Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Melissa M Poulton (she/they) @melissampoulton.bsky.social · 2d

No problem 💜

1

Melissa M Poulton (she/they) @melissampoulton.bsky.social · 2d

I love this. Thank you for sharing it with the world 💜

1 1 1

Reposted by Melissa M Poulton (she/they)

Rebekah 💙🏳️‍🌈 @rteller.bsky.social · 3d

Here's my offering for #PoemsAbout #ImperfectMe @thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk

Twelve

Sometimes I feel
I don't belong
And being here
Just feels so wrong.
From deep inside
A quiet moan.
And all I want
Is to go home.

I get nervous.
I don't know why,
And all I seem
to do is cry.
It's dark and wet
And hard and old.
And all I do
Is what I'm told.

The world is there.
It's big and bright.
But all I see
Is empty night.
Nightmares and fear
And evil queens
Are all I have
In place of dreams.

But someday soon,
I don't know when,
This misery
Will find an end.
Can someone please
Help me relieve
The endless fray
Of being me?

7 5 23

Melissa M Poulton (she/they) @melissampoulton.bsky.social · 2d

They're definitely acts of truth. Thank you for the theme yet again. I'm not writing as much poetry, but I do love your weekly themes. Maybe when I finish my memoir, I will head back to write more poetry. 💜

1

Reposted by Melissa M Poulton (she/they)

Merril D. Smith @merrildsmith.bsky.social · 4d

Good morning! I wasn't going to do this prompt for #PoemsAbout #imperfectMe but started writing it yesterday @paulwritespoems.bsky.social writing group. It's still rough. Thanks as always to @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @thebrokenspine.co.uk

Poem:

Still Standing

The scar on my right breast
a faint tracing,
the charcoal under the artist’s paint,

tattooed dots,
ellipsis signaling the story continues—

always a before
and an after--

so far, always an after--

the sagging of flesh, the greying of hair,
points for endurance, if not for style,

as vain as anyone, I suppose,
but embracing the imperfect,
me.

18 18 76

Reposted by Melissa M Poulton (she/they)

Paul Brookes @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social · 3d

Hi @hool415.bsky.social Ju. Hope you're having a brilliant week. Here's my sixth response to your outstanding #promptcombo #visitor:

Brash And Burn
1. Burn Brash
Sat back barked.
Small insects crawl
down tree stretched above
inhabit hair
worn gloves
bruised brashed branches
Breathe wet peat,
damp soil, leaf decay,
autumn dead leaf dance,
spring bluebell wend
summer sacred stainglass
canopy sunshaft play
winter heavesnow clear paths
Sat back barked
canopy leaf horizon
floats shimmers
Calm
2. Wombwell Boxed
Lift small boxes wooden lid smell
broadleaved woodland
before rail/road.
Press plastic button hear
Skylarks, Meadow Pipits, Woodpeckers,
before rail/road.
Press plastic button watch
Videowalk ancient Beech, Oak, Birch
before rail/road.
Electronic ringtone.
We would like to advise all visitors
the museum is closing soon.
Please exit through main door.
We hope you have enjoyed your visit.
Please come again

1 5 15

Melissa M Poulton (she/they) @melissampoulton.bsky.social · 3d

It really is that simple. If they love their country like they say they do, then prove it. Litter pick their community, volunteer at the local food bank, take someone to the doctors, and fix something broken, etc. That would be more patriotic that shoving a flag in someone's face

Melissa M Poulton (she/they) @melissampoulton.bsky.social · 3d

Thank you 💜

1

Melissa M Poulton (she/they) @melissampoulton.bsky.social · 3d

💜

Melissa M Poulton (she/they) @melissampoulton.bsky.social · 4d

I love Alan's themes. It gives me something to do on s Friday morning in bed. 💜

Melissa M Poulton (she/they) @melissampoulton.bsky.social · 4d

Thank you. I am not writing as many as I'm focusing on my memoir. So it's nice to write a handful of pieces a week 💜

1 1 1

Melissa M Poulton (she/they) @melissampoulton.bsky.social · 4d

Thank you. Every day is a struggle, but I'm doing good. 💜

Melissa M Poulton (she/they) @melissampoulton.bsky.social · 4d

💜

Melissa M Poulton (she/they) @melissampoulton.bsky.social · 4d

Thank you. Onto the next goal of 6 months 💜

1

Melissa M Poulton (she/they) @melissampoulton.bsky.social · 4d

They say write what you know. So I did. I am sure that many other people can relate💜

1

Reposted by Melissa M Poulton (she/they)

Sarah O @palimpsest22.bsky.social · 4d

#PoemsAbout #ImperfectMe
Thanks @thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk for nudging me into discomfort writing. Started life in @wendypratt.bsky.social workshop,been festering.

Poem called Face Cream by Sarah O'Grady.

12 9 29

Reposted by Melissa M Poulton (she/they)

Dean Norton @zentinl.bsky.social · 4d

This #ImperfectMe is October grey in a second poem for #PoemsAbout. Thank you @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk @brokenspinearts.bsky.social @alanparry83.bsky.social @karenpgonzalez.bsky.social #poetrycommunity #poetry #poems #blueskypoets #blueskypoetry

6 6 24

Reposted by Melissa M Poulton (she/they)

Lin Hart @poetry-with-hart.bsky.social · 4d

A piece from my would-be manuscript (probably now a zine series because I'm now a zine-obsessed twaffle) "Behind the Mirror". A bit more simplistic than my usual fair, but it's got a hopeful side to it that you may appreciate. Enjoy 🤗

@alanparrywriter.co.uk

#poemsabout #imperfectme #poem #poetry

Behind the mirror
sits the woman
I hope to become

So much more a sister
a daughter, a partner, a friend
so much more than the sum

of all my pieces
once jagged now soft
from trying to put me together again.

Even a shattered prism
shows a rainbow cavalcade
when put to the light.

Behind the mirror
sits the woman
I hope to become

From this shade
of past folly
a paragon of future promise

-Lin Hart

20 21 76

Reposted by Melissa M Poulton (she/they)

Fiftywords @fiftywords.bsky.social · 4d

Here’s to the imperfect, the mislabeled, the beautifully unfitting. This piece is for all of us who will not be named by other people’s judgment. #PoemsAbout #ImperfectMe Thanks to @alanparrywriter.co.uk and this wonderful community @thebrokenspine.co.uk

The Name You Gave Me
You gave me a name I never asked for,
a word carved from your slant of sight,
what you call incomplete. But 1 know no lack, my world hums with fullness, my life lived in a key
you refuse to hear. You measure in steps, in movements that conform, while I am content in the spaces
where stillness grows its own rhythm. I carry no burden, but your gaze is heavy,
my being
a question left unanswered. Yet I move through my days
whole, free of the silence
you called a name.

12 19 42

Reposted by Melissa M Poulton (she/they)

Carolyn Thomas @carolynthomas.bsky.social · 4d

For #PoemsAbout #ImperfectMe Posting my effort now but madly busy so will try to catch up with everyone’s work later - the ones I have seen are great 😊
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
@thebrokenspine.co.uk

24 19 42

Reposted by Melissa M Poulton (she/they)

edwardstjames.bsky.social @edwardstjames.bsky.social · 4d

@alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk

#Poemsabout #ImperfectMe

Please see my poem for the prompt in the screenshots :) Thank you.

4 7 19

Reposted by Melissa M Poulton (she/they)

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 4d

#PoemsAbout #ImperfectMe
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
I will put a reel in the comments.

IMPERFECT ME

On days my son was measured
in length rather than height
I held him shirtless in one arm
while I lathered my face to shave.
Leaned on my chest, warm,
he plunged an explorer’s hands, decisive,
into my foamy cheeks, gaining agency,
the intimation of form, and play
affirmed in his corporeal birthright.

And me, significant, generative,
like the god of the psalmist,
I could do no wrong.

Whiskey it wasn’t that imperfected me
in his eyes. I may never know
which particular betrayal
inspired that loss of grace.
But it did boost his swagger to say
for the first time fuck you, Dad,
and I absorbed the preordained assertion,
concussive, cracked like a plastic bucket
abandoned on the back porch
when water expands into ice.

36 33 74

Reposted by Melissa M Poulton (she/they)

DrNaturegirl @drnaturegirl.debbiemross.co.uk · 4d

Good morning #BlueskyPoetry Community. A grand start for #PoemsAbout #ImperfectMe today. @alanparrywriter.co.uk & @thebrokenspine.co.uk here’s my experimental draft. Weird form for the 1st but the rhyme is intentional. 2nd’s a Haiku as it seemed appropriate. Will catch up on the rest later. Thanks.

A poem by Debbie Ross

Super Model
I used to be bothered about my hips, my tits, my lips - all the bits that didn't conform to some societal norm of what a girl should be
it was my Dad who shaped me - never good enough at what was important to him.
Now
I embrace the 'flaws':
the love of books and poetry,
the lines of learning, this errant body -
imperfect, perfect ME.

A photo of a grey bowl with the text of a poem by Debbie Ross overlaid as follows

Kintsukuroi 金繕
We are travellers filling our imperfections with thin lines of gold

A definition of kintsukuroi underneath

kintsukuroi
(n.) (v. phr.) "to repair with gold"; the Japanese art of repairing pottery with gold or silver lacquer and understanding that the piece is more beautiful for having been broken.

13 16 37

Reposted by Melissa M Poulton (she/they)

Paul @paulwritespoems.bsky.social · 4d

How is it Friday?!

This week it’s #PoemsAbout #ImperfectMe

This is ‘Sudden Impacts & Ripples’

Will try to catch up through the day and after work.

@alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk great to see the community growing

Sudden Impacts & Ripples

i punched a mirror once.
watched the glass splinter
outward
like quicksilver tremor

there was my true face
a clusterfuck

abandoned mineshaft eyes
knucklefat nose
lips midgrimace / midgrin
receding-tide hairline

behind flesh was mayhem—
psyche spinning between
self love / self loathe
self doubt / self determination

impatience is a virtue—
i ripped face from wall
abandoned to landfill

replaced it with
Stepford smile.

14 11 34

Reposted by Melissa M Poulton (she/they)

Jane 🏊‍♀️🚴🏻🏃‍♀️🌻 @halfironmum.bsky.social · 4d

This is my contribution to this weeks #poemsabout #imperfectme - a bit of silliness really but ai enjoyed writing it.

With thanks as always to @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @thebrokenspine.co.uk for the prompt.

Friendship

Buy it
You deserve it
It's just your colour
It's only money don't worry about it

Skip work
Let's go outside
And dance in the sunshine
Raise our faces to the sky

Eat the cake
Have another
Cake is good for the soul
Calories don't count when your standing up

Let's go out tonight
Have a drink
Have another
Go on how often do you get to let your hair down

My best friends
You imperfect me
Don't ever stop

5 6 18