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rburrows.bsky.social
Rachel Burrows
@rburrows.bsky.social
1.5K followers 880 following 3.3K posts
Pushcart Prize Nominated. Cheshire Novel Prize SL‘25, Guppy Open Submission LL’25
Write Mentor Picturebook SL’23/LL’24
Poetry - The Dirigible Balloon, Northern Gravy, Tyger Tyger, The Toy, The Yorkshire Times, Motherhood Uncensored, LTP, BBC Upload.🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
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rburrows.bsky.social
Rachel Burrows @rburrows.bsky.social · Nov 14
More snails I’m afraid! #PoemsAbout #Desire @thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk Happy Friday!
#parasite #poetry
Reposted by Rachel Burrows
laurennsimmons1.bsky.social
I'm so excited and honored to be included with the amazing writers and artists @littlethoughtspress.com in issue 12, Better Together! My story, Newsgirl, is about the newboys' strike of 1899 from the perspective of a newsgirl - brought to life by the wonderful art of @kimwnolan.bsky.social.
January 19, 2026 at 6:18 PM
Reposted by Rachel Burrows
littlethoughtspress.com
A perfect #kidlit poem for MLK Day by @paljes.bsky.social, "Winning Wars With Peace" honors the lives and legacies of both MLK and Gandhi.

Read the full poem in our Better Together issue which celebrates community engagement and collective action.

www.littlethoughtspress.com/issues
Winning Wars With Peace by Pallavi Jesrani When injustice reigned all across the land, they raised uplifting voices, and took a steadfast stand. One sought independence one strove for civil rights, with strong resolve and passion that scaled the highest heights. They both revered the truth, and each one had a dream. Their stirring words aroused, and thousands joined their team. At no time did they use arms or ammunition. Non-violence was a core value of their missions. They marched away to Dandi. Made their own free salt. Marched off to Montgomery, and led a bus boycott.
January 19, 2026 at 6:33 PM
Reposted by Rachel Burrows
attielime.bsky.social
If you haven't yet tasted Blue Jelly and Strawberries, it's currently on offer here for fewer £s than a fancy coffee and a cake. I guarantee the poetry joy will last longer than the sugar hit!
*If you have a favourite indie bookshop, please use it - they can order it for you, with a smile 😊🍓
A current Amazon offer of Blue Jelly and Strawberries for £7.65 with quotes placed by author Attie Lime, with readers describing it as "joyous" "great fun" "vibrant, bouncing" and "ideal to introduce young readers to the joy of poetry"
January 18, 2026 at 9:47 AM
Reposted by Rachel Burrows
thebrokenspine.co.uk
Last week bent time.
This week: #FalseCrowns — borrowed authority, inherited power, praise that doesn’t fit.
Who crowned you?
Who benefits from you believing it?

New theme opens Friday.
Don’t post early.
Use Alt Text.
Tag #PoemsAbout to be found.
A pale blue skull sits centred on a white plinth against a soft teal background. An ornate black crown rests on top of the skull, delicate and sharp in contrast to the smooth bone beneath. The Broken Spine fountain pen logo appears in the top left corner. “@thebrokenspine.co.uk” is written in white at the top right. Bold white text in the lower right reads: “Read Repost Reply #POEMSABOUT #FALSECROWNS”.
January 18, 2026 at 10:00 AM
rburrows.bsky.social
One of my favourite stories has just been accepted by @littlethoughtspress.com I’m so pleased - I love the little person in it and I know @clairemtaylor.com will take such good care of him and his bellybutton! Thank you! 🙏 #writingforkids #kidlit #kidlituk #writing
January 18, 2026 at 5:22 PM
Reposted by Rachel Burrows
littlethoughtspress.com
"The Trouble with See-Saws" by Paula Thompson is a perfect little package of wordplay.

In Little Thoughts Press Issue 11: Stirring Words, available in print & pdf.

www.littlethoughtspress.com/issues
A page from Little Thoughts Press Issue 11: Stirring Words with a sneak peek of the poem The Trouble with See-Saws by Paula Thompson.
January 8, 2026 at 2:43 PM
Reposted by Rachel Burrows
christinadaub.bsky.social
I Wrote This Poem on Company Time

by @isabellewrites.bsky.social

#smallpoemsunday
@tomsnarsky.bsky.social

with thanks to @katierpoet.bsky.social for introducing me to her work on her substack. #poetry
Poem written on Google sheets by Isabelle Correa
January 18, 2026 at 3:24 PM
Reposted by Rachel Burrows
paulwritespoems.bsky.social
The Book Bag is Back for 2026. Let's sit back and enjoy Songs from Last Imaginations, a pamphlet of lyrical poetry and terrifically curated photography.

Plus the usual recap, news opportunities and of course the first playlist of 2026.

#TheBookBag
The Book Bag: Songs from Last Imaginations by Dorian Nightingale
Welcome back to The Book Bag. I hope you’ve had a poetic week. Well it’s good to be back after a good Christmas break where I’ve slowed down a little. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve hosted Write Here, Right Now, hosted another instalment of The Book Bag Open Mic Sessions, attended a Black Bough poetry bootcamp for planning how I’ll make the most of the year to come. I’ve also been lucky enough to be welcomed by Matthew MC Smith to be a guest sub-editor for Black Bough’s Christmas / Winter Anthology .
paulwritespoems.com
January 18, 2026 at 8:00 AM
rburrows.bsky.social
My barnacles are in! Thanks @paulwritespoems.bsky.social for accepting Sentinel Species in The Book Bag x Write Here, Write Now Unwhispered Legacy Anthology! Happy Sunday! 🪸🐚🦀🦐🌊 #poetry
January 18, 2026 at 7:55 AM
Reposted by Rachel Burrows
flip89db.bsky.social
hiding in my brain
that one spider
i pretended to spare

#haikufeels (occupy)
#haiku
January 13, 2026 at 1:14 PM
Reposted by Rachel Burrows
sueimnw.bsky.social
I hear the murmur
of birds coming together
for strength in the dark

#vss365 #murmur
January 18, 2026 at 6:11 AM
Reposted by Rachel Burrows
hool415.bsky.social
Hullo #vss365 and to #murmur An old one today.
Llanwrthwl Common, Powys, Wales The half-hearted track has almost given up. I am above the empty valley, beyond the retired drystone wall now an unhurried deluge of moss and rock, beyond the bleached skeleton of a tree so weathered, it seems inverted: a jagged fan of root-bone. A sag of hillside draws me, this natural parabolic dish so softly contoured, the mountain could be deflating; a sheepless incline scabbed with blood-gorse, partly blotting its coarse blanket of ochre stems. All around, clouds trail their shadows like a child’s coat, but on this slope, up close, their touch is more certain, a rush of fingers across a familiar undulating Braille. Whatever is learnt is shared as hirsute murmurs across the rippling scrub. It’s late, but I wait for the scars of dusk to heal, when the clouds begin their burlesque with the brazen nearly naked constellations.
January 18, 2026 at 6:47 AM
Reposted by Rachel Burrows
zoomburst.substack.com
#PoemsAbout #Timeslips
Ohh - go on then. I was far too tired yesterday - had such a good time at a Thursday night poetry gig.
Timeslips Sometimes the timeslips are negligible Like I am in the kitchen but I can’t quite remember what I came here for Sometimes they are a little more than that Like I am in the kitchen unpacking the shopping but I can’t remember having gone shopping for any of these groceries Sometimes they are even bigger Like I just got out of bed on a Thursday morning and here I am, downstairs unpacking the shopping but I only go shopping on Saturdays Sometimes its overwhelming Like the shopping is all packed away and I sit down and relax with a cup of tea and I am in a large wing backed chair in a room with a dozen or so other people all of us in our late eighties and none of us allowed anywhere near the kitchen
January 17, 2026 at 11:50 AM
Reposted by Rachel Burrows
blsamaddar.bsky.social
Dear vss365ers,

Your creativity yesterday was truly inspiring. Your #vss365 #prompt for Jan. 17 is #dapple

Your song is: Violets of Dawn- Mary Chapin Carpenter

Song lyrics (not mine)

“Some Prince Charmin', I'll be on two white steeds
To bring you #dapple diamond crowns”

youtu.be/f4PLrd8nGcI?...
Violets of Dawn
YouTube video by Mary Chapin Carpenter - Topic
youtu.be
January 17, 2026 at 4:01 AM
Reposted by Rachel Burrows
fiftywords.bsky.social
Been travelling for the last month so here’s a quick #PoemsAbout #TimeSlips.
Baggage Claim The belt begins, unannounced. A low murmur of rubber, a circle learning its lines. We step closer without deciding to. Hands loosen. Eyes rehearse recognition. The belt keeps faith with rotation, not hope. It does not pause for names. Relief lifts one case. Another keeps circling, learning patience. What fails to arrive grows heavier by the minute. At last, a familiar damage. Recognised by touch. Lifted carefully, as if it remembers who we were when we left. What did we bring. What will we claim. What have we learned to leave.
January 16, 2026 at 7:12 AM
Reposted by Rachel Burrows
brianbilston.bsky.social
Just a quick heads up that some of these autumn shows will sell out over the next month or so: most likely are Oxford, Helmsley, Corsham, Bury St Edmonds, Pocklington, Bellaghy and Loughborough.

Book early to ensure disappointment.
A pic advertising my list of shows for 2026: Aberdeen; Aberystwyth; Bakewell; Bellaghy; Bridport; Bristol; Bude; Bury St Edmonds; Cardiff; Cardigan; Chorley; Colchester; Corsham; Coventry; Croydon; Darwen; Deal; Exeter; Glasgow; Guildford; Harpenden; Helmsley; Kidderminster; Leeds; Liverpool; London; Loughborough; Malton; Manchester; Monmouth; Newark; Norwich; Oxford; Pocklington; Sheffield; Stamford; Stirling; Stroud; Sunderland; Ulverston; Winchester; Worthing.
January 15, 2026 at 5:08 PM
Reposted by Rachel Burrows
paulwritespoems.bsky.social
Tickets Available Now.

🎟️ shorturl.at/Ocvzw
January 16, 2026 at 6:15 PM
Reposted by Rachel Burrows
hool415.bsky.social
Hullo #vss365 and to #dapple
Dapple There is a road behind the lake, the lake we went to that night, the day when our friend had died. A bench, wood as cold as a coffin, while small-hour traffic carried on its business oblivious; their far headlights weaving through trees, dappling, like a desperate communication in unreadable morse.
January 17, 2026 at 6:00 AM
Reposted by Rachel Burrows
beautifulsausage.bsky.social
The poetry of
Neal Zetter
January 17, 2026 at 9:19 AM
Reposted by Rachel Burrows
nealzetterpoet.bsky.social
@schoolreadinglist.bsky.social January fictional book of the month! Out 8 Jan from @otterbarrybooks.bsky.social (and me!)

#poem #poems #LibrarySky #EduSky #BookSky #poetry #TeacherSky #poetrylovers #PoetrySky #PoetryCommunity #WritingCommunity #teachers #literacy #kidlit
January 4, 2026 at 9:10 AM
Reposted by Rachel Burrows
beautifulsausage.bsky.social
The poetry of
Attie Lime
attielime.bsky.social Attie Lime @attielime.bsky.social · 10d
From my latest collection A Welly Full of Christmas, which is also full of poems about snow, wintry walks, and hot chocolate. Grab a copy now, or get the ebook version to read while the weather is brrrrr! #NotJustForChristmas #WinterPoems #SnowPoems #Poetry #Books #snow @tinytreebooks.bsky.social
Window Waiting for snow we are desperate predators planning the taste of it The smallest of us palms the window, testing the mood of the day, the switch of the wind We think we imagine that first flake - a collective dream from a Christmas card, but there it is again and again and again and again Attie Lime
January 17, 2026 at 9:21 AM
Reposted by Rachel Burrows
beautifulsausage.bsky.social
The poetry of
Coral Rumble
coralrumble.bsky.social coralrumble.bsky.social @coralrumble.bsky.social · 6d
According to Save the Children, “Only one in four children play out regularly”. They are missing out on so much.
January 17, 2026 at 9:24 AM
Reposted by Rachel Burrows
beautifulsausage.bsky.social
The poetry of
Mark Bird
dreambeastpoems.bsky.social Mark Bird @dreambeastpoems.bsky.social · 16d
Happy New Year #BlueSky friends. All is as it should be as long as you do not turn on the news #poetry #blueskypoetry #poems #AllIsAsItShouldBe
January 17, 2026 at 9:26 AM
Reposted by Rachel Burrows
beautifulsausage.bsky.social
The poetry of
Roger Waldron
throwawayreg.bsky.social roger waldron @throwawayreg.bsky.social · 2d
Evening Friday 🤷‍♂️
here’s my little “throwaway”
for #PoemsAbout #TimeSlips
and thank you @alanparrywriter.co.uk
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
#poetry #poems
#BlueSkyPoets
hope everyone everywhere enjoys their weekend 🛋️🛋️🛋️
January 17, 2026 at 9:30 AM
Reposted by Rachel Burrows
beautifulsausage.bsky.social
The poetry of
Jen Thorne
jenthorne.bsky.social Jen Thorne @jenthorne.bsky.social · Dec 19
Friday is fast becoming my favourite day. Can't wait to read everyone else's take on #PoemsAbout #Money

@thebrokenspine.co.uk
#poetry #poetrycommunity #blueskypoets
The Price to Pay    Can we get takeaway tonight? Of course. That’ll cost me an hour of nodding through meetings with people who think synergy is a personality, and ten minutes replying to emails that make me question my sanity.   The car needs petrol. Naturally. That’ll be an afternoon wrestling with code in a system that resents my existence, crashing just to make me suffer.   Mum, can I have some new trainers? Absolutely. I can cover that with two “familiarisation sessions” on software no one understands, and a project plan no one will read.   I’ve booked the cat in at the vets. Perfect. I’ve booked myself in for overtime. I'll pay the bill with a seven-hour upgrade full of bugs that I'll spend days fixing.   We need to go shopping. No problem. Let me just do three hours faking interest in a dashboard that doesn’t work, for managers who never use it.   Can we go to the cinema Friday? Sure. I'll do another round with the pointless dashboard, and finish the stack of overdue reports.   The gas bill’s arrived. Oh great. I stare at my laptop, and wonder what piece of myself I’ll have to sell just to stay warm.
January 17, 2026 at 9:33 AM