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rotherwrites.bsky.social
Rother Writes
@rotherwrites.bsky.social
920 followers 880 following 2K posts
[My words] "are shut up tight inside themselves like boxes, yet they would open up, unfolding quite wonderfully, if only" [I could interest them], Sylvia Plath
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rotherwrites.bsky.social
Rother Writes @rotherwrites.bsky.social · Dec 3
I am delighted and flattered to receive this Silver Branch nomination along with Jacky, Sue, Helen, Vicki and Oormila.

And I am indebted to Matthew Smith and Black Bough Poetry for seeing something distinct in my writing, and the value of the mentoring relationship the led to this 'Glamour'. ❤️
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drnaturegirl.debbiemross.co.uk
For today’s #LiftToTheSky shout out to the supportive #poetry peeps here, too many to name @alanparrywriter.co.uk @matthewmcsmith.bsky.social @victoriaspires.bsky.social @hool415.bsky.social @rotherwrites.bsky.social @missyerem.bsky.social @merrildsmith.bsky.social @markantonyowen.com Check them out
February 2, 2026 at 9:35 AM
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paulwritespoems.bsky.social
It's here!!!

The return of The Book Bag: Poetic Voices series brings us a wonderful poet with an exceptional vigour and gravitas while performing their work.

Meet this month's Poetic Voice

#poetry #featuredpoet
The Book Bag: Poetic Voices – February 2026
Welcome to the first poetic voice of 2026. February is a special month as I celebrate my birthday AND i get to share work from an incredible poet and man. I first encountered this Poetic Voice sharing his work on the weekly PoemsAbout prompts supplied Broken Spine on Bluesky, finding his poetry smart and accessible and full of wonderful phrasing and incredible language. Then I heard him read at an Open Mic and I was blown away with his performance, he performs with an vigour and gravitas and if you get the chance to hear him read his work, do take it - he often shares his recordings on social media.
paulwritespoems.com
February 1, 2026 at 12:00 PM
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thepaulconnolly.bsky.social
I’m delighted to be February’s featured poet on Paul Short’s site, The Book Bag: Poetic Voices. I’m touched by Paul’s kind appreciation. Two poems are featured here, Late Summer Walk & Graduation, with a couple more later this month #poetrycommunity #poetsonbluesky
@paulwritespoems.bsky.social
paulwritespoems.bsky.social Paul @paulwritespoems.bsky.social · 1d
It's here!!!

The return of The Book Bag: Poetic Voices series brings us a wonderful poet with an exceptional vigour and gravitas while performing their work.

Meet this month's Poetic Voice

#poetry #featuredpoet
The Book Bag: Poetic Voices – February 2026
Welcome to the first poetic voice of 2026. February is a special month as I celebrate my birthday AND i get to share work from an incredible poet and man. I first encountered this Poetic Voice sharing his work on the weekly PoemsAbout prompts supplied Broken Spine on Bluesky, finding his poetry smart and accessible and full of wonderful phrasing and incredible language. Then I heard him read at an Open Mic and I was blown away with his performance, he performs with an vigour and gravitas and if you get the chance to hear him read his work, do take it - he often shares his recordings on social media.
paulwritespoems.com
February 1, 2026 at 12:13 PM
Reposted by Rother Writes
thebrokenspine.co.uk
This week: #Mouths.

Hunger.
Confession.
The place where wanting first shows itself.

Write the almost-touch.
The thing said too close.
The heat before contact.

New theme opens Friday.
Don’t post early.
Use Alt Text.
Tag #PoemsAbout to be found.
A close-up image of glossy black-painted lips slightly parted, holding a red strawberry between the teeth. The lipstick appears textured and reflective. The Broken Spine fountain pen logo sits in the top left corner. “@thebrokenspine.co.uk” appears in white at the top right. Bold white text in the lower right reads: “Read Repost Reply #POEMSABOUT #MOUTHS”.
February 1, 2026 at 9:00 AM
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poetry-with-hart.bsky.social
I wrote this one back on the 13th of this month. Think it was originally meant for #poemsabout #timeslips #poetry #prompt. It was that and/or #banterbabes?

Then it started borrowing heavily from Hamilton and rapping at the end so I've been fighting with it since. Enjoy 🤗

#poem #protest #resist
Protesting the masked modern-day slave-catchers masquerading as justice masquerading as men. Be demure, obey what we say, not what is law. Ice in their tone Ice in their bones. Time slips and we forgot how we ended up here calling them a new Gestapo. The SS learned it from US, history doesn't exist in a vacuum and here it is repeating. We're enslaved, and still arguing over the color of wallpaper in our cages.
January 31, 2026 at 3:39 PM
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janpsolivagant.bsky.social
🙏 @thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk #PoemsAbout #BlackVeils

#newpoem: ©Jan Peters/Solivagant Wisdom, 2026

Will catch up! #Reading 👇👇

#Saturn #Goya #Melancholy #Archetype #DepthPsychology #Alchemy #DarkPoetry #poetrycommunity
Born under Saturn Bulge-eye, Mouth-gape Puncture of Gloom. Pallid-cadaver Whites and Livid blood gouts Constellate the Chiaroscuro as an Ogre gluts on Unsexed mortals. Age eats youth, Wrath drubs sense, Revolution feasts on its own Offspring. Embittered at the world, He fears madness: Firsthand panic, Unmediated terror Seeping into painting, into Works hermetic and intimate. Alchemical lead of the Brooding recluse Born under Saturn: Transmuting craft into Sombre providence, Recasting vision as Melancholic calling. Black-box opacity of Soul-kindle Discipline. Black-cube matrix of Time, shadow and Stricture. Slow, anchoring Orbit of the Cold, dry Black Sun. ©Jan Peters/Solivagant Wisdom, 2026 Partly inspired by Francisco Goya’s Black Paintings
January 30, 2026 at 3:57 AM
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merrildsmith.bsky.social
Good morning! This one was another difficult one from #PoemsAbout #BlackVeils Thank you as always to @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @thebrokenspine.co.uk
Poem: Dazzle and Decay Bright blue skies belie the bleak, this winter’s sad-eyed mien, mourners, raven-clad, the salt of stars and sea within their tears, a flood of memories. And with another turning, the world is further, feather-veiled, the crows cry warning, as faux dragons puff smoky breaths-- the monsters are but puny men living for their self-written myths, who’d enshroud the sun for their noxious dreams, then charge a fee for light’s gift.
January 30, 2026 at 11:30 AM
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johnchmura.bsky.social
#PoemsAbout #Blackveils @thebrokenspine.co.uk
I will put a reading in the comments.
BLACKVEILS I. onyx eagle black veiled raptor resisting a rest artist the god beclouding their eyes with hallowed hollows flightless avian carved from night by sharp pens written in undiluted blood to protect and to serve of thee I sing a cappella a funeral carol II. Facing a day awake, watching the puppy breathe slow, synchronic puffs, laid upon my wife’s reclining chest, soft ruff brushing her smooth cheek. Peace be with you. I mute my phone to silence the shutter while I snap sleepy pics cute AF, then dumbly shudder, doomscroll, balaclava veiled agents of death shooting people in the face, in the back.
January 30, 2026 at 12:57 PM
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zoomburst.substack.com
I've just read through all the #PoemsAbout #BlackVeils that have gone up so far. I have to say that the quality is stratospheric this week. My breath is taken away.
I'd better throw my veil into the ring...
Sometimes you wonder whether Alt text is really necessary - but here it is anyway.. Peace Swathed in black, she came to him and sat astride his broken form Though numbed and weary, still he felt a wonder and a joy at this. She bent and shrouded him in shade The fearful noises faded fast as his heart stilled within his chest She took the veil down from her face and covered up his eyes with it Cold as he was, he felt her warmth and when he left, he left with her She took him off. No-one knows where.
January 30, 2026 at 9:21 AM
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stacebot.bsky.social
For this week's #PoemsAbout #BlackVeils, I'm thinking about systems protecting themselves. Error logs, forthcoming.

Thank you to the host @alanparrywriter.co.uk
and @thebrokenspine.co.uk
and to all of the other writers.

#poetry #poem #writing #PoetryCommunity #BlueSkyPoets
January 30, 2026 at 5:27 PM
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philippabowe.bsky.social
This week's #PoemsAbout prompt, #BlackVeils, took me to a waterfall, just had to follow. Thanks for the ongoing inspiration to @thebrokenspine.co.uk and @alanparrywriter.co.uk 💜
Photo of a thundering waterfall with the text of a poem superimposed. Black Veils a waterfall there was a thundering there was a terrifying thing force blind Black Veils we called it clap of pouring drops blackening as they went as they hurled gulping precipice ear-shattering curtain dark as night stained we thought with the blood and blood and blood creatures surrendering to the call winged things furry things human things light extinguished even before the end
January 30, 2026 at 9:31 PM
rotherwrites.bsky.social
Here's a voice that wants to make a statement. Don't think I've written anything like this before for #PoemsAbout #BlackVeils
@thebrokenspine.co.uk #PoetsOnBluesky
Impact Statement #BlackVeils Was I tainted by this mantle, or was it you. Did I cover myself for your pleasure, or your obedience. Know that what lies hidden is mine to keep my shroud revealing nothing, all light absorbed. I don’t reflect your gaze or your appeals. This is not for you but me, unless you will it otherwise while you hold me in shadow, a vassal of your own fear too impotent to press your own light through. I stand empty, nameless and opaque while you look. I am alive within, my flame small but constant held over until you and your kind are gone you always dimmer than I will ever appear. In dying this way I have gained new life. This black is my freedom, my purity. © Glenn Barker January 2026
January 30, 2026 at 8:11 AM
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victoriaspires.bsky.social
For @rfsmith.bsky.social and your #PromptCombo #Moment.

Death, indeterminacy and musical notation.
January 27, 2026 at 12:09 PM
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thebrokenspine.co.uk
#PoemsAbout #BlackVeils starts Friday.
Write into what you don’t show.
Boundaries. Silence. Chosen obscurity.
The dignity of not being legible.

Draft now.
Share from Friday.
Tag your post.
Use Alt Text.
A person stands against a dark, softly lit background, partially obscured by black veiling that frames their face and hands. Their eyes are shadowed, lips dark, expression calm and guarded. Their hands are clasped near their chest. 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 #BLACKVEILS”.
January 27, 2026 at 9:20 AM
rotherwrites.bsky.social
Today it is five years since I wrote my first poem. A Shakespearean sonnet (ten syllable, non-iambic).
Around 50 sonnets later I found free verse, and never looked back to this most rigid of formats.
#PoetsOnBluesky
#Poetrycommunity
January 25, 2026 at 6:15 PM
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thebrokenspine.co.uk
Last week interrogated power.
This week: #BlackVeils — concealment, protection, refusal.
What is hidden to survive?
What is withheld on purpose?

New theme opens Friday.
Don’t post early.
Use Alt Text.
Tag #PoemsAbout to be found.
A person stands against a dark, softly lit background, partially obscured by black veiling that frames their face and hands. Their eyes are shadowed, lips dark, expression calm and guarded. Their hands are clasped near their chest. 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 #BLACKVEILS”.
January 25, 2026 at 11:27 AM
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victoriaspires.bsky.social
New review up on my Substack – This Wilderness & Other Concerns by @martinkennedyyates.bsky.social 📚

The quest for “devout and dogged beauty”.

open.substack.com/pub/victoria...

#poetrycommunity #promptcombo
January 25, 2026 at 7:51 AM
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poetry-with-hart.bsky.social
Still a little rough around the edges and a day late, but it was fun to write. Thought hugs everyone. Stay safe out there 🤗

#banterbabes #promptcombo #subtext #poemsabout #falsecrowns #poem #poetry #poemaday #skypoem #skypoetry #resist
“Please, don't look away,” the screen seems to say subtext in the static. It's automatic now to swipe click battle ecstasy as we keep watching, reading not for information but to consume more and more. Please don't look away, you'll see the illusion slip if you're watching carefully. There the mask drops, There they published the real list of the puppet masters in plain view because they think there's nothing we can do. Please don't look away as the charlatan dancespeaks his way in between failures and Armageddon. You'll see with every move of his half drawn mouth that they're not hiding the crown behind the facade of democracy anymore, his handlers in full view. Please don't look away as they kill us in broad daylight as they take children from their homes as they pepperspray priests as the friction in the streets reveals the fiction that what we had were rights, and they've all but taken the rest of them away. Please don't look away, the show is about to come to a close. We are here to bear witness at the sundown of our democracy, nobility of spirit within the pain as we fight to be heard in the epilog. The central puppet takes a bow goldenrod crown dipping in the light. Please don't look away as the audience are made marionettes too, each movement of suffering planned each moment serving a purpose because cruelty is the point. Achieving consciousness for a moment, someone please, give me some scissors so I can cut our strings.
January 24, 2026 at 12:02 PM
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thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social
For #PoemsAbout #FalseCrown
@thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk
A False Crown says the moon provides more light than the sun, the sea is more stable than the land, science is false when it disagrees with a false crown's opinion. False crown will say the most extreme comments because it means it can talk about less extreme things and people will feel better. False crown appeals to our secret need to enjoy violence to others legally and without consequence. False Crown will remove the sting from all opponents.Keep them powerless.
January 23, 2026 at 8:38 PM
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zentinl.bsky.social
With appreciation for #PoemsAbout #FalseCrown
@thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk
January 23, 2026 at 9:53 PM
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dnwritespoetry.bsky.social
#PoemsAbout #FalseCrowns
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
What a time appropriate prompt!
January 23, 2026 at 11:18 AM
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drnaturegirl.debbiemross.co.uk
Dear @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk and the #poetrycommunity here for #PoemsAbout #FalseCrowns a not very serious attempt, which I’ve not had time to work on. Hope it fits. Thanks to all who read and repost. Will check out the offerings over the weekend. #poems #poetry
A poem by Debbie Ross entitled Symbols Single stanza text as follows I got a tiara for my 60th birthday, a present from a friend, to remind me of my ascension to wise womanhood, or women of a certain age, who no longer care what others think; who don't take themselves too seriously, but seriously enough to wear a crown and think we own it.
January 23, 2026 at 11:47 AM
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merrildsmith.bsky.social
Good morning! Today's poem for #PoemsAbout #FalseCrowns.
It's difficult to think about much else these days. Thank you as always to @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @thebrokenspine.co.uk
Poem Reforestation Another winter of discontent, of waiting for ice to melt, for fool’s gold crowns to topple in the thaw, for resounding and rebounding echoes to resonate in peals that wake hammers of justice to pound and sound the end of a reign, the villainy revealed, the golden facades removed to show the lead beneath that no alchemist could transform, nor turn festered flesh fresh again, the tyrant doomed, the contagion must be contained. Another winter, and like squirrels we gather our acorns, no, not squirrels, oaks with mycelium memories and extended roots rumbling from deep underground as we rise taller every day.
January 23, 2026 at 11:40 AM
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johnchmura.bsky.social
#PoemsAbout #FalseCrowns @thebrokenspine.co.uk
I will put a link to a reading in the comments.
IMPERIAL AMERICAN BLUES got the Imperial American Blues the Imperial American Blues my second Barbie can’t afford a pair of plastic shoes got the Imperial American Blues wake up every evening a man without a song remember that I’m grieving and everything that’s wrong got the Imperial American Blues the Imperial American Blues my second Barbie can’t afford a pair of plastic shoes got the Imperial American Blues God bless this bleak dominion and all the children in it blow your wad on Mega Millions but you’re never gonna win it got the Imperial American Blues the Imperial American Blues my second Barbie can’t afford a pair of plastic shoes got the Imperial American Blues traded in his teenage zits and classic redneck mullet for camo that don’t nearly fit immunity and bullets got the Imperial American Blues the Imperial American Blues my second Barbie can’t afford a pair of plastic shoes got the Imperial American Blues acronyms across his back and pockets full of mace attack him with a simple fact he’ll shoot you in the face got the Imperial American Blues the Imperial American Blues my second Barbie can’t afford a pair of plastic shoes got the Imperial American Blues he takes the land from the free and the brave from their home there ain’t no room for dignity with Trump and Kristi Noem got the Imperial American Blues the Imperial American Blues my second Barbie can’t afford a pair of plastic shoes got the Imperial American Blues got the imperial American Blues
January 23, 2026 at 5:53 AM