Tarn MacArthur
@tarnnation.bsky.social
Poems forthcoming in: London Review of Books, Free Bloody Birds & The London Magazine.
Poems appearing in: Times Literary Supplement, New Statesman, New Republic, Poetry Review & Poetry London.
https://linktr.ee/tarnmacarthur
Poems appearing in: Times Literary Supplement, New Statesman, New Republic, Poetry Review & Poetry London.
https://linktr.ee/tarnmacarthur
Pinned
Tarn MacArthur
@tarnnation.bsky.social
· Feb 25
'Climbing to Seefin Passage Tomb on Summer Solstice' by Tarn MacArthur
i.m. John Burnside No one knows what calls us, days like this that seem to stretch all sense of reason: the hillside scrub abuzz with silver-washed and dark green fritillary, the red grouse and hare, ...
www.the-tls.co.uk
My poem ‘Climbing to Seefin Passage Tomb on Summer Solstice’, which is an homage to my late mentor John Burnside, has just been published in the Times Literary Supplement. Please have a read. www.the-tls.co.uk/literature/o...
Reposted by Tarn MacArthur
According to J. Carmichael Watson, the #Gaelic poet Màiri nighean Alasdair Ruaidh (Mary MacLeod, c.1615–c.1707), was buried face-down at her own request:
“She directed that she should be placed face downward in the grave – ‘beul nam breug a chur foidhpe’” (with her lying mouth down)
#WyrdWednesday
“She directed that she should be placed face downward in the grave – ‘beul nam breug a chur foidhpe’” (with her lying mouth down)
#WyrdWednesday
December 17, 2025 at 1:10 PM
According to J. Carmichael Watson, the #Gaelic poet Màiri nighean Alasdair Ruaidh (Mary MacLeod, c.1615–c.1707), was buried face-down at her own request:
“She directed that she should be placed face downward in the grave – ‘beul nam breug a chur foidhpe’” (with her lying mouth down)
#WyrdWednesday
“She directed that she should be placed face downward in the grave – ‘beul nam breug a chur foidhpe’” (with her lying mouth down)
#WyrdWednesday
All the organisation and decision making of last week seems to have disappeared quite quickly here. The the first 20 last week were quite poor as well, but trying to turn momentum away from home without some of your top players going to be a lot tougher.
December 14, 2025 at 1:21 PM
All the organisation and decision making of last week seems to have disappeared quite quickly here. The the first 20 last week were quite poor as well, but trying to turn momentum away from home without some of your top players going to be a lot tougher.
Warriors, what a win!
December 13, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Warriors, what a win!
Can’t believe they’re flogging AI with “omg it taught me how to cook this amazing dish”… you mean like a recipe, like one of the oldest recorded forms of writing in human history?
December 8, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Can’t believe they’re flogging AI with “omg it taught me how to cook this amazing dish”… you mean like a recipe, like one of the oldest recorded forms of writing in human history?
This is one of the best performances I’ve seen from an Edinburgh ten in years.
December 7, 2025 at 7:04 PM
This is one of the best performances I’ve seen from an Edinburgh ten in years.
Name a more iconic combo than Scottish backs and not passing on a 2 on 1.
December 7, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Name a more iconic combo than Scottish backs and not passing on a 2 on 1.
Reposted by Tarn MacArthur
And I say again … how will they enforce this?!? Do trans women have two heads? Will there be people there to ‘denounce’ anyone who - subjectively - ‘looks a bit too much like a ‘fella’’?!? The sheer crassness of it …
December 6, 2025 at 1:12 PM
And I say again … how will they enforce this?!? Do trans women have two heads? Will there be people there to ‘denounce’ anyone who - subjectively - ‘looks a bit too much like a ‘fella’’?!? The sheer crassness of it …
Reposted by Tarn MacArthur
Was there any coverage of the recent record warmth in both the Arctic and Antarctic? Multiple global datasets now confirm these records, and I think it's really quite striking.
Here's some very quick plots showing NOAAGlobalTempv6 data from October too. And see my earlier posts.
Here's some very quick plots showing NOAAGlobalTempv6 data from October too. And see my earlier posts.
November 22, 2025 at 2:20 AM
Was there any coverage of the recent record warmth in both the Arctic and Antarctic? Multiple global datasets now confirm these records, and I think it's really quite striking.
Here's some very quick plots showing NOAAGlobalTempv6 data from October too. And see my earlier posts.
Here's some very quick plots showing NOAAGlobalTempv6 data from October too. And see my earlier posts.
Reposted by Tarn MacArthur
This is exactly what I said would happen when I analysed the NHS 10 year plan. Clever words are hiding the reality-people are agitating to pull as many services out of hospitals as possible. Why? Because it’s a lot easier to privatise services that way🚨
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
November 25, 2025 at 7:12 AM
This is exactly what I said would happen when I analysed the NHS 10 year plan. Clever words are hiding the reality-people are agitating to pull as many services out of hospitals as possible. Why? Because it’s a lot easier to privatise services that way🚨
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
November 18, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Reposted by Tarn MacArthur
Smoke in the woods
like someone walking in a silent film
beside the tracks…
—John Burnside, “Signal Stop, Near Horsley”
published in SELECTED POEMS (Cape, 2006)
#poem #poetry
www.penguin.co.uk/books/389400...
like someone walking in a silent film
beside the tracks…
—John Burnside, “Signal Stop, Near Horsley”
published in SELECTED POEMS (Cape, 2006)
#poem #poetry
www.penguin.co.uk/books/389400...
November 18, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Smoke in the woods
like someone walking in a silent film
beside the tracks…
—John Burnside, “Signal Stop, Near Horsley”
published in SELECTED POEMS (Cape, 2006)
#poem #poetry
www.penguin.co.uk/books/389400...
like someone walking in a silent film
beside the tracks…
—John Burnside, “Signal Stop, Near Horsley”
published in SELECTED POEMS (Cape, 2006)
#poem #poetry
www.penguin.co.uk/books/389400...
Reposted by Tarn MacArthur
I don't do this so much these days but a poem for a Sunday. Leaves by Derek Mahon, from this beautiful book.
November 16, 2025 at 9:42 PM
I don't do this so much these days but a poem for a Sunday. Leaves by Derek Mahon, from this beautiful book.
You can’t have this much lack of mobility at the back and expect to win against such a fluid counter attack. Defense is all over the shop. #GRESCO
November 15, 2025 at 9:09 PM
You can’t have this much lack of mobility at the back and expect to win against such a fluid counter attack. Defense is all over the shop. #GRESCO
Reposted by Tarn MacArthur
These are some quite heartbreaking stories and, as Holly Greenberry-Pullen comments in the piece, really illustrates the perverse absurdity of deeming trans teens to young to even get blockers but being fine with intersex kids getting horrifically drastic full-on bodily surgery as *toddlers*.
‘I don’t want anyone to suffer like I did’: the intersex campaigners fighting to limit surgery on children
What should be done about the small proportion of babies born with genitals that are neither typically male nor typically female? Many of those affected believe parents and doctors are often too quick...
www.theguardian.com
November 12, 2025 at 6:17 AM
These are some quite heartbreaking stories and, as Holly Greenberry-Pullen comments in the piece, really illustrates the perverse absurdity of deeming trans teens to young to even get blockers but being fine with intersex kids getting horrifically drastic full-on bodily surgery as *toddlers*.
A contemporary great!
🏆 The WINNER of the 2025 Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry is ...
✨ WELLWATER by Karen Solie! ✨
🔗 Learn more about WELLWATER here: https://houseofanansi.com/products/wellwater #GGBooks #GGBooks2025
✨ WELLWATER by Karen Solie! ✨
🔗 Learn more about WELLWATER here: https://houseofanansi.com/products/wellwater #GGBooks #GGBooks2025
November 6, 2025 at 3:32 PM
A contemporary great!
The UK has donated £7.5m in emergency funding to Jamaica. Kylian Mbappé has donated £20m. Wtf is wrong with this country?
November 5, 2025 at 6:19 PM
The UK has donated £7.5m in emergency funding to Jamaica. Kylian Mbappé has donated £20m. Wtf is wrong with this country?
Reposted by Tarn MacArthur
When I worked in WaPo Opinions in 2017-2018, senior editors specifically told junior editors not to factcheck Marc Thiessen and other MAGA columnists, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to publish anything by them at all, and “we need them for intellectual diversity.”
It’s very telling that opening your publication to MAGA “thought” requires a massive downgrade in quality control.
October 30, 2025 at 10:38 PM
When I worked in WaPo Opinions in 2017-2018, senior editors specifically told junior editors not to factcheck Marc Thiessen and other MAGA columnists, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to publish anything by them at all, and “we need them for intellectual diversity.”
Reposted by Tarn MacArthur
"Is the Nazi MP who says she's driven mad by TV adverts full of Jews a racist or realist? How many people of Jewish heritage would the German National People’s Party expel? And should Germany be selling tanks to Yugoslavia?"
Join LIVE from the Weimar Republic in the year 1931 🇩🇪
Join LIVE from the Weimar Republic in the year 1931 🇩🇪
Is the Reform MP who says she’s driven mad by TV adverts full of Black & Asian people a racist or realist? How many migrants would the Tories expel? & should the UK be selling fighter jets to Türkiye?
Join LIVE at 9PM on X & YouTube or on ITV1 at 1045PM 📺
#Peston
Join LIVE at 9PM on X & YouTube or on ITV1 at 1045PM 📺
#Peston
October 28, 2025 at 9:15 AM
"Is the Nazi MP who says she's driven mad by TV adverts full of Jews a racist or realist? How many people of Jewish heritage would the German National People’s Party expel? And should Germany be selling tanks to Yugoslavia?"
Join LIVE from the Weimar Republic in the year 1931 🇩🇪
Join LIVE from the Weimar Republic in the year 1931 🇩🇪
Reposted by Tarn MacArthur
Reposted by Tarn MacArthur
Today's column is about the government's huge, unprecedented assault on nature ... and about the eerie, astonishing silence of the big nature groups. The RSPB, National Trust, Wildlife Trusts have 7.5m members between them. A vast force, completely unmobilised. 🧵
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Wage war on nature to build new homes: that’s Labour’s offer, but it’s a con trick | George Monbiot
The government’s new planning bill is tearing down environmental protections to benefit developers. This nation of nature lovers won’t stand for it, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
www.theguardian.com
October 16, 2025 at 5:52 AM
Today's column is about the government's huge, unprecedented assault on nature ... and about the eerie, astonishing silence of the big nature groups. The RSPB, National Trust, Wildlife Trusts have 7.5m members between them. A vast force, completely unmobilised. 🧵
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Tarn MacArthur
Thank you to Stephen Sexton and @poetryireland.bsky.social for publishing this itinerary poem.
September 20, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Thank you to Stephen Sexton and @poetryireland.bsky.social for publishing this itinerary poem.
Interesting—the oldest university in UK announces AI platform through open ai day after the ceo has dinner with the king.
September 19, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Interesting—the oldest university in UK announces AI platform through open ai day after the ceo has dinner with the king.