John Looker
@johnlooker.bsky.social
Poems in the anthology of the Austin International Poetry Festival, the anthology of NZ’s Caselberg international competition and journals incl Magma, Poetry Salzburg, Artemis (USA). Books by Bennison Books.
Lives in SE England. johnlooker.wordpress.com/
Lives in SE England. johnlooker.wordpress.com/
Pinned
John Looker
@johnlooker.bsky.social
· Mar 16
Reposted by John Looker
Marianne Moore (with Allen Ginsberg) - BOTD
💙📚 #LiteratureSky
💙📚 #LiteratureSky
November 15, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Marianne Moore (with Allen Ginsberg) - BOTD
💙📚 #LiteratureSky
💙📚 #LiteratureSky
Reposted by John Looker
Giving a lecture on the drafts of The Waste Land tomorrow and all the strange and haunting lines that Eliot and Pound decided to cut
November 12, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Giving a lecture on the drafts of The Waste Land tomorrow and all the strange and haunting lines that Eliot and Pound decided to cut
A wet grey Monday morning: the archetypal Monday.
Spurs fixed? Check.
Sword polished? Check.
Breakfast stains wiped off breastplate? Check.
Mount that steed!
Spurs fixed? Check.
Sword polished? Check.
Breakfast stains wiped off breastplate? Check.
Mount that steed!
November 10, 2025 at 9:32 AM
A wet grey Monday morning: the archetypal Monday.
Spurs fixed? Check.
Sword polished? Check.
Breakfast stains wiped off breastplate? Check.
Mount that steed!
Spurs fixed? Check.
Sword polished? Check.
Breakfast stains wiped off breastplate? Check.
Mount that steed!
Reposted by John Looker
“Large Language Models (LLMs) cannot do anything else but create plausibly sounding text with no concern for truth”
Print and hang on your bed and on your desk 🧐
Print and hang on your bed and on your desk 🧐
AI slop and the destruction of knowledge irisvanrooijcogsci.com/2025/08/12/a...
November 9, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Reposted by John Looker
I just mistyped into existence the novelist Irish Murdoch. And now I want to read one of his books.
November 6, 2025 at 4:08 PM
I just mistyped into existence the novelist Irish Murdoch. And now I want to read one of his books.
Reposted by John Looker
Our poetry class (with women from Ethiopia, Egypt, Syria, Morocco, Ukraine, Palestine/Jordan) at Melissa today had musical instruments as a prompt--we had poems about ouds and qanuns and kalimbas, and ended with spontaneous singing and a bit of dance demonstration.
November 6, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Our poetry class (with women from Ethiopia, Egypt, Syria, Morocco, Ukraine, Palestine/Jordan) at Melissa today had musical instruments as a prompt--we had poems about ouds and qanuns and kalimbas, and ended with spontaneous singing and a bit of dance demonstration.
All of us must:
‘… align against the beast/ that prowls at every door and barks at every headline’
Further lines from Louis MacNeice’s 1938 poem Autumn Journal, which I’ve been rereading.
He had a way of putting it.
#poetry #literature
‘… align against the beast/ that prowls at every door and barks at every headline’
Further lines from Louis MacNeice’s 1938 poem Autumn Journal, which I’ve been rereading.
He had a way of putting it.
#poetry #literature
November 7, 2025 at 3:08 PM
All of us must:
‘… align against the beast/ that prowls at every door and barks at every headline’
Further lines from Louis MacNeice’s 1938 poem Autumn Journal, which I’ve been rereading.
He had a way of putting it.
#poetry #literature
‘… align against the beast/ that prowls at every door and barks at every headline’
Further lines from Louis MacNeice’s 1938 poem Autumn Journal, which I’ve been rereading.
He had a way of putting it.
#poetry #literature
I’ve been rereading Louis MacNeice's Autumn Journal. Well, this is November isn’t it. And perhaps there's a touch of 1938 in the air too.
This extract is from his famous canto XIV on the post-Munich by-election in Oxford.
A call for commitment by the good guys
#poetry #autumn #stateoftheworld
This extract is from his famous canto XIV on the post-Munich by-election in Oxford.
A call for commitment by the good guys
#poetry #autumn #stateoftheworld
November 6, 2025 at 5:50 PM
I’ve been rereading Louis MacNeice's Autumn Journal. Well, this is November isn’t it. And perhaps there's a touch of 1938 in the air too.
This extract is from his famous canto XIV on the post-Munich by-election in Oxford.
A call for commitment by the good guys
#poetry #autumn #stateoftheworld
This extract is from his famous canto XIV on the post-Munich by-election in Oxford.
A call for commitment by the good guys
#poetry #autumn #stateoftheworld
Woods … … path … … autumn … …
and the mind simply floods with metaphors, doesn’t it!
#autumn #fall
#poetry #photography
and the mind simply floods with metaphors, doesn’t it!
#autumn #fall
#poetry #photography
November 4, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Woods … … path … … autumn … …
and the mind simply floods with metaphors, doesn’t it!
#autumn #fall
#poetry #photography
and the mind simply floods with metaphors, doesn’t it!
#autumn #fall
#poetry #photography
Reposted by John Looker
Delighted to see my new selected edition of Anthony Thwaite’s poems (At the Garden’s Dark Edge, published by Baylor University Press) featured by George Szirtes in the Eastern Daily Press.
www.edp24.co.uk/news/2557097...
www.edp24.co.uk/news/2557097...
Poet and archaeologist who was part of the fabric of Norfolk life
‘This is the simple poem,’ wrote Anthony Thwaite OBE, poet, archaeologist, teacher, broadcaster, television presenter, traveller, critic,…
www.edp24.co.uk
November 3, 2025 at 3:26 AM
Delighted to see my new selected edition of Anthony Thwaite’s poems (At the Garden’s Dark Edge, published by Baylor University Press) featured by George Szirtes in the Eastern Daily Press.
www.edp24.co.uk/news/2557097...
www.edp24.co.uk/news/2557097...
Reposted by John Looker
Red kangaroo in emblematic flight.
#photography
#photography
November 2, 2025 at 4:53 AM
Red kangaroo in emblematic flight.
#photography
#photography
Reposted by John Looker
I love all the @badlilies.bsky.social babies (so to speak!) equally but this sequence by @ravoon.bsky.social is worthy of some attention ahead of his collection coming out next year badlilies.uk/graeme-richardson-1
Graeme Richardson — Bad Lilies
Three poems by Graeme Richardson
badlilies.uk
November 1, 2025 at 10:03 PM
I love all the @badlilies.bsky.social babies (so to speak!) equally but this sequence by @ravoon.bsky.social is worthy of some attention ahead of his collection coming out next year badlilies.uk/graeme-richardson-1
“Poetry, like all good writing, forbids either ‘head’ or ‘heart’ to flourish at the other’s expense.”
That speaks true for me.
(From Peter McDonald’s Louis MacNeice Memorial Lecture entitled The Pity of it All, broadcast by BBC Northern Ireland in 2007)
#poetry #literature #books
That speaks true for me.
(From Peter McDonald’s Louis MacNeice Memorial Lecture entitled The Pity of it All, broadcast by BBC Northern Ireland in 2007)
#poetry #literature #books
November 1, 2025 at 3:39 PM
“Poetry, like all good writing, forbids either ‘head’ or ‘heart’ to flourish at the other’s expense.”
That speaks true for me.
(From Peter McDonald’s Louis MacNeice Memorial Lecture entitled The Pity of it All, broadcast by BBC Northern Ireland in 2007)
#poetry #literature #books
That speaks true for me.
(From Peter McDonald’s Louis MacNeice Memorial Lecture entitled The Pity of it All, broadcast by BBC Northern Ireland in 2007)
#poetry #literature #books
This poem is glorious fun. (Of course, it’s chillingly spooky as well 😂)
October 31, 2025 at 9:20 AM
This poem is glorious fun. (Of course, it’s chillingly spooky as well 😂)
Beautiful scene! I’ve rationed myself to a single adjective – I could have deployed an entire thesaurus.
October 29, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Beautiful scene! I’ve rationed myself to a single adjective – I could have deployed an entire thesaurus.
Art … and botany … and architecture. At Kew Gardens on Saturday. Beautiful isn’t it?
('Between Earth and Sky' by Nnenna Okore).
#sculpture #art #kewgardens
('Between Earth and Sky' by Nnenna Okore).
#sculpture #art #kewgardens
October 28, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Art … and botany … and architecture. At Kew Gardens on Saturday. Beautiful isn’t it?
('Between Earth and Sky' by Nnenna Okore).
#sculpture #art #kewgardens
('Between Earth and Sky' by Nnenna Okore).
#sculpture #art #kewgardens
Reposted by John Looker
This ink drawing (‘Untitled’) by Ruth Asawa is of her baby son Paul.
October 27, 2025 at 10:02 AM
This ink drawing (‘Untitled’) by Ruth Asawa is of her baby son Paul.
Reposted by John Looker
October 27, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Reposted by John Looker
They rise from the soil like dark feathers, each rooted in centuries of bone. The wind slows, as if entering a chapel. Their silence is not peace but vigilance, the long attention of stone. Beneath them, the air thickens with forgotten prayers and the soft rest of wings.
#prose #writing #nature
#prose #writing #nature
October 26, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Reposted by John Looker
This poem is written by Neda (11).
She takes part in a sporadically occurring online class in Afghanistan, where she learns English as a second language.
I am not offering any opinion or commentary, just the poem
#poetry
#poemoftheday
#Afghanistan
She takes part in a sporadically occurring online class in Afghanistan, where she learns English as a second language.
I am not offering any opinion or commentary, just the poem
#poetry
#poemoftheday
#Afghanistan
October 24, 2025 at 5:30 PM
This poem is written by Neda (11).
She takes part in a sporadically occurring online class in Afghanistan, where she learns English as a second language.
I am not offering any opinion or commentary, just the poem
#poetry
#poemoftheday
#Afghanistan
She takes part in a sporadically occurring online class in Afghanistan, where she learns English as a second language.
I am not offering any opinion or commentary, just the poem
#poetry
#poemoftheday
#Afghanistan
I'm deeply puzzled. Yesterday there were 249 visits to my WordPress site, mostly from the UK and North America. Usually there are no more than a trickle and we're back to 3 (so far) today.
How can this happen? Could it be a freak effect of yesterday's internet outages? Anyone else see odd stats?
How can this happen? Could it be a freak effect of yesterday's internet outages? Anyone else see odd stats?
About the author
John Looker’s poetry has been published in journals and anthologies in Britain, the USA, New Zealand, Australia and India. Having written and&…
johnlooker.wordpress.com
October 22, 2025 at 4:23 PM
I'm deeply puzzled. Yesterday there were 249 visits to my WordPress site, mostly from the UK and North America. Usually there are no more than a trickle and we're back to 3 (so far) today.
How can this happen? Could it be a freak effect of yesterday's internet outages? Anyone else see odd stats?
How can this happen? Could it be a freak effect of yesterday's internet outages? Anyone else see odd stats?
Reposted by John Looker
Was chatting to someone about that old familiar piece of workshop feedback 'do you need the first/last line' and tonight I came across this from 'The Fragment' (Electric Light)
#poetry
#quoteoftheday
#amwriting
#poetry
#quoteoftheday
#amwriting
October 21, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Was chatting to someone about that old familiar piece of workshop feedback 'do you need the first/last line' and tonight I came across this from 'The Fragment' (Electric Light)
#poetry
#quoteoftheday
#amwriting
#poetry
#quoteoftheday
#amwriting
Reposted by John Looker
There's never a time when this poem doesn't make sense
Hats off to whoever at TFL decides which poem is having its moment
October 19, 2025 at 8:19 PM
There's never a time when this poem doesn't make sense
October 19, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Reposted by John Looker
It's a shame it wasn't Mona Lisa they stole: the one painting in the Louvre you can't see anyway.
October 19, 2025 at 1:59 PM
It's a shame it wasn't Mona Lisa they stole: the one painting in the Louvre you can't see anyway.