Peter J. King
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rock-rex.bsky.social
Peter J. King
@rock-rex.bsky.social
1.9K followers 1.5K following 4.9K posts
Poet, painter, translator (mainly from modern Greek & German). Originally from Boston, Lincs (though after the last election I identify as being from Islington), I live in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds.

https://wisdomsbottompress.wordpress.com/peter-j-king
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rock-rex.bsky.social
"Climate Emergency".

#poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetsofbluesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #concretepoem #concretepoetry #collage
November 18, 2025 at 6:04 PM
rock-rex.bsky.social
"Sank" and "Of Bears and Serpents".

Two from a sequence "To Be Continued"; each starts with the last line of another poet's poem.

#poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetsofbluesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #horizon #poetryireland #jamesbradley #alyshahobson
@poetryireland.bsky.social
(Alysha Hobson “January” in Horizon 8) back from the sink to the kitchen door fresh air herb sharpened clears the blood from nose and mind though not from hands then to the sink again the waste disposal straining whining till my head begins to burst who would have thought he had so much stuff in him (James Bradley “Late January, Victoria Park, Glasgow” in Poetry Ireland Review 146) and there’s Venus deepening the distance bringing the sickle moon closer thickening the darkness sequining the velvet till the real stars arrive modest at first as if seen through a bushel basket gradually strengthening filling the sky with heroes and demi-gods hunters and beasts (take care not to step on the cracks)
November 18, 2025 at 5:13 PM
rock-rex.bsky.social
The first recording of it that I bought was Clifford Curzon with members of the Vienna Octet. A bit dated, but I still enjoy listening to it. (The second one I bought was Richter with the Borodin Quartet - also very good.)
November 18, 2025 at 1:48 PM
rock-rex.bsky.social
Kenneth Patchen - "Perhaps It Is Time".

#poem #patchen
November 17, 2025 at 9:38 PM
rock-rex.bsky.social
"Up from the South".

from a projected extended edition of "All What Larkin" (2017, Albion Beatnik Press).

#poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetrycommunity #cutup #cutuppoem #cutuppoetry #writingcommunity #jazzpoem #jazzpoetry #cutup #larkin
for blues the mode in danger of their forebears a kind of vital suspect young their summer softened rough acclaim enough remained played deep to make memorial * new legendary now rare a boisterous and practised adept rudimentary delightful * for blues The Blues with echo mass appeal music halls and famous blues supported rolling Bechet Oliver Ory Lang to make philosophy relaxed lacks point produced unforced, admired, and vivid grooves * new Coltrane in narrow popping beauty
November 17, 2025 at 5:39 PM
rock-rex.bsky.social
"through forests of..."

(I don't have a copy - it took ages to track one down.)

#poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetsofbluesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #faigelpress #poemcard
through forests of tangle & whole high stood woods of oaks, beeches, holly, & badgers snuffles a lonelier-than-thou old almost silent hedgepig in- visible & out of shadows seasons oak apples mardy old spider-crunching red leaf & green down through perhaps soft mulch moulder these savagery this grumpy & quite ancient prickly individual snout quivering still & quietly through a heat haze eases wordless complaints curses
November 16, 2025 at 5:09 PM
rock-rex.bsky.social
Acrylics on paper, digitally fiddled with.

#painting #art #acrylics #digitalart
November 16, 2025 at 5:03 PM
rock-rex.bsky.social
Carved figure from the rudder of the 17th-century Swash Channel wreck, in Poole Museum, Dorset.

(see Comments for link)

#photo #photography #poolemuseum #poole #dorset #shipwreck
@wessexmuseums.bsky.social
November 16, 2025 at 5:01 PM
rock-rex.bsky.social
November 15, 2025 at 9:48 PM
rock-rex.bsky.social
"Indoctrination".

(Response to a photo by Alicja Posłuszna.)

#poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetsofbluesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity
@phototrippa.bsky.social
November 15, 2025 at 6:18 PM
rock-rex.bsky.social
"In Ligerz".

#poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetsofbluesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #ligerz #switzerland #alps #bielersee #photo #photography
November 14, 2025 at 6:12 PM
rock-rex.bsky.social
Acrylics on paper, digitally manipulated.

#painting #art #acrylics #digitalart
November 14, 2025 at 6:10 PM
rock-rex.bsky.social
2004 Summer Eights (and someone who's not interested, apart from me).

#photo #photography #oxford #river #rowing #race #bumps #eights
November 14, 2025 at 6:05 PM
rock-rex.bsky.social
"Desires" (1904, K.P. Kavafis) & "Desires" (a reply to Kavafis)

#poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetsofbluesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #greelpoem #translation #kavafis #poemsabout #desire
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
Desires (1904, K.P. Kavafis) Like beautiful bodies that never grow old tearfully sealed in a bright mausoleum, at their heads roses and at their feet jasmine — so look desires that grow cold unfulfilled, forever denied even one night of pleasure, or one of its light-filled mornings. Desires (a reply to Kavafis) As the bright thoughts of the blind from birth blossom ignorant of sunsets, building beauty from the bare accounts of drabness — so dance unfulfilled desires, imagination lending them the weight to balance wistfulness for what they never knew.
November 14, 2025 at 3:23 PM
rock-rex.bsky.social
Γιάννης Ρίτσος - «Το αγόρι και η πόρτα»
Yiannis Ritsos - "The Boy and the Gate"

(see comments)

#poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetsofbluesky#poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #translation #greekpoem #greekpoetry #ritsos
@crippledtree.bsky.social
There where he fell is a red lake, a red tree, a red bird. The fallen gate was raised upright — thousands of horses. The people mounted up. Komninos! — we yelled. He turned and looked at us with neither bandages nor wreath. White horses, red horses, and black, blacker — galloping — to catch up with history.
November 14, 2025 at 2:56 PM
rock-rex.bsky.social
"Is My End".

#poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetsofbluesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity
November 13, 2025 at 6:37 PM
rock-rex.bsky.social
Share something that reminds you of your childhood…
November 13, 2025 at 10:06 AM
rock-rex.bsky.social
"Outside (the moon)"

#poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetsofbluesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity
Outside the moon, one night past full, is blue on frost. You're almost lost to me. I try but cannot write about your dying. Breath on windows that are silent, mirroring, in need of cleaning. In your eyes desires drag leaden feet; I cannot reply, can only sit here moonlit, only wait for you to leave.
November 12, 2025 at 6:33 PM
rock-rex.bsky.social
Acrylics on paper.

#painting #art #acrylics
November 12, 2025 at 6:27 PM
rock-rex.bsky.social
"Death Grabs at a Group of Children" - response to lithograph by Käthe Kollwitz, "Tod" 3: “Tod greift in Kinderschar”

#poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetsofbluesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #kollwitz #kathekollwitz
@kkollwitz.bsky.social
this is not enthusiasm; no, death’s haste is forced upon him. so many children shot and bombed; so many starved and taken by disease. even death is daunted by the numbers, disgusted by the killers — starts to wish that he could take in one embrace the world.
November 11, 2025 at 8:11 PM
rock-rex.bsky.social
Acrylics on paper, digitally colour-inverted.

#painting #art #acrylics
November 11, 2025 at 8:09 PM
rock-rex.bsky.social
Fungi, bunny, and donkeys - all around Churchill, Oxfordshire.

#photo #photography #fungi #mycology #rabbit #donkey #churchill #oxfordshire
November 11, 2025 at 8:07 PM
rock-rex.bsky.social
"...pro aliorum utilitate mori"

#poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetsofbluesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #warpoems #warpoetry
The politicians, journalists, the vicars and the priests —they danced the measure given them by makers of munitions. They sprayed the language of the grave from spittle-shining lechers’ lips: the love of country. I did not give my life for any cause — my leaders wrapped them up in khaki, grey, or tan, tossed them away to serve commercial and political ambitions. I did not make a sacrifice — they threw me down upon an altar and cut out my heart, dyed little scraps of paper with my pulsing blood and pinned them on the chests of politicians, journalists, of vicars and of priests. They pinned them onto children while they murmured their seductive lies of honour, pride, and glory.
November 11, 2025 at 2:57 PM
rock-rex.bsky.social
"Corvid".
November 11, 2025 at 2:15 PM
rock-rex.bsky.social
White poppy
November 11, 2025 at 12:49 PM