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Eleanor Holmes | Eliot North

@eleanorholmes.bsky.social

630 followers 530 following 300 posts

Previously @eliot_north on Twitter/X. ND mum-doctor-writer of poetry & prose. Living in Valencian Country, working as NHS GP Weston-super-mare. Commended NPC & Hippocrates, Pushcart Nominated Publications below 👇 https://linktr.ee/eleanorholmes

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Eleanor Holmes | Eliot North @eleanorholmes.bsky.social · 1d

Morning all, I'm going to be looking through posts later today for #poemsabout & #imperfectme

This has taken me back to an old project, 'Flora Speaks' where I created the character Flora to say things I struggle to. Basically she is badass!

Thank you 🙏
@alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk

ink blot

they tried to dip me in ink, press me on paper,
just like a specimen collected for show.

his Red Hot Poker was the last thing
they expected to find, between white sheets
of tree pulp, sweat, and the salt stain of tears.

a life size ink blot for fools, who would
try to understand the unknowable.

Rare Book Division, The New York Public Library. "Quanta neruorum tabula. [Human ervous system]" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1545. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47dd-f38e-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

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Kristin Houlihan, Writer @kristinwrites.bsky.social · 14h

Late post for #PoemsAbout #ImperfectMe

@thebrokenspine.co.uk
@alanparrywriter.co.uk

From my book, Lift the Mask, and the piece its title was taken from (this is a photo of the page from the paperback)

#Ubiquity

Normalize the
#ubiquity of brokenness.
Enlighten all to the
universality of struggle.
Lift the mask worn
by the apparently whole.
Each broken soul
will then find solace
in knowing it's
not alone.

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Eleanor Holmes | Eliot North @eleanorholmes.bsky.social · 13h

Thank you John 🙌 … Flora is definitely fierce

Eleanor Holmes | Eliot North @eleanorholmes.bsky.social · 13h

Thank you Carolyn! It’s great being able to write through characters … definitely want to be more badass than I actually am 🤣

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Eleanor Holmes | Eliot North @eleanorholmes.bsky.social · 13h

Thank you Jan! It was a prompt that evoked dark for many 🙏

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Rachel Burrows @rburrows.bsky.social · 1d

Here’s 6am Sunblessed my #PoemsAbout #imperfect. Thanks @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk Have a perfect day! #poetry

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Carolyn Thomas @carolynthomas.bsky.social · 1d

For #PoemsAbout #ImperfectMe Posting my effort now but madly busy so will try to catch up with everyone’s work later - the ones I have seen are great 😊
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
@thebrokenspine.co.uk

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Eleanor Holmes | Eliot North @eleanorholmes.bsky.social · 1d

This poem captures such a difficult truth John! I really love how you go there, embracing fully the vulnerabilities of parenting …
and your readings are
just so spot on! 🙌

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Eleanor Holmes | Eliot North @eleanorholmes.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you Karen 🙏

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Eleanor Holmes | Eliot North @eleanorholmes.bsky.social · 1d

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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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Eleanor Holmes | Eliot North @eleanorholmes.bsky.social · 1d

This is darkly brilliant Jan! So many stand out phrases, compound words & viceral images (I ❤️ Blake!)

‘Dogs bay in beck-rimmed yards’

‘Aglow with choleric ardour’

Love the mirror lines back to back as well,

Then that chilling last line!

Wow! Thanks for the intro to this poet too 👏

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Jan Peters - Solivagant Wisdom @janpsolivagant.bsky.social · 1d

#PoemsAbout #ImperfectMe @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk

#adaptation: ©Jan Peters/Solivagant Wisdom, 2025

#Expressionism #Trakl #PoetryInTranslation #DepthPsychology #TheShadow #CainAndAbel #Blake #Nightmare

Dread

After Das Grauen (1909) by
Austrian Expressionist poet, Georg Trakl (1887-1914)

I drift through deserted rooms.
Frenzied stars dance upon a blue backdrop.
Dogs bay in beck-rimmed yards.
Manic chinook roots through the treetops.

Then all stir ceases.
Aglow with choleric ardour,
Venomous blooms sprout from my mouth.
Blood-drip sap from marred branches
Shimmers pale as dew.

From the mirror’s specious void,
From the mirror’s pearly shade,
Contours merge vaguely into the
Visage of Cain.

Curtains rustle softly.
The moon stares vacantly
Through the window.
I’m alone with my killer.

Free adaptation from the German:
©Jan Peters/Solivagant Wisdom, 2025

"The Body of Abel Found by Adam & Eve", William Blake, circa 1826

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Eleanor Holmes | Eliot North @eleanorholmes.bsky.social · 3d

Perfect! I will do, wasn’t sure who to email!

Eleanor Holmes | Eliot North @eleanorholmes.bsky.social · 3d

📣 Fabulous resources below from @poetrysociety.org.uk including a really lovely one on the theme of PLAY by Jon Stone
@shotscarecrow.bsky.social 📣

The Poetry Society @poetrysociety.org.uk · 9d

Visit bit.ly/NPC25Resources to read it, along with two other writing guides by Emma Purshouse and Anna Selby. ✍️

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Eleanor Holmes | Eliot North @eleanorholmes.bsky.social · 3d

Hello @poetrysociety.org.uk … thank you for posting this! It was a lovely surprise to see The Crab Man out there on NPD! I am writing under my real name now Eleanor Holmes but still @eliot_north on X
I wonder who do I speak to about trying to share the Filmpoem I made with Alastair Cook on Socials?

The Poetry Society @poetrysociety.org.uk · 9d

In the spirit of National Poetry Day, Jon Stone has contributed a writing resource for the National Poetry Competition on the theme of 'Play', in which he explores past prizewinning poems 'The Crab Man' by Eliot North and 'Don't Put your Daughter into Space, Mrs. Kirk' by Valerie Laws.

A quote from Jon Stone's resource: 'Don't Put your Daughter into Space, Mrs. Kirk' flies in the face of what we're told poems ought to be about, and how they ought to be written - that is, big, universal human themes, explored with sensitivity and tact. Instead, it's picking a fight - with a dead guy, at that - and doing so with glee, risking criticism for its naked agenda. What makes it especially good fun is that Valerie Laws isn't all that concerned with accurate Star Trek lore - the idea that you can pull a plug out on the Enterprise's bridge, plunging Kirk himself into darkness, is wonderfully absurd.

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Corinna Board @corinnaboard.bsky.social · 8d

Thank you @poetrysociety.org.uk and Jonathan Edwards for commending ‘You find a fox skull’ in the 2025 Stanza competition! Congratulations to the winner, runners-up and other commended poets! 🙏🏻❤️

YOU FIND A FOX SKULL – The Poetry Society: Poems

poems.poetrysociety.org.uk

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walk · listen · create @walklistencreate.org · Aug 28

🖋️ Enter our Walking “In the Dark” competition! Stories or poems ≤250 words. Winners: writers-in-residence, € cash prize, artwork, limited chapbook. Shortlisted: published & showcase reading.
Deadline📅 20 Oct | 💻
wlc.zone/dark

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Eleanor Holmes | Eliot North @eleanorholmes.bsky.social · 4d

Brian Patten’s ‘Love Poems’ was one of the first poetry collections I bought. His words carry such a gift of connection, seconding this #lifttothesky

Brian Patten ‘Love Poems’ front cover image

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The Poetry Society @poetrysociety.org.uk · 9d

Congratulations are also in order for our runners-up, Nairn Kennedy and Jack Houston, as well as our commended poets, Corinna Board, Lucy Heuschen, Katharina Goda, Sam Phipps, Leah Larwood, Will Kemp, Suzanna Fitzpatrick, C.I. Marshall, Di Slaney, and Jacquie Shanahan!

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The Broken Spine @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 6d

Big thanks for last week’s fierce drops on #PoemsAbout. Next up: #ImperfectMe — bruised reflections, warped mirrors, un-Photoshopped truths. The new theme starts this Friday. Sign up for prompts: shorturl.at/0Xm7A Use Alt Text. Tag #PoemsAbout or get lost in the feed.

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Katie Jenkins @katiejenkinspoet.bsky.social · 6d

Huge shout out to @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @karenpgonzalez.bsky.social for bringing together such an incredible group of women. I was honoured and humbled to be among them 🙏✨🙌

The Broken Spine @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 6d

Well, #NotJustPretty was an absolute blast. I'm a little teary after hearing @katiejenkinspoet.bsky.social read my fave poem from her forthcoming collection. Compound that with the event itself, the vision from @karenpgonzalez.bsky.social wonderfully hosted! Everything we could have wanted!

a silhouette of a woman with the words girl power let 's go written on it

ALT: a silhouette of a woman with the words girl power let 's go written on it

media.tenor.com

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Eleanor Holmes | Eliot North @eleanorholmes.bsky.social · 8d

Oooooh the soundscape in this is brilliant Rachel… like nails down a blackboard or the squeaky balloon as it gets moulded into an animal… man my skin is crawling/ goose reading this! Again this could be my childhood, fab fab 🤩👏❤️

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Rachel Burrows @rburrows.bsky.social · 8d

Here is Formed - my #PoemsAbout #mannequin
Thanks @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk Happy Friday!
#poetry

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Eleanor Holmes | Eliot North @eleanorholmes.bsky.social · 8d

What a start to a poem John!! That’s the way to get us hooked in one line, and then the perfectly measured social commentary that follows. Loved this, and your reading of it! 👏🤩

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John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 8d

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

DAVID

The David is a dickless white guy
salvaged from a JCPenny anchor store
that shuttered at the mall in Ghost Town
during the last pandemic
who greets you at the ringing door
holds your cap or umbrella
and listens to your worst bullshit
better than your latest best friend forever
over latte and biscotti
at Michelangelo’s café and gallery
where the roast is local but not provincial
the art is organic and the word survival
is printed by hand on the bottom
of your to go cup but it’s no guarantee
because when you leave this oasis
you’re on your own in the urban desert.

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