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Glenn Barker

@rotherwrites.bsky.social

870 followers 840 following 1.6K 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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Glenn Barker @rotherwrites.bsky.social · Jul 14

Have you got your 'Beautiful Little Fools: Poetry of Glamour Obsession and the Gilded Age' yet?

tinyurl.com/4t867sfa

Thank you @thebrokenspine.co.uk editors @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @karenpgonzalez.bsky.social for selecting 'Beautiful Untouchable' and 'Let's Pretend' in superb hardback format.

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The Broken Spine @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 2h

#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

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Lin Hart @poetry-with-hart.bsky.social · 1d

My #MyLiftToTheSky this week goes out to @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @thebrokenspine.co.uk itself.

You've been an inspiration to me as a writer, enabling me to accept the grit within my work. I have explored more facets of myself as a person thru #poemsabout than I could’ve possibly imagined.

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Lin Hart @poetry-with-hart.bsky.social · 7h

a man in a black leather jacket is standing in front of a purple background

Alt: a man in a black leather jacket is standing in front of a purple background, pointing to words saying, "This, all of this"

media.tenor.com

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Glenn Barker @rotherwrites.bsky.social · 12h

Engaging with others is the glue that binds Tracie. We are all the richer for #PoemsAbout and #PromptCombo, and other Bluesky poetry communities. 💚

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Tracie Renee (she/her) @tracierenee.bsky.social · 22h

A #LiftToTheSky to @alanparrywriter.co.uk, who does so much for the writing community. #PoemsAbout is my favorite corner of Bluesky, because (even when I'm not brave enough to post) it challenges me to keep writing, revising, and engaging with others on the same journey.

Cheers to you, Alan.

Alan Parry He/Him @alanparrywriter.co.uk · 2d

This is me right now.

The Broken Spine @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 2d

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...

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Glenn Barker @rotherwrites.bsky.social · 1d

This is a heartwarming and encouraging story Lin. @alanparrywriter.co.uk inspires us to dig far beneath the surface, to mine that grit and draw out the bold and gutsy, the fierce and frail within us. That is what #PoemsAbout challenges us to reveal. It's a rocky ride but a rewarding one. 💚

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DrNaturegirl @drnaturegirl.debbiemross.co.uk · 1d

Today for #LiftToTheSky we should give a boost to our lovely wee indie presses who are often run by solo enthusiasts wanting to give a voice to lesser known poets. They put in a lot of hard graft to curate anthologies, run social media accounts and workshops and support poets in untold ways. 1/2

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Glenn Barker @rotherwrites.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you for your insight Helen.
We are all a bit rock, scissors, paper, and it's rarely a game. Permission to touch is everything.

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Glenn Barker @rotherwrites.bsky.social · 1d

I second that Sue.Carolyn is a perennial support and promoter of the #PoemsAbout community and others. 💚

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Sue Ibrahim @sueimnw.bsky.social · 1d

A(nother) #Lifttothesky today for the wonderful Carolyn Thomas @carolynthomas.bsky.social for her beautiful poetry and her incredible support for me and all those in the poetry community. With love and thanks 💙

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Alan Parry He/Him @alanparrywriter.co.uk · 2d

This is me right now.

The Broken Spine @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 2d

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

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Fidel Walsh @dragonslayerma.bsky.social · 1d

I'm your host for #PromptCombo this week(Monday to Friday) & the theme is #SimplePleasures . Share those small everyday joys!

Here's 1 I've rejigged to start us off

Tag me & use the hastags❤️

@victoriaspires.bsky.social @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social @hool415.bsky.social @rfsmith.bsky.social

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Glenn Barker @rotherwrites.bsky.social · 1d

Oh, how we turn our sights on ourselves Debra. This is a punchy self-examination of our loosening-up and (partial) letting go, always becoming who we will be, never quite fixed. 💚

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Debra Nordyke @dnwritespoetry.bsky.social · 2d

Been a week my fellow poets! I am late in posting for #PoemsAbout #ImperfectMe! Hopefully it will find you well and enjoying life! I played with form this week!
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
@alanparrywriter.co.uk

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C. Oulens @owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social · 1d

2/2
… have probably missed writing for this prompt only once ever since I started here, which is a reflection on the quality of work of the contributors and level of engagement. But I guess we all will understand and respect your decision of doing whatever is best for your health and peace of mind.

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C. Oulens @owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social · 1d

#LiftToTheSky I’d like you to know that this wonderful community of poemsabout and The Broken Spine have been an incredible source of motivation for me in my writing journey and am ever so thankful to you. Your energy and dedication in making this space vibrant is truly appreciated. I… 1/2

Alan Parry He/Him @alanparrywriter.co.uk · 2d

This is me right now.

The Broken Spine @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 2d

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...

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The Broken Spine @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 2d

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

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Glenn Barker @rotherwrites.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you Alan. Perhaps they are like us; 'please ask before you touch me'.

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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

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Glenn Barker @rotherwrites.bsky.social · 3d

Oh yes Helen. We give ourselves slowly in much of what we write. I use the term narrator as that's what Matthew taught me; never to assume that it's self-refetential. It's good to let it all out. 💚

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Glenn Barker @rotherwrites.bsky.social · 3d

Goodness Helen; there is a fierce tide-force in this, and the kind of poem to which we want ask the narrator "are you OK?".
Labels, bloody labels; the ones pushed on us, accepted by us. As I write in another poem, difficult to wash out.

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Helen Laycock @helenlaycock.bsky.social · 5d

Had time today to compose something for #poemsabout #ImperfectMe...

A fascinating subject, inspiring so much #poetry, plus introspection, I'm sure.

(Apologies, @alanparrywriter.co.uk Posting a little early - 4 hours before midnight - as tomorrow is busy)

@thebrokenspine.co.uk

FORGERY

Outside, too soft like a berry,
easily bruised or pulped underfoot, ultimately
misshapen and unrecognisable as fruit.

Inside, too much water, rising like a tide,
eyes holding surface tension
inside a quiver-rim of skin.

The wash recedes, leaving hollows
as it long-trawls dregs
in the comb of emotion,

and deposits them thick at every shore,

clogging words to soggy syllables.
Waterlogged tissue falls apart.
Becomes throat-mulch.

And when he says you look sad, and asks why,
you feel sadder, fumbling
for the frayed thread, while

feeling a wet whip flailing you,
whittling you to the imperfect figure
you have made of yourself.

Helen Laycock

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Glenn Barker @rotherwrites.bsky.social · 3d

Identity is always a work in progress Lin; reflection, refraction; our own inner chatter far too loud at times. Acceptance is also a difficult point of arrival, with peace the pivot on which we are endlessly trying to balance. 💚

Glenn Barker @rotherwrites.bsky.social · 3d

Oh, wow. Perfect. Thank you. 🤩

Glenn Barker @rotherwrites.bsky.social · 4d

Oh, the fragility of souls hammered into a frozen and sensitised stasis.