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David Atkinson

@davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social

7.1K followers 24K following 350 posts

(he/him) Belfast/Coleraine poet. Black Eyed Peace, is available as free eBook from Wordpress, inc. the Pushcart nominated Hunting for the Aurora. MA student at MMU - davidatkinsonpoet.wordpress.com

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David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 16h

#quoteoftheday

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David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 1d

This Michael Longley poem (my 2nd favourite) is often misread as the end of the conflict.

But even getting to the point of cessation requires courage.

Hoping the current cessation in Gaza has more longevity than Longley's Troy

#poetry
#poemoftheday
#Gaza

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David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 2d

Delighted, and a wee bit shocked, too have been placed 1st in the Frances Browne Festival Poetry Competition (Ulster Scots).

This is a festival that holds a special place in my heart for it's mutual celebration of #gaeilge and #ulsterscots

Thank you to the judges ❤️

#poetry
#amwriting

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David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 3d

100%

David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 3d

Cherry Smith's 'Famished' should be on the national curriculum. Not just for English Literature, but History & Politics too.

'They made us underdogs,
then shot us if we barked'

#poetry #poemoftheday #racism #irishfamine #antiimperialism
#ireland

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David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 4d

I love that. All the different translations side by side. The variation in each ❤️

David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 4d

Indeed

David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 4d

One of the things I love about poems is that you can read the same poem on a different day and it can have a different heart

This poem, today, beats differently than the last day I read it

'The Last Toast' - Anna Akhmatova

#poetry
#poemoftheday

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David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 5d

There is such poignancy in that single end-stopped line that opens the poem

'Just Once' by Anne Sexton

#poetry
#poemoftheday

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David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 6d

That's perhaps what I should have said. But that would have opened the door to a debate about who is the biggest, or even the definition of biggest...

David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 7d

The gifts from our kids we cherish most are those they put their heart into. I have a jar of pebbles with words written on each, Kate Dempsey has this

'It's what you put into it' from her collection 'the space between'

#poetry
#poemoftheday

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David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 8d

Thank you, I'm glad you are enjoying the poems ❤

That's what it's all about.

If you see something that makes you smile, think, something that moves you - repost so others can enjoy it too.

Liz Berry is a great place to start. 😊

David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 8d

I am going to need a bigger boat...

#poetry
#amwriting
#quoteoftheday

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David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 10d

Nuclear

David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 10d

I have spent the last couple of days with 'Chic to be Sad', the brilliant second collection by @mollytwomey.bsky.social

If you haven't read it, read it. If you have read it, tell others about it.

If you haven't read 'Raised by Vultures', read it first ❤️

#poetry
#poemoftheday

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David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 10d

They are a powerful writer and performer. Their collection 'Surge' is highly recommended.

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David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 11d

After listening to Jay Bernard sing ‘Songbook’ every time I read it now I sing it too.
At 6:12 on the link below, but you really should listen to it all – they will give you goosebumps

#NationalPoetryDay
#poetry
#poemoftheday
#13deadnothingsaid
#NewCrossMassacre
youtu.be/_ANbixVTnU4?...

Jay Bernard reads from 'Surge'

YouTube video by T. S. Eliot Prize

youtu.be

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David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 11d

This by @weekathy.bsky.social for National Poetry Day
'Highs Gone Low'
A powerful performance, goosebumps listening to this

#poetry
#nationalpoetryday

www.facebook.com/share/v/16f8...

Redirecting...

www.facebook.com

David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 13d

Thank you. Just discovered The Verb recently. Listening back to all the old episodes. Haven't got to that one yet. I will check it out 😊

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David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 13d

This is my favourite Langston Hughes poem. He says so much in 4 lines, and the weight of the word 'perhaps' in the last line does not go unnoticed.

Posting on the 1955th day since George Floyd was murdered. Little has changed, things are probably worse

#poetry
#poemoftheday
#BlackHistoryMonth

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David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 13d

With just 18 words ❤️

David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 13d

Stars on the beach and clouds on the grass ☁️✨

David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 14d

She is an astonishingly brilliant poet, she takes writing about the natural world to somewhere others can only dream of

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David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 14d

I was chatting to a friend tonight about how, as children, we would lie on the grass and look up at the clouds and the sky.

We should do this more.

Reminded me of this poem by Mary Oliver

#poetry
#poemoftheday

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David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 16d

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