Martin Smith
@mrtnsmth.bsky.social
Senior Lecturer in creative writing and digital media in the UK. Researching scriptwriting for games and immersive media, leading on Digitally Enhanced Education, writing poems and making zines.
Cleanse your timeline with a cat pic. The black and white kitten is Oreo. The Turkish van mid yawn is Elsa. Pause for a moment. You don’t need to keep scrolling right now. You can put the phone down. You can just be in the room you’re in for a while.
September 4, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Cleanse your timeline with a cat pic. The black and white kitten is Oreo. The Turkish van mid yawn is Elsa. Pause for a moment. You don’t need to keep scrolling right now. You can put the phone down. You can just be in the room you’re in for a while.
I’ll get around to posting a full update soon on where my #poetry #zines have been found this month to my Substack page (link in bio) but I’m particularly excited today to wake up to the news that a zine I left on a train to Manchester in early July has just shown up in Portland, Maine.
August 21, 2025 at 7:33 AM
Hello Bluesky. Stop the doom scroll for a second and enjoy this photo of my kittens Elsa and Oreo. Have a good day.
August 3, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Hello Bluesky. Stop the doom scroll for a second and enjoy this photo of my kittens Elsa and Oreo. Have a good day.
I just perched a #poetry #zine on top of a signed Phil Cool vinyl, as you do. Phil Cool was a comedian from Chorley whose main thing was that he would pull faces. I looked online to see if I could find this album. I was curious how he translated such a visual act to an audio only medium…
July 18, 2025 at 12:41 PM
I put them next to a memoir of the actor Dirk Bogarde, who I then Googled to try to find interesting facts to end this post with. I found out 2 things about the guy. 1) He wrote some really good poems. 2) He couldn’t figure out what to do with one of his legs in photographs
July 13, 2025 at 3:40 PM
I put them next to a memoir of the actor Dirk Bogarde, who I then Googled to try to find interesting facts to end this post with. I found out 2 things about the guy. 1) He wrote some really good poems. 2) He couldn’t figure out what to do with one of his legs in photographs
A week or so ago I found a book of poetry called The Rubaiyat on the charity stand at Tesco. I’ve now replaced The Rubaiyat with my own Rubaiyat, except Rubaiyat means quatrain and none of the poems in my zine are quatrains, but still. I put some more poems where there used to be poems
July 13, 2025 at 3:40 PM
A week or so ago I found a book of poetry called The Rubaiyat on the charity stand at Tesco. I’ve now replaced The Rubaiyat with my own Rubaiyat, except Rubaiyat means quatrain and none of the poems in my zine are quatrains, but still. I put some more poems where there used to be poems
My #poetry #zines are on the move! I’ll figure out a way to map their movements then post more here and on the Substack in my bio. Thanks to anyone who’s messaged to tell me where you found one/left one. The pics are the latest zines, left on my morning/evening commutes into/out of sunny Manchester.
July 10, 2025 at 6:34 PM
My #poetry #zines are on the move! I’ll figure out a way to map their movements then post more here and on the Substack in my bio. Thanks to anyone who’s messaged to tell me where you found one/left one. The pics are the latest zines, left on my morning/evening commutes into/out of sunny Manchester.
TAKE THIS WITH YOU & LEAVE IT SOMEWHERE ELSE! Hot off the presses and coming soon to the empty space by the crystal skulls. It’s been hard to get out and about this week so I’ve grabbed the chance to make a shiny new #poetry #zine and leave it next to some ornamental skeletons.
July 4, 2025 at 2:23 PM
The patterns are so random on trains & buses because it’s supposed to distract your eye from stains or vandalism, like you’ll be so thrown by the overall chaos of the complicated patterns that you just won’t be able to notice any details. Anyway I’ve thrown another #poetry #zine out into the world
June 26, 2025 at 8:03 AM
I’ve scattered many zines around today. I’ve been on a bit of a spree. Frank here appears to have found one already.
#zine #poems #zinester #foundpoetry
#zine #poems #zinester #foundpoetry
June 24, 2025 at 5:59 PM
I’ve scattered many zines around today. I’ve been on a bit of a spree. Frank here appears to have found one already.
#zine #poems #zinester #foundpoetry
#zine #poems #zinester #foundpoetry
It continues. Left on the bus. I tried to do another crown bind here but the card was too thick so I had to do an 8 page fold instead and it’s made me want to vary the binding/folding up. I saw a great thread bound book the other day that I loved so I might give that a go. #zines #poetry
June 24, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Take This With You & Leave It Somewhere Else: stuffed in the magazine rack at a cafe near you. #poetry #zine #zinemaking
June 21, 2025 at 9:14 AM
Take This With You & Leave It Somewhere Else: stuffed in the magazine rack at a cafe near you. #poetry #zine #zinemaking
June 18, 2025 at 11:12 AM
I’m scattering poetry zines around with instructions to whoever finds them to take them away, leave them somewhere else and tag me telling me where they left them. Today I snuck the first zine out into the wild. I felt a bit like a spy with the lowest stakes mission possible. #poetry #espionage
June 17, 2025 at 12:03 PM
I’m scattering poetry zines around with instructions to whoever finds them to take them away, leave them somewhere else and tag me telling me where they left them. Today I snuck the first zine out into the wild. I felt a bit like a spy with the lowest stakes mission possible. #poetry #espionage
A new thing. I like the idea of a poem interrupting someone’s day. I’ve only recently, in the last few years, been actively and deliberately reading poetry. I was made to teach it one year, against my loud objections, and I fell into a rabbit hole I’ve never been able to get out from #poetry
June 16, 2025 at 4:30 PM
A new thing. I like the idea of a poem interrupting someone’s day. I’ve only recently, in the last few years, been actively and deliberately reading poetry. I was made to teach it one year, against my loud objections, and I fell into a rabbit hole I’ve never been able to get out from #poetry
Every year on this day I find this little present to myself from 12 years ago in my diary and am grateful that I wrote it down. I like to think that Ric Flair had the exact same dream that night.
February 16, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Every year on this day I find this little present to myself from 12 years ago in my diary and am grateful that I wrote it down. I like to think that Ric Flair had the exact same dream that night.
Weirdly sad about this. Staying in the town you grew up in means watching the places tied to your memories gradually disappear around you. This branch of Smiths was always the meeting spot in my teens. It was where the trip to Manchester/Afflecks or wherever began. Everything must go!
February 10, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Weirdly sad about this. Staying in the town you grew up in means watching the places tied to your memories gradually disappear around you. This branch of Smiths was always the meeting spot in my teens. It was where the trip to Manchester/Afflecks or wherever began. Everything must go!
Have yourself a vaguely gothic twixtmas.
December 27, 2024 at 10:47 AM
Have yourself a vaguely gothic twixtmas.
Still can’t think of anything to post so have another picture of my cat Roast Beef at his most Christmassy.
December 24, 2024 at 10:02 AM
Still can’t think of anything to post so have another picture of my cat Roast Beef at his most Christmassy.
I usually post worky stuff on here but I’m not thinking about work until January so to save me having to think of anything else to post about, please enjoy this photo of my cat Roast Beef at his comfiest and most Christmassy.
December 23, 2024 at 12:20 PM
I usually post worky stuff on here but I’m not thinking about work until January so to save me having to think of anything else to post about, please enjoy this photo of my cat Roast Beef at his comfiest and most Christmassy.