsky.social will be looking at your poetry and short prose, while Sairah Ahsan wants to see your word & image and filmpoems. More at inksweatandtears.co.uk/submissions/

#InkSweatandTears #TwelveDaysofChristmas #Slanted
Background image of snowflake graphics Right banner: gold and red light reflections. Large snowflake graphic upper right. Text: CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR OUR 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS FEATURE * Poetry * Prose * Filmpoems * Word & Image Submit Now
November 24, 2025 at 4:01 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
In Anyonita Green's 'Examining clots', the mundane and bodily become the lynchpin for fascination and existential reflection.

Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/anyonita-gre...

#Poetry #InkSweatandTears #Period
Photograph of red churned clay. Overlayed on photograph, text reads: our shoes caked with Carolina red clay. Top left text reads: Examining clots. Bottom right text reads: anyonita green (c)
November 24, 2025 at 2:00 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
'Beautiful, subtle merging of that moment of sporting destiny and the creative process'

Huge Congrats to @tadhgcarey.bsky.social whose poem 'Pivotal' is our #PickoftheMonth for Oct 2025. To revisit the poem & for more voters' comments go to inksweatandtears.co.uk/october-2025...

#InkSweatandTears
Image to the right of feet doing a back flip kick of a football. Text: Congratulations (banner) Tadhg Carey Pivotal IS&T's October 2025 Pick of the Month
November 23, 2025 at 4:30 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
Soledad Santana's 'Kamila' juxtaposes a sorrowful interruption of childhood naivety with the joyous discovery of young love.

Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/soledad-sant...

#InkSweatAndTears #FeaturedPoem
Close up photograph of water being misted over a lawn via a sprinkler. Text overlayed on photograph reads: Beneath their sprinklers, we kissed on our knees. Top Left corner text reads: Kamila. Bottom Right corner reads: Soledad Santana (c)
November 23, 2025 at 4:15 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
In Claire Harnett-Mann's 'Common Ground', decay and growth are simultaneously captured in a snapshot of an urban scene. @clairehmwriter.bsky.social

Read it here: : inksweatandtears.co.uk/claire-harne...

#InkSweatandTears #UrbanPoetry #NaturePoetry
Photograph of city lights distorted through condensation on a windowpane. Text overlayed on photograph reads: Doors swell in their frames. The lift's out again. Top Left text reads: Common Ground. Bottom Right text reads: Claire Harnett-Mann (C)
November 22, 2025 at 10:03 AM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
Hedy Hume's 'Manchester Piccadilly -> Wolverhampton' laments over a moment of alienation on public transport.

Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/hedy-hume/

#FeaturedPoem #InkSweatandTears #TrainPoetry
Photograph of a blue and yellow train, overlayed with text which reads: In the darkness of the tunnel we stare at nothing. Top left corner reads: Manchester Piccadilly -> Wolverhampton. Bottom right corner reads: Hedy Hume (c)
November 21, 2025 at 3:15 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
Jo Bardsley's micro-fiction 'A letter C' is a tale of deception and revenge which builds slowly.
@jobardsley.bsky.social

inksweatandtears.co.uk/jo-bardsley/

#Microfiction #InkSweatandTears #ShortStory
A photograph of a red post box on a grey street. Top left of image, text reads: A letter C. Bottom right of image, text reads: Jo Bardsley. Text overlayed on photograph reads: It is small, less than an inch wide.
November 20, 2025 at 1:06 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
Matthew F. Amati's 'Hands Said To Head' is a hilarious personification of different body parts as they try to attribute blame to each other

Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/matthew-f-am...

#Poetry #Humour #InkSweatandTears
November 19, 2025 at 4:11 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
This hurts. 'A Cry' from Mariam Saidan, a response to female singing as a ‘forbidden act'(Article 638 of the Islamic Penal Code).

Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/mariam-saida...

#InkSweatandTears #Poetry
Background image of white musical notes across a subtly lit white background. Text: A Cry When I was younger I used to sing. In private. Mariam Saidan©
November 18, 2025 at 4:30 PM
inksweatandtears.co.uk
Meg Pokrass's 'Cat Swarm' is a meditation on the way we regard the ageing population, rife with playful feline imagery.

Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/40966-2/

#InkSweatandTears #Poetry #Cats
Centre image: a half opened tin of sardines on a yellow background. Text: Cat Swarm Twelve cats who are molting arrive as a sweet surprise Meg Pokrass copyright
November 18, 2025 at 11:16 AM