Matt Gilbert
@richlyevocative.bsky.social
790 followers 900 following 430 posts
Poetry bothering, blog tinkering, place pondering, musically promiscuous, book-loving freelance copywriter. Likely to moan & rail at the unfairness & absurdity of life. Poetry links https://richlyevocative.net/articles-reviews-first-published-elsewhere/
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Time to reintroduce myself. I write a blog about place, books & other distractions - richlyevocative.net also a published poet - my collection Street Sailing came out last year @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social Some of my work has appeared recently in Stand, Acumen, Dust Northern Gravy & Southword.
Ok, it was the cover that made me buy it. But I’ll judge it by reading it. It’s dedicated to Mark Fisher with an MR James quote, so that’s a good start.
Cover of Ghost of an Idea by William Burns - Headpress, 2024
Reposted by Matt Gilbert
Just IMAGINE the same people if government got involved in pressuring the DPP to bring a case against some Telegraph journalist or some right wing racist. They would be rending their garments. Sorry - your personal embarrassment is not a factor in which cases get prosecuted. That WOULD be two-tier.
I find @tomtugendhat.bsky.social's argument not just ludicrous, but dangerous. Due process is *absolutely* paramount in criminal law - not "whose side you are on".

We don't trample Separation of Powers just because you feel rightly angry and ashamed for being spied on *while Security Minister".
AI coming for John Crace
Abridging has always been in vogue. Now, apps like Blinkist take entire books and crunch them down to a series of what are called Blinks—which amount to around 2,000 words. “Is that what books are coming to, a handy social lubricant?” Anthony Lane asks.
Can You Read a Book in a Quarter of an Hour?
Phone apps now offer to boil down entire books into micro-synopses. What they leave out is revealing.
www.newyorker.com
Reposted by Matt Gilbert
I can tell you what Blink cuts out:
Everything that makes a book worth reading.
A plot synopsis isn't a novel-- and a plot synopsis has never made anyone Feel anything.

Carry on, world. Wonder why there's no meaning in your life.
I'll continue reading whole books written by people.
Abridging has always been in vogue. Now, apps like Blinkist take entire books and crunch them down to a series of what are called Blinks—which amount to around 2,000 words. “Is that what books are coming to, a handy social lubricant?” Anthony Lane asks.
Can You Read a Book in a Quarter of an Hour?
Phone apps now offer to boil down entire books into micro-synopses. What they leave out is revealing.
www.newyorker.com
Reposted by Matt Gilbert
This film takes us deeper into its world of disreputable book scouts.

We meet - still alive and thoroughly respectable - Michael Moorcock and Alan Moore.

Then there's David Seabrook (dead), Michael Stone (dead) and Driffield (disappeared, though see the recent court case).
The Cardinal and The Corpse: Deeper into Iain Sinclair's world
Reminiscing about a lost Stamford bookshop , I mentioned Iain Sinclair's novel White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings. This film takes us deep...
liberalengland.blogspot.com
Reposted by Matt Gilbert
Some lovely news! ❤️❤️❤️
Delighted that the work we've been publishing in our micro-journal, Carmen et Error, is getting the recognition it deserves! @corinnaboard.bsky.social's brilliant poem 'A dunnock's prayer' was highly commended in this year's Forward Prizes!
Forward Prize 2026 Highly Commended Congratulations to Corinna Board! 
For
‘A dunnock’s prayer’, published in Issue 9.0 Carmen et Error

A dunnock’s prayer
by Corinna Board

O wingless wun,
god o’ smæl bridds,
spære my nest,
my fīf blue eggs.
Bright sky-keeper,
bringer o’ frost,
maker o’ hip an haw,
can ye hear my
tseep tseep tseep
in the hecg?
I sing for ye
in the blackthorn
an the dogrose,
in the hazel
an the rowan.
I, this tyne spearwa
so smæl in yur hand.
Child me would love that grown up me is reading this - Literary Hauntings Tartarus Press. Like one of those old Peter Underwood Gazetteers of British & Irish Ghosts but fictional: from Victorian & Edwardian classics to contemporary folk horror. Inc Blurry B&W location shots & postcode refs too 👻 📕
Cover of Literary Hauntings, A Gazetteer of Literary Ghost Stories from Britain and Ireland.  Tartarus Press.
Reposted by Matt Gilbert
Tonight! Join us at The Bridge Inn in Bristol for the launch of ‘Why I Wear My Past to Work’. With six top Bristol poets followed by open mic! 🎉 From 7pm! 🎙️ @tomsastry.bsky.social @basementofmybrain.bsky.social @sophiedumont.bsky.social @parlyareepress.bsky.social
Reposted by Matt Gilbert
This is a piece I wrote about what England increasingly feels like, and how a kind of social humidity - stifling, uneasy - sweeps in from the South Coast www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/environment/... And for his next trick, running scared of right wing climate deniers… “Starmer [urged] to attend the crucial Cop30 climate summit this November, after aides advised him not to attend for fear of attracting the ire of the Reform party.”
‘History will remember who showed up’: Keir Starmer faces call to attend Cop30 summit
Response from leaders and key climate figures comes after PM’s aides advised non-attendance over concerns Reform may attack him
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by Matt Gilbert
**OPEN AUDITIONS CLOSE SEPT 27TH**

So far, 71 poets have auditioned to feature in @iambapoet.com in either 2026 or 2027. Of those, 53 have secured places.

Another 50+ spaces are waiting to be taken by talented poets – poets like YOU!

Don't let this opportunity pass you by.

iambapoet.com/audition
Audition for poetry journal iamb in Sept 2025
Audition to be part of quarterly poetry journal iamb between the 20th and 27th of September 2025.
iambapoet.com