The Broken Spine
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
7K followers 3K following 3.5K posts
Independent poetry press + cultural review platform. We publish narrative-led work with edge. #PoemsAbout #LiftToTheSky #WednesdayWIPs #PromoteIndieLit Edited by @alanparrywriter.co.uk www.thebrokenspine.co.uk https://linktr.ee/brokenspinearts
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thebrokenspine.co.uk
Catch up on everything Broken Spine: open + upcoming submission windows, latest releases, and all the links you need in one place.

linktr.ee/brokenspinea...

Updated, organised, no faff.
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karenpgonzalez.bsky.social
Thank you #LauraGrevel for this revealing review of #BeautifulLittleFools #GreatGatsby#FScottFitzgerald #Decadence #Deceit #Poetry @thebrokenspine.co.uk #PoetsOfBlueSky #PoetryCommunity #https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/237581519-beautiful-little-fools
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rotherwrites.bsky.social
For @thebrokenspine.co.uk weekly #WednesdayWIPs, here's the outcome of writing in near-darkness, not enough to see what I'm writing; but when a thought arrives, let it flow (and hope that you can read it later). 😳
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alocasiamag.bsky.social
So extremely moved by this nomination from @jakesalza.bsky.social for @thebrokenspine.co.uk! Thank you both!
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johnadlam.bsky.social
#WednesdayWIPs
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
Did an unusual thing y'day, scribbled something on the tube in memoriam Lou Reed, read it right away, in roughly v.2 form, at the Survivor Poetry open mic. Felt like it landed well, now fine tuning. Title was wrong: not 'Me and Lou', natch, but 'Lou and I'...🥰
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notdoriangray.bsky.social
Haven't posted any current work for a while, here's a fragment from something I'm working on for @thebrokenspine.co.uk's #WednesdayWIPs.

This is part of a larger poem that will definitely change both form and face. This is just the getting stuff down sort of stage, with some segmenting happening.
Fragment from something which will become a larger, less coherent, more meaningful poem.

So you can see me shine reflected in the light of the halo I spiked to your head
Stolen from some long forgotten saint
Whose chapel adorned with frescoes becomes the skin of my left thigh
And high arched windows reach up my spine to mark my vertebrae with quatrefoil and gleaming stone
Somehow you are building me in intricate connecting vaults using stone blocks quarried from the small soft pebbles I've been placing in your hands
As I rise from my face down ass up grave and pull the most recent stone from between my teeth
To trade with the you I created in me for the me we've created in one another
And if we run out of resurrections or wet erections
At least I will be beautiful in ruins
thebrokenspine.co.uk
#PoemsAbout #BreakTheMould starts Friday. Write into rupture. Smash the cast. Snap tradition. Ideas: leaving home, shedding skin, saying no. Don’t post early. Use Alt Text. Tag it. Get your weekly edge in the inbox: shorturl.at/0Xm7A
A textured, fragmented sculpture of a human face, broken and worn at the edges, mounted on a white wall. The mask-like face appears calm but eroded, as if decaying or breaking free from its cast. In the top left is The Broken Spine logo shaped like a black fountain pen nib. The website "@thebrokenspine.co.uk" appears in white at the top right. Bold white text at the bottom right reads: "Read Repost Reply #POEMSABOUT #BREAKTHEMOULD".
thebrokenspine.co.uk
Obscurity isn’t depth. It’s dodge. Say the damn thing.
#SpineEdicts #ClarityKills #AmbiguityIsntArt #ChooseTuesdays
Bold glitch-style typography says: “Stop hiding behind ambiguity.” on black. Clean, stark.
thebrokenspine.co.uk
Anything that is donated via KoFi goes into the pot but I need to be clearer about this.
thebrokenspine.co.uk
I accidentally deleted our target 🙄 I need to create another one.
thebrokenspine.co.uk
This isn’t a trick—we’re working tirelessly to make this happen. But if we don’t raise £5,000, we’ll have to slash the prize money. And that would be the real horror story. Let’s build something poets can truly celebrate. 🔗
A Poetry Award That Puts Poets First – And You Can Make It Happen - The Broken Spine
Poets deserve more than empty prestige. They deserve real recognition, real opportunities, and real support. That is why I am launching The Broken Spine
shorturl.at
thebrokenspine.co.uk
Something Gothic this way comes… Submissions are OPEN for The Havisham Steps: Modern Gothic Poetry. We want poems of neon dread, fractured love, haunted minds.

Closing date: October 31st

#PoetrySubmissions #SubmissionWindow #TheHavishamSteps #ModernGothicPoetry
Something Gothic This Way Comes: Submit to The Havisham Steps: Modern Gothic Poetry - The Broken Spine
Submissions Open Throughout October 2025 | Publication in 2026
thebrokenspine.co.uk
thebrokenspine.co.uk
Delighted to have made such an impact.
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pickledp3.bsky.social
Still relatively new to indie lit - but still haven’t come across anything quite like the lens of @thebrokenspine.co.uk 👇
thebrokenspine.co.uk
You usually have to be signed up to our newsletter to read it. However, this week is too important, and I wanted to share it more broadly.

preview.mailerlite.io/preview/5022...
Thank You — and Some Honesty
preview.mailerlite.io
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carolynthomas.bsky.social
A #LifttotheSky for this amazing collection of sonnets by the brilliant Paul Brookes @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social who contributes so much to the #poetrycommunity. Published in 2022, but new to me, it explores myth and legend with grace and wit
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
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carolynthomas.bsky.social
A #LifttotheSky for this powerful new collection by the splendid Merril D Smith @merrildsmith.bsky.social
#poetrycommunity
Characteristically beautiful and evocative writing, honest and deeply moving, it also includes many of her wonderful photographs @alanparrywriter.co.uk
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
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carolynthomas.bsky.social
My #LifttotheSky today goes to Anna Orridge @anna-orridge.bsky.social who writes powerful poetry, makes a great contribution to the #poetrycommunity
and, through her posts, ensures our attention is drawn to things that cry out for action
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
thebrokenspine.co.uk
"A thousand twangling instruments..."
This one sings dark and deep.
@martinkennedyyates.bsky.social #ThisWilderness
www.amazon.co.uk/Wil...
Book cover of This Wilderness & Other Concerns by Martin Kennedy Yates, published by The Broken Spine. The cover artwork depicts an urban canal or waterway running between old brick and industrial buildings, with graffiti on one wall and a dark, moody atmosphere. A quote from writer and poet Jonathan Davidson reads: “These poems are a pleasure both to encounter and to read.”
thebrokenspine.co.uk
You usually have to be signed up to our newsletter to read it. However, this week is too important, and I wanted to share it more broadly.

preview.mailerlite.io/preview/5022...
Thank You — and Some Honesty
preview.mailerlite.io
thebrokenspine.co.uk
Thanks for tearing it up on last week’s #PoemsAbout. This Friday we shift: #BreakTheMould. Think refusal, escape, iconoclast energy. Start posting Friday—early drops get buried. Use Alt Text. Tag #PoemsAbout to be seen. Sign up for deeper prompts: shorturl.at/0Xm7A
A textured, fragmented sculpture of a human face, broken and worn at the edges, mounted on a white wall. The mask-like face appears calm but eroded, as if decaying or breaking free from its cast. In the top left is The Broken Spine logo shaped like a black fountain pen nib. The website "@thebrokenspine.co.uk" appears in white at the top right. Bold white text at the bottom right reads: "Read Repost Reply #POEMSABOUT #BREAKTHEMOULD".
thebrokenspine.co.uk
“Because she didn’t die. / Because she was the one who didn’t die.” (Because)
Poems that burn, whisper & howl.
Trilogy Wife Widow Witch by @katiejenkinspoet.bsky.social — Oct 31.
Proceeds to Pancreatic Cancer UK.
#Trilogy #ComingSoon #PoetryCommunity
Close-up of two people holding hands, one wearing a white lace-sleeved dress and holding a bouquet of pale pink roses and white flowers.
thebrokenspine.co.uk
Something Gothic this way comes… Submissions are OPEN for The Havisham Steps: Modern Gothic Poetry. We want poems of neon dread, fractured love, haunted minds.

Closing date: October 31st

#PoetrySubmissions #SubmissionWindow #TheHavishamSteps #ModernGothicPoetry
Something Gothic This Way Comes: Submit to The Havisham Steps: Modern Gothic Poetry - The Broken Spine
Submissions Open Throughout October 2025 | Publication in 2026
thebrokenspine.co.uk
thebrokenspine.co.uk
@doorisajarmag.bsky.social brings heart, craft, and true accessibility to indie lit—and they’ve just been featured in our #IndieLitMagGala 2025 spotlight.

Big thanks to @pdevonald.bsky.social for the nomination. This one's all about care, clarity, and consistency.

thebrokenspine.co.uk...