On Viewless Wings
@onviewlesswings.bsky.social
Writing, reading, running.
Poetry PhD: vital instability in the 2nd generation Romantics.
Am actually writing.
Interested in the amplification of working class voices, northern voices, & kind & talented voices.
Writing, I swear.
Meliorist, still.
Poetry PhD: vital instability in the 2nd generation Romantics.
Am actually writing.
Interested in the amplification of working class voices, northern voices, & kind & talented voices.
Writing, I swear.
Meliorist, still.
Reposted by On Viewless Wings
The Shield is amazing. The way they play the long game with several plot elements, the fantastic characters…it’s one of the best shows I’ve ever seen, and I’m not particularly into US cop shows! It’s so much more than that, though.
December 14, 2025 at 7:35 PM
The Shield is amazing. The way they play the long game with several plot elements, the fantastic characters…it’s one of the best shows I’ve ever seen, and I’m not particularly into US cop shows! It’s so much more than that, though.
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I’ve been seeing this cover over and over and I just…
In the original you’re aware of the horror of falling, but the body positions of the workers are solid on the beam. Here, most of them should be falling off, yet they don’t, because they live in an unreal, consequence-free space.
In the original you’re aware of the horror of falling, but the body positions of the workers are solid on the beam. Here, most of them should be falling off, yet they don’t, because they live in an unreal, consequence-free space.
I guess it's fitting that it's a reimagined, worse version of someone else's artwork
December 14, 2025 at 9:36 AM
I’ve been seeing this cover over and over and I just…
In the original you’re aware of the horror of falling, but the body positions of the workers are solid on the beam. Here, most of them should be falling off, yet they don’t, because they live in an unreal, consequence-free space.
In the original you’re aware of the horror of falling, but the body positions of the workers are solid on the beam. Here, most of them should be falling off, yet they don’t, because they live in an unreal, consequence-free space.
The thing isn't the thing. The doing is the thing. This is what they don't understand
The cliche that ‘having an idea’ is the hard part of writing is persistent and pernicious. Realising the idea is the craft of it. That FAQ of…
December 14, 2025 at 2:16 PM
The thing isn't the thing. The doing is the thing. This is what they don't understand
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Learned today that “Galápagos” comes from a Spanish word for tortoise, meaning that “Galápagos Tortoise” is,
in fact,
a tortology
in fact,
a tortology
December 13, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Learned today that “Galápagos” comes from a Spanish word for tortoise, meaning that “Galápagos Tortoise” is,
in fact,
a tortology
in fact,
a tortology
The anti-trans folks attempted to misrepresent Pterry. Those who have read him for decades, and those who came to him later and saw him for what he was, were never going to stand for it.
#GNUTerryPratchett
#GNUTerryPratchett
Obligatory reference to Terry Pratchett's final book, The Shepherd's Crown
December 14, 2025 at 1:46 PM
The anti-trans folks attempted to misrepresent Pterry. Those who have read him for decades, and those who came to him later and saw him for what he was, were never going to stand for it.
#GNUTerryPratchett
#GNUTerryPratchett
Which movie, first watched by you this year, is the one you are most likely to rewatch? For me I think it's The Ballad of Wallis Island.
December 14, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Which movie, first watched by you this year, is the one you are most likely to rewatch? For me I think it's The Ballad of Wallis Island.
Also, having not seen it the first time round and hearing good things, I got the whole of The Shield on DVD for £4.99 and it may have been the best value for money purchase of my life.
This is Walton Goggins as Billy Crash in The Hateful Eight. A most excellent actor who makes every movie he’s in better.
December 14, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Also, having not seen it the first time round and hearing good things, I got the whole of The Shield on DVD for £4.99 and it may have been the best value for money purchase of my life.
This was on the old GCSE spec around 20 years ago. Taught this poem for years. My favourites from that spec were probably Armitage's Mother, Any Distance Greater Than A Single Span and, in a different section of the exam paper, Walcott's Love After Love. Duffy's Before You Were Mine, about a 1/2
From my fav Duffy collection ‘The World’s Wife’, the story of great wives behind great men
This turns a footnote in Will’s will into a love letter, of sorts. A marriage imagined as the inspiration & the object of his writing
But then the implied disregard in the final line?
#poetry
#poemoftheday
This turns a footnote in Will’s will into a love letter, of sorts. A marriage imagined as the inspiration & the object of his writing
But then the implied disregard in the final line?
#poetry
#poemoftheday
December 14, 2025 at 12:40 PM
This was on the old GCSE spec around 20 years ago. Taught this poem for years. My favourites from that spec were probably Armitage's Mother, Any Distance Greater Than A Single Span and, in a different section of the exam paper, Walcott's Love After Love. Duffy's Before You Were Mine, about a 1/2
True about writing, and a whole bunch of other things too.
Unsolicited writing advice, no. 331:
Not everyone will love you. Live with it. All writers do. All you can do is your best, most honest work, and send it out into the world in the hope that it connects with someone. What they see in it after that is often more about them than it is about you...
Not everyone will love you. Live with it. All writers do. All you can do is your best, most honest work, and send it out into the world in the hope that it connects with someone. What they see in it after that is often more about them than it is about you...
December 14, 2025 at 11:58 AM
True about writing, and a whole bunch of other things too.
UK folks: though the shortest day is a week or so away, we've had our earliest sunset.
December 13, 2025 at 4:03 PM
UK folks: though the shortest day is a week or so away, we've had our earliest sunset.
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Just been sent this snap from @waterstones.bsky.social Tottenham Court Road. The Keshed launch is at the Leeds branch on publication day in Feb, so massive thanks to Stones for their ongoing support.
December 13, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Just been sent this snap from @waterstones.bsky.social Tottenham Court Road. The Keshed launch is at the Leeds branch on publication day in Feb, so massive thanks to Stones for their ongoing support.
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Can't wait for Robin Ince to get as many column inches in the national press over his actual establishment silencing due to his stance on lgbt+ rights as phobes get over their former friends not wanting to hang out so much any more
December 13, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Can't wait for Robin Ince to get as many column inches in the national press over his actual establishment silencing due to his stance on lgbt+ rights as phobes get over their former friends not wanting to hang out so much any more
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For the record, Robin Ince is a superb comedian, an absolute mensch, a remarkable thinker and the kindest human you’ll ever meet. And the BBC is a genuinely great and globally unique institution that needs to stop being afraid. I think that’s where most of its faults and issues stem from.
December 13, 2025 at 11:21 AM
For the record, Robin Ince is a superb comedian, an absolute mensch, a remarkable thinker and the kindest human you’ll ever meet. And the BBC is a genuinely great and globally unique institution that needs to stop being afraid. I think that’s where most of its faults and issues stem from.
Sixth Form, that sense of freedom when friends are getting cars. Impromptu late night drive out to the cinema, some new film I'd never heard of and knew nothing about. It was Pulp Fiction. I've gone cold on his movies since and think Tarantino is a dick, but that cinema experience stuck with me.
Raising the always fun question: What are your most memorable theater-going experiences?
Mine also include The Matrix, Blair Witch, and being way too stoned in Belgium when Fellowship of the Ring was sold out so we sat in the back row for Mulholland Drive instead.
Mine also include The Matrix, Blair Witch, and being way too stoned in Belgium when Fellowship of the Ring was sold out so we sat in the back row for Mulholland Drive instead.
It was hands-down one of the most memorable theater-going experiences I can remember, a collective 30-minute butt-clench/armrest-grab for the final climb. And we knew he lived! Wild.
December 13, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Sixth Form, that sense of freedom when friends are getting cars. Impromptu late night drive out to the cinema, some new film I'd never heard of and knew nothing about. It was Pulp Fiction. I've gone cold on his movies since and think Tarantino is a dick, but that cinema experience stuck with me.
Of all the injustices of canon, is there any injustice greater than Paul McCartney's Wonderful Christmas Time seemingly sitting more centrally than The Waitresses' Christmas Wrapping?
December 12, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Of all the injustices of canon, is there any injustice greater than Paul McCartney's Wonderful Christmas Time seemingly sitting more centrally than The Waitresses' Christmas Wrapping?
Great film, this. Actually taught it as an A Level media text, now I think about it, once upon a time, in a brief diversion from teaching English.
Children of Men was set in 2027. Maybe it wasn't a 'dystopian action thriller' but the anticipation of today. Yes, I'm talking about immigrants, asylum seekers, refugees.. whoever we are.
@ppfideas.bsky.social a podcast about it would be great.
@ppfideas.bsky.social a podcast about it would be great.
December 7, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Great film, this. Actually taught it as an A Level media text, now I think about it, once upon a time, in a brief diversion from teaching English.
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Sunday #eveningread
Emily Brontë wrote what I am feeling now.
Emily Brontë wrote what I am feeling now.
December 7, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Sunday #eveningread
Emily Brontë wrote what I am feeling now.
Emily Brontë wrote what I am feeling now.
Oh FFS
the world cup final is going to have a 30 minute halftime show????? will someone rid us of the meddlesome great satan???
December 7, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Oh FFS
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A v. touching & inspiring read esp. for children who might be finding their childhood difficult. Anna makes a good point about how you can be an extrovert & an introvert. My essential nature is that of an introvert but I made myself an extrovert when it was needed www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
Anna Maxwell Martin looks back: ‘I was bullied a little bit, but it didn’t affect me because I was a happy weirdo’
The actor on being an introverted extrovert, performing as a pearly queen, and becoming a single mother when her husband died
www.theguardian.com
December 7, 2025 at 2:56 PM
A v. touching & inspiring read esp. for children who might be finding their childhood difficult. Anna makes a good point about how you can be an extrovert & an introvert. My essential nature is that of an introvert but I made myself an extrovert when it was needed www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
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RIP Martin Parr
Some of my favourite photos
Some of my favourite photos
December 7, 2025 at 2:43 PM
RIP Martin Parr
Some of my favourite photos
Some of my favourite photos
Reposted by On Viewless Wings
Martin Parr, photographer acclaimed for observations of British life, dies aged 73. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
Martin Parr, photographer acclaimed for observations of British life, dies aged 73
Known for acute observations of class system, Parr’s images were often in vivid colour with more than a dash of humour
www.theguardian.com
December 7, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Martin Parr, photographer acclaimed for observations of British life, dies aged 73. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
One thing Marvel definitely did better than Star Wars is the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. It is a real joy and actually makes sense. The only downside is that it makes the six degrees of Kevin Bacon game much easier.
December 7, 2025 at 12:12 PM
One thing Marvel definitely did better than Star Wars is the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. It is a real joy and actually makes sense. The only downside is that it makes the six degrees of Kevin Bacon game much easier.
They don't speak for me.
December 7, 2025 at 10:27 AM
They don't speak for me.