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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 1h

she told me! such a great experimental writing community there

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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 3h

and you met the lovely Ines! how great.

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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 1d

people: hope you’re feeling better soon. me: maybe just a short walk in the park. this slag heap: you’re never going to know if we’re full of upper carboniferous fossils or not unless you climb us. the upper carboniferous: sure, we think 30 metres is a perfectly reasonable height to grow club mosses

green grass with a stand of trees in the distance, with some leaves turning autumn colours

A large pile of dirt and rocks with some trees visible beyond

two large pieces of fossilised tree root

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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 6d

Wanderer overlooking the Kirkstall Road, Leeds, circa 1896.

Source image from: THE CHARACTER AND EXTENT OF AIR POLLUTION IN LEEDS. A Lecture delivered before the Leeds Philosophical Society, on March 3rd, 1896.

en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Cha...

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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 11d

and an early author of electronic literature

Coach House Books @coachhousebooks.bsky.social · 11d

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BP

bpNichol was born on September 30, 1944, and was the author of numerous books of poetry, as well as four novels, several books for children and one collection of short fiction.

Learn more about bp's work with CH here: chbooks.com/Authors/N/Ni...

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Reposted by J. R. Carpenter

rob mclennan @robmclennan.bsky.social · 11d

worth repeating: reading in the margins: Jordan Abel
, another fragment of a longer work-in-progress, / @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social ;
robmclennan.substack.com/p/reading-in...

reading in the margins: Jordan Abel

, another fragment of a longer work-in-progress,

robmclennan.substack.com

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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 18d

complaining to a colleague about autumn allergies, he says, sounds like Duino Elegies. I think the fourth elegy might actually be about autumn allergies: O trees of life, oh, what when winter comes? / We are not of one mind.

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Reposted by J. R. Carpenter

Workshops4Gaza @workshops4gaza.bsky.social · 19d

NEW WORKSHOP!!

Sabrina Imbler will teach "Writing Alongside the Nonhuman" on Sept 15, online.

It is one thing to write about animals, plants, and other non-human beings, but what would it look like to write with them? 🌱🐈🌸

www.workshops4gaza.com/calendar/wri...

Sabrina Imbler
Workshops for Gaza
Writing alongside the nonhuman
sat. nov. 14, 1-3pm EST

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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 20d

many thanks to the judges of the Forward Prizes — this year’s Forward Book of Poetry is beautiful and I’m very happy to have a poem in it. get your copy here: www.faber.co.uk/product/9780...

J. R. Carpenter holding a copy of the new Forward Book of Poetry 2026

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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 21d

TODAY

J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · Sep 3

well chuffed to have a poem in the Forward Book of Poetry launching at the BBC’s Contains Strong Language Festival in Bradford 21 September 14:00 www.bbc.co.uk/events/ewbv9...

Contains Strong Language 2025 - Forward Prize Launch

The Forward Book of Poetry collects the best new poetry published in the UK, curated by this year's judges of the Prizes: Sarah Hall (chair), Hannah Lavery, Lisa Kelly, Sean O'Brien, and Rommi Smith. ...

www.bbc.co.uk

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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 22d

thanks to everyone involved in making the Laurel Prize ceremony at the BBC Contains Strong Language Festival in Bradford last evening such a joyful occasion. congratulations to Katrina Porteous, whose Rhizodont is really something special. we both read poems about fossils. what a night!

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Reposted by J. R. Carpenter

The Poetry School @poetryschool.bsky.social · 23d

Laurel Prize ceremony live-stream starting today at 5.30pm (BST)

💻: poetryschool.com/lau...

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Reposted by J. R. Carpenter

The Poetry School @poetryschool.bsky.social · 24d

JR Carpenter – Laurel Prize: Below the Surface 🌍

On Measures of Weather:
“Writing is noticing + noting. Rocks, seeds, photos—all count as notes. The space between noticing + noting is where the real writing happens.”

🔗 Full piece: poetryschool.com/lau...

Winner live Fri 19 Sept, 5.30pm BST

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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 25d

images of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein together projected on to Windsor castle ahead of Trump’s state visit to the UK. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 25d

The Laurel Prize asked me some questions and @poetryschool.bsky.social published the answers poetryschool.com/laurel-prize...

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Reposted by J. R. Carpenter

Manchester Review @manchesterreview.bsky.social · 26d

Submission Open

15th September to 15th of October 2025

Submissions are now open for issue 28 of The Manchester Review. The Editors are looking forward to reading the best of your poetry, fiction, and non fiction.

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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 28d

obsessed with the geology of Kirkstall Abbey near Leeds, built with locally quarried Millstone Grit 1152-1182. the stone contains quartzite pebbles that washed down from huge mountain ranges further north over 300 million years ago #kirkstallabbey #geology #erosion #millstonegrit

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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 29d

here’s an excerpt

$J.R.Carpenter also shows her skill for spotting the quirky detail in the midst of weighty scientific information in 'Of Moon where she re-captures Robert Hooke's theory about the surface of the moon having a thin layer of vegetables across it like 'the short/ sheep pasture/which covers the hills/of Salisbury Plains. Similarly, 'In Glass' includes Margaret Cavendish's own words from her diatribe against magnifying glasses where she considers a louse appearing like a lobster and 'a high heel to a short leg' which is apt to make the wearer fall' ('Observations Upon Experimental Philosophy.' 1668). In the interview mentioned above Carpenter has this to say about her writing: I often incorporate found text in my work as a way of creating a multiplicity of voices, ways of knowing, and subject conditions'. She continues: I am wary of the lyric T'. My T' is a displaced person, queer, foreign, and fractured... My writing about place is always writing about displacement and its attendants: desire, longing, and loss. I am a migrant. I am often writing about past places, or temporary places.' In keeping with this, Measures of Weather evokes an impression of space between things, of not belonging, of being part of the in-between. In 'Of Coast' we are told that 'between the ship and the quay/lies two metres of incompressible ocean//two metres of light between the edge/of the sea and the horizon'. A similar space lies between sunrise and night, between boredom and bliss while in 'Of Time there is an expanse between lunch and dinner/ Between antiquity and a roundabout. The titles of all the poems also call up non-human presences that lie between spaces - oceans, rivers, birds, air, ice, time and, perhaps most essential in this collection, all the 'measures of weather.'$

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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 29d

there’s a great review of Measures of Weather by Mandy Pannett in the new issue of Tears in the Fence tearsinthefence.com

Tears in the Fence

an independent, international literary magazine

tearsinthefence.com

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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · Sep 6

epic day exhibiting mudlarking finds in the Roman amphitheater at the guildhall Art Gallery in London today chatting about fossils barges ballast coins pipes lead type trade beads roman pottery medieval livery badges alnage seals aglets dress pins wind and colonialism. excellent. 10/10. no notes.

person standing behind table covered in small objects

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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · Sep 3

well chuffed to have a poem in the Forward Book of Poetry launching at the BBC’s Contains Strong Language Festival in Bradford 21 September 14:00 www.bbc.co.uk/events/ewbv9...

Contains Strong Language 2025 - Forward Prize Launch

The Forward Book of Poetry collects the best new poetry published in the UK, curated by this year's judges of the Prizes: Sarah Hall (chair), Hannah Lavery, Lisa Kelly, Sean O'Brien, and Rommi Smith. ...

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by J. R. Carpenter

minor literature[s] @minorliteratures.bsky.social · Aug 29

last few days to submit your work ...

Deadlines:
Experimental 01/09
Fiction 31/08
Essays 02/09

all details here:

oleada.io/publication/...

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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · Aug 28

the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc), a major part of the global climate system, bringing warmed tropical water to Europe and the Arctic, where it sinks to form a deep return current, is at its weakest in 1,600 years as a result of climate crisis www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Collapse of critical Atlantic current is no longer low-likelihood, study finds

Scientists say ‘shocking’ discovery shows rapid cuts in carbon emissions are needed to avoid catastrophic fallout

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by J. R. Carpenter

The Poetry School @poetryschool.bsky.social · Aug 26

🌿 2025 Laurel Prize Finalist 🌿

JR Carpenter: “In light of the climate emergency we must ask new questions of weather & the language we use. I’m grateful to the Laurel Prize judges for bringing the pressing questions in Measures of Weather to wider attention.”

#LaurelPrize2025

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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · Aug 25

sorting out #mudlarking finds for an exhibition. here’s a fragment of a Roman Hunt Cup decorated with barbotine slip found on the Thames foreshore. this type of colour-coated slip ware was made from local clay in the lower Nene Valley in England from 150-250AD.

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