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Simon Williams @stjohnbaptiste.bsky.social · 3h

www.jantarpublishing.com/product-page...

[dasein: defence of presence] | jantarpublishing.com

“Ms. Chornohuz’s story is emblematic of a poetry boom that has swept Ukraine during the war with Russia.” – The New York Times “One of Ukraine’s most celebrated poets.” – The Guardian Yaryna Chornohuz...

www.jantarpublishing.com

Simon Williams @stjohnbaptiste.bsky.social · 3h

Yaryna Chornohuz's [dasein: defence of presence] arrived this morning. Translation into English by Amelia Glaser, and published by Jantar. Really good short essays by Prof. Hugh Roberts, to introduce, and Prof. Glaser, in conclusion, to help guide the reader.

The front cover of Yaryna Chornohuz's [dasein: defence of presence]. It is largely golds or dark browns. A woman in a hat wearing army camouflage, with pink backpack straps and dark hair, stands in a field of wheat with a big blue sky above her head and the horizon.

[wind from the steppe]

you're like wind from the steppe
I don't care if it sounds old-fashioned
I'll say it again

you're like wind from the steppe
even after you left the world of the living

no matter how far I run into the woods
no matter how deep the running cuts
my breath
you keep lifting me on your back
so I can rest a little and not get left behind
like wind from the steppe

and when you pray to your gods
you're like wind from the steppe
and when your grasses greet me with their touch
I know there's no escape except
to heal through the pain

remembering how blue those eyes were
in the wind from the steppe

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Reposted by Simon Williams

Helene von Bismarck @helenebismarck.bsky.social · 1d

Deep breath. My publisher @johnmurrays.bsky.social informs me that my book about 🇬🇧,
"Fantastic Kingdom“
which will come out in June 2026,
is now available to pre-order, and that @waterstones.bsky.social is offering a 25% preorder discount this week.
www.waterstones.com/book/fantast...

Fantastic Kingdom by Helene von Bismarck | Waterstones

Buy Fantastic Kingdom by Helene von Bismarck from Waterstones today! Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25.

www.waterstones.com

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Simon Williams @stjohnbaptiste.bsky.social · 6d

"Images of Manchester Jewish Museum were found on Mr Hussein's phone, the court heard"

Obviously the trial goes on, but close to home again. Just this morning had the e-mail giving the date for the annual community festival and open day for places of worship and museums and community centres here.

Men 'plotted to do untold harm to Jewish people in Manchester'

Walid Saadaoui and Amar Hussein planned to kill as many Jewish people as they could, a trial hears.

www.bbc.co.uk

Reposted by Simon Williams

Sarah Owen MP @sarahowen.org.uk · 9d

The two suspects in the arson attack on a mosque in Peacehaven had enough shame to cover their faces with balaclavas.

There were people inside the mosque at the time of this dangerous attack.

It must have been absolutely terrifying. /1
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Peacehaven: Police release photos of mosque arson suspects - BBC News

The images are of two people in balaclavas seen outside the mosque before the large blaze spread.

www.bbc.com

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Simon Williams @stjohnbaptiste.bsky.social · 9d

Been really into Vøvk's new music, their second album Litera released on Friday. First heard them on the Stalker 2 ingame radio singing in English so it's really cool hearing them now singing in Ukrainian. Bit progressive rock, bit post-hardcore, and hints of more in the mix too. Superb album.

Mur, by Vøvk

from the album Litera

vovk.bandcamp.com

Reposted by Simon Williams

Nadine Batchelor-Hunt @nadinebh.bsky.social · 10d

1/3 Because progressive spaces have failed to be unequivocal on antisemitism repeatedly, the far-right have tried to pretend to be Jewish allies in that vacuum of accountability

They use the Jewish fears about antisemitic Islamists to demonise all Muslims by using our community’s trauma as a weapon

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Reposted by Simon Williams

Jon Hawke @archaeohawke.bsky.social · 10d

#StandingStoneSunday

The Pillar of Eliseg, stands near Valle Crucis Abbey, Denbighshire, #Wales.
#Latin inscription consisted of some thirty-one lines of insular script. Excavation shows the Pillar sits atop a much earlier burial mound circa 2000BC.

#History #Archaeology

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Simon Williams @stjohnbaptiste.bsky.social · 10d

the antisemitism in some of the replies to people on this website is rather intolerable. horribly reminiscent of Labour's problems under Corbyn. from the outside, seems almost tied up into a sense of identity that 'i believe am an anti-racist therefore whatever i say cannot be bigotry'. just sad.

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Simon Williams @stjohnbaptiste.bsky.social · 10d

Last four albums listened to.

The cover of Milktuth's What A Time To Be Alive. It is blurry black and white picture of a woman holding something up in each hand. The cover is black with green writing.

The cover of Jamin Winans' soundtrack to Myth of Man. It has steampunk-ish looking characters from the film in a collage.

The Gentle Good's Elan. The main picture is what looks to be a line drawing or perhaps a woodcut of a view down a lightly wooded valley. A shepherd is walking with some sheep in the foreground.

Vøvk's Litera. It is a black cover with pink and gold writing - there are seven golden symbols (the album has seven songs) beneath the album name. There is a colour picture beneath that of what seems to be a field of grain on fire.

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Simon Williams @stjohnbaptiste.bsky.social · 11d

One other thing about the Museum it's one of the local hubs for community here - there's the Irish centre and the Ukrainian centre too among others - so lots of events from musical evenings through to cookery and kids things. A few more pics from last I popped in a few weeks back.

Stained glass window - there is writing in Hebrew at the bottom and a cloud of smoke perhaps and a six pointed star. Dark reds, and different shades of blue and yellow/orange.

In one of the upper galleries of the synagogue, looking towards the stained glass showing a candle holder and underneath that where scrolls are kept.

A stained glass window. It has writing in Hebrew and the image is of a castle or walled town besides the sea, reds and greys and purples and blues.

Another stained glass window. A scene of country side (I think). It has writing in Hebrew and it seems to be a picture of a valley besides mountains. Very red and orange and green with some blue.

Reposted by Simon Williams

Joseph Timan @josephtiman.bsky.social · 11d

'The rain could only mask the tears, but nothing could hide the anger' - my account of the vigil for the Manchester synagogue attack @manchestereveningnews.co.uk

'The rain could only mask tears, but nothing could hide the anger'

The heartfelt sorrow turned into visceral anger as a sea of umbrellas sheltered a grieving community. It was too late for empty words

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

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Simon Williams @stjohnbaptiste.bsky.social · 11d

Anyways, a useful reminder that there's a world beyond the conception of some. Thank goodness for those places which have open doors and provide a welcome.

Simon Williams @stjohnbaptiste.bsky.social · 11d

It's one of those things it would be quite nice if it weren't true I suppose. The whole living on the streets after becoming poorly, living in a hostel, and then moved into a flat on a 'take it or leave it' basis. People on the internet are just weird.

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Simon Williams @stjohnbaptiste.bsky.social · 11d

It is very beautiful.

When I first moved to Cheetham Hill, I just saw museum on the bus so threw what little stuff I had down in this barren flat and part of Manchester I did not know and went there and was guided around.

A circular stained glass window, in blues and reds and yellows.

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Reposted by Simon Williams

Jennifer Williams @jenwilliamsft.bsky.social · 12d

This is very late, because it’s been a very long day. But this is from talking to Manchester’s Jewish community

on.ft.com/46wNfpe

Manchester’s Jews left in fear after ‘inevitable’ attack strikes at heart of community

[FREE TO READ] A multicultural city proud of its sense of cohesion reels after atrocity shatters calm on holiest day of the Jewish year

on.ft.com

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Simon Williams @stjohnbaptiste.bsky.social · 13d

[dasein: defence of presence] is available in English translation now, and French, ordered my copy last night.

The Kyiv Independent @kyivindependent.com · 13d

Yaryna Chornohuz is a combat medic in the 140th Separate Reconnaissance Battalion of the Ukrainian Marine Corps. Beyond the battlefield, Chornohuz is a celebrated author. With her words, she gives voice to the pain and hopes for her country’s future.

'In every woman, there is a soldier’ – Yaryna Chornohuz, the brave poet fighting Russia

Editor's Note: This story was originally published in The Kyiv Independent's first-ever print edition, titled "The Power Within." You can order a copy in our e-store. If there were four women named Y...

kyivindependent.com

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Simon Williams @stjohnbaptiste.bsky.social · 15d

Some #RSThomas while I remember it's been Monday.

Lore

Job Davies, eighty-five
Winters old, and still alive
After the slow poison
And treachery of the seasons.

Miserable? Kick my arse!
It needs more than the rain's hearse,
Wind-drawn, to pull me off
The great perch of my laugh.

What's living but courage?
Paunch full of hot porridge,
Nerves strengthened with tea,
Peat-black, dawn found me

Mowing where the grass grew,
Bearded with golden dew.
Rhythm of the long scythe
Kept this tall frame lithe.

What to do? Stay green.
Never mind the machine,
Whose fuel is human souls.
Live large, man, and dream small.

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Simon Williams @stjohnbaptiste.bsky.social · 16d

not qting, because it always seems aggressive, although some of the takes on Labour conference being all 'middle class and having degrees' kind of misses just who it is who went to get degrees and are now at conference. also: able to find a good chippy and a nice cafe - aren't exclusive things.

Reposted by Simon Williams

Kate from Kharkiv @kateinkharkiv.bsky.social · 17d

This is what the destroyed homes in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka, just outside Kyiv, look like after russian attack last night.

Bastards. Murderers.

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Simon Williams @stjohnbaptiste.bsky.social · 21d

Elkie Brooks.

Carlos Estrada @ctothelos77.bsky.social · 26d

What is Dad playing?

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Simon Williams @stjohnbaptiste.bsky.social · 22d

The version of Wretched Lie that The Tubs have done for KEXP is superb.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tVA...

The Tubs - Wretched Lie (Live on KEXP)

YouTube video by KEXP

www.youtube.com

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Simon Williams @stjohnbaptiste.bsky.social · 23d

RS Thomas' Moorland.

Moorland

It is beautiful and still;
the air rarified
as the interior of a cathedral

expecting a presence. It is where, also,
the harrier occurs,
materialising from nothing, snow-

soft, but with claws of fire
quartering the bare earth
for the prety that esacpes it;

hovering over the incipient
scream, here a moment, then
not here, like my belief in God.

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Simon Williams @stjohnbaptiste.bsky.social · 24d

Got the English translation of Yuliya Musakovska's The God of Freedom yesterday. Very glad to have been introduced to her own work. Just the one poem from it, Summer's End.

Summer's End

Summer has passed. Good friends and bad poems.
People leave to vacate a place in your heart for others.
Too little space. You should let go of what isn't yours.
Time marks all comfort spots on the maps.
Walk boldly. Fireflies will light your routes in the fog.
God napping on a pine branch probably won't get involved.
Dancing fountains, the water's whisper, and fragments of light.
A white trail that is visible up high every night.
Gray roofs that the morning wishes so much to gild.
This will not disappear with the summer's end.
The power of nature is present in every single drop.
There are too many losses and scratches ahead.
Lighten your backpack. Keep the knife and notebook.
Breathe more easily. And move faster as you move on.

A book. It's The God of Freedom by Yuliya Musakovska. Translated from Ukrainian by Olena Jennings and the author. The cover is a scarlet red, the text on it is in the bottom third in black ink. Above the text is a bird's body - black with gold picking out the feathers. But it has a yellow flower, in shape it looks a bit like a poppy to me but i know nothing about flowers, growing from its neck rather than a head. And its legs and feet are roots growing downwards.

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Reposted by Simon Williams

Jeremy Jenkins @jeremyjenkins.net · 25d

Taking official photos of my chocolates for the website is always tricky. They are so shiny you can always see reflections, and without fancy equipment it’s a game of trial and error. In this one, you can actually spot what a chocolate sees in the final moments before I eat it.

Lines of small black chocolates with yellow swirls. One can see the reflection of a person in each of them, then hand raised and about to snatch some chocolates.

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