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Reposted by Beth Brooke

Beth Brooke @bethbpoet.bsky.social · Sep 7

Thank you Mike for publishing these

Mike O’Brien @zoomburst.substack.com · Sep 7

The delightful #poetry of Beth Brooke, perfect for a Sunday Lunchtime read, or indeed any day of the week. @bethbpoet.bsky.social

82. Beth Brooke

Tales of family and crows, from a Dorset based museum volunteer.

sixtyoddpoets.substack.com

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Beth Brooke @bethbpoet.bsky.social · 5h

Well worth reading, particularly her comments about male heads of state www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

‘To the men who ran the world, I was just a photo op’: Malala Yousafzai on growing up, getting cynical – and how getting high nearly broke her

The global icon of women’s education is ready to tell the full story of her turbulent recent life, from arguing with her parents to being ghosted by the statesmen who were once desperate to be seen wi...

www.theguardian.com

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Dr Khawla Badwan @khawlabadwan.bsky.social · 8h

We return to the crime of the world
in a land that has changed the world

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Beth Brooke @bethbpoet.bsky.social · 8h

Oof!

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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 9h

Ever since I finished Question Time, Reform have massively been on the attack.

Including a rant from Richard Tice entirely designed to distract from Reform and Russia.

Everyone should know about Nathan Gill, the bribes from Russia and the link to Reform.

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Montreal International Poetry Prize @montrealprize.bsky.social · 1d

To anyone who is currently looking to place their work: The Moth Poetry Prize is back, adjudicated this year by Ishion Hutchinson.

Thank you for putting on your contest again, @themothmagazine.bsky.social!

The Moth Magazine @themothmagazine.bsky.social · 9d

The Moth Poetry Prize is now OPEN!

One of the biggest prizes in the world for individual unpublished poems is back for 2025 – and we're very excited to announce that this year Ishion Hutchinson is joining us as judge.

More info below and on our website: bit.ly/mothpoetry25

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The Moth Magazine @themothmagazine.bsky.social · 22h

If you're thinking of entering this year's €11,000 Moth Poetry Prize, the perfect place to start is in our archives...

Grab one from just €5 and take inspiration from some of The Moth's most-loved poets: bit.ly/pastmoths

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Clare O'Brien @clareobrien.bsky.social · 1d

Bit late to the party with this, work & family stuff has kept me from my writing lately! So #ImperfectMe is the ideal theme. This is a WIP, trying to get at how it feels when we isolate ourselves from what feels like an unfriendly world.
#poemsabout
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
@thebrokenspine.co.uk

LINES OF DEFENCE
by Clare O'Brien

My hide set hard.
I’m fiercely solid, not a crack
to betray my weakness, defences
holding when the nightmares come.
Nothing can break me, nothing shake
my still resolve. My guards don’t sleep.
Unblinking eyes patrol between
the towers and the searchlights,
looking for incursions. I find nothing.
Nothing finds me.

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Merril D. Smith @merrildsmith.bsky.social · 1d

Good morning! I wasn't going to do this prompt for #PoemsAbout #imperfectMe but started writing it yesterday @paulwritespoems.bsky.social writing group. It's still rough. Thanks as always to @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @thebrokenspine.co.uk

Poem:

Still Standing

The scar on my right breast
a faint tracing,
the charcoal under the artist’s paint,

tattooed dots,
ellipsis signaling the story continues—

always a before
and an after--

so far, always an after--

the sagging of flesh, the greying of hair,
points for endurance, if not for style,

as vain as anyone, I suppose,
but embracing the imperfect,
me.

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Beth Brooke @bethbpoet.bsky.social · 1d

I want to write a poem. Every time I start I think, this is utter rubbish. Stop at once. 🙇🏻‍♀️

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Beth Brooke @bethbpoet.bsky.social · 1d

Definitely not just you 💙

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Beth Brooke @bethbpoet.bsky.social · 1d

I recognise that feeling

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Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 1d

The Poems of Seamus Heaney review – collected works reveal his colossal achievement
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...

The Poems of Seamus Heaney review – collected works reveal his colossal achievement

The complete works, including previously unpublished poems and expert notes, are brought together in one volume for the first time

www.theguardian.com

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Beth Brooke @bethbpoet.bsky.social · 1d

Wonderful poem

Litbowl @litbowl.bsky.social · 1d

A poem for today.

From The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry: bookshop.org/a/862/9781582430379

#poetry #booksky #writing

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The Poetry School @poetryschool.bsky.social · 1d

How do poets write for children? ✨

In our latest blog, Kathryn Simmonds shares how to captivate young readers through rhythm, surprise, & collaboration with illustrators — plus tips for poets curious about picture books.

Read more: poetryschool.com/how...

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Beth Brooke @bethbpoet.bsky.social · 1d

Oh my goodness what a poem.

Dr Khawla Badwan @khawlabadwan.bsky.social · 1d

as the morning arrives
declaring the permission to mourn

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Helen Laycock @helenlaycock.bsky.social · 1d

Had time today to compose something for #poemsabout #ImperfectMe...

A fascinating subject, inspiring so much #poetry, plus introspection, I'm sure.

(Apologies, @alanparrywriter.co.uk Posting a little early - 4 hours before midnight - as tomorrow is busy)

@thebrokenspine.co.uk

FORGERY

Outside, too soft like a berry,
easily bruised or pulped underfoot, ultimately
misshapen and unrecognisable as fruit.

Inside, too much water, rising like a tide,
eyes holding surface tension
inside a quiver-rim of skin.

The wash recedes, leaving hollows
as it long-trawls dregs
in the comb of emotion,

and deposits them thick at every shore,

clogging words to soggy syllables.
Waterlogged tissue falls apart.
Becomes throat-mulch.

And when he says you look sad, and asks why,
you feel sadder, fumbling
for the frayed thread, while

feeling a wet whip flailing you,
whittling you to the imperfect figure
you have made of yourself.

Helen Laycock

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Reposted by Beth Brooke

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 1d

#PoemsAbout #ImperfectMe
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
I will put a reel in the comments.

IMPERFECT ME

On days my son was measured
in length rather than height
I held him shirtless in one arm
while I lathered my face to shave.
Leaned on my chest, warm,
he plunged an explorer’s hands, decisive,
into my foamy cheeks, gaining agency,
the intimation of form, and play
affirmed in his corporeal birthright.

And me, significant, generative,
like the god of the psalmist,
I could do no wrong.

Whiskey it wasn’t that imperfected me
in his eyes. I may never know
which particular betrayal
inspired that loss of grace.
But it did boost his swagger to say
for the first time fuck you, Dad,
and I absorbed the preordained assertion,
concussive, cracked like a plastic bucket
abandoned on the back porch
when water expands into ice.

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Beth Brooke @bethbpoet.bsky.social · 1d

This was wonderful. Gill is a fabulous poet. You need this collection.

Beth Brooke @bethbpoet.bsky.social · 2d

Looking forward to this

Gill Barr @gillbarr.bsky.social · 2d

Today’s the day. Launching my debut poetry collection @sladersyard.bsky.social in West Bay Dorset. Couldn’t be more excited!

Beth Brooke @bethbpoet.bsky.social · 2d

Looking forward to this

Gill Barr @gillbarr.bsky.social · 2d

Today’s the day. Launching my debut poetry collection @sladersyard.bsky.social in West Bay Dorset. Couldn’t be more excited!

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Damien B Donnelly @eatthestorms.com · 20d

Meet the Issue V Stormers

Mo Schoenfeld’s work appears in Irisi Magazine, Fevers of the Mind, Wombwell Rainbow, Haiku Crush’s Best Haiku 2021-2024, Sidhé Press’s Our Own Coordinates: Poems & A Thousand Shades of Green podcast

The Storms is supported by #fingalarts & @dublincityoflit.bsky.social

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Beth Brooke @bethbpoet.bsky.social · 3d

Would love to go to one of these. Alas…nothing in my part of the country

Faber Books @faberbooks.bsky.social · 3d

Events for The Poems of Seamus Heaney begin on publication day tomorrow. See below for dates and locations 🎟️

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Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 3d

Let’s also remember that the ECHR has protected British people from abuses of power by its own government.

We must protect the ECHR, not leave it

Peter Stefanovic @peterstefanovic.bsky.social · 6d

When the Tories were last in office - according to international Human Rights Watch - UK was on course to make list of countries that abuse rather than protect human rights. Is it any wonder they want us to join Russia & Belarus as only European countries outside the ECHR
youtu.be/ceukUFLBrFo?...

🚨UK will leave the ECHR if Tories win next election Kemi Badenoch has announced

YouTube video by Peter Stefanovic

youtu.be

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The News Agents @newsagents.bsky.social · 3d

"It pisses them off so much. Neville lives rent-free inside their heads."

Nigel Farage has criticised Gary Neville for his comments about 'angry white men' dividing the UK. Has his "shallow patriotism" been exposed?

‘Gary Neville is a political threat to Nigel Farage because he doesn’t think the same' | The News Agents

Gary Neville has accused “angry, middle aged white men” of stoking division in the UK following the Manchester synagogue attack on Yom Kippur. His comments have angered right-wing voices, but is this…

www.thenewsagents.co.uk

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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 4d

Jenrick could have visited Handsworth to listen to residents – he chose to pass through and make a judgement based on the colour of their skin. Instead of getting to know our nation of neighbours, he chose racism.

The Tories, Reform and Labour want to divide us.

The Greens say enough is enough.

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 4d

Robert Jenrick complained of ‘not seeing another white face’ in part of Birmingham

Shadow justice secretary criticised for suggesting he could tell how integrated Handsworth was based on 90-minute visit Robert Jenrick complained about visiting an area of Birmingham where he “didn’t see another white face” and said it was not the kind of country he wanted to live in. After highlighting the lack of white people, the shadow justice secretary said it was not about “the colour of your skin or your faith” and he wanted people to live alongside each other. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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