J. R. Carpenter
@jrcarpenter.bsky.social
artist, writer, researcher, fossil hunter, mudlarker, and lecturer in the School of English at University of Leeds https://luckysoap.com
WHY LET KIDS GO HUNGRY. ENERGY BILLS SOAR, SCHOOLS CRUMBLE, YOUTH CLUBS SHUT DOWN, RENTS SKYROCKET AND WAGES FALL, WHEN YOU COULD JUST TAX BILLIONAIRES? — anonymous billboard, Armley, Leeds.
November 28, 2025 at 8:33 AM
WHY LET KIDS GO HUNGRY. ENERGY BILLS SOAR, SCHOOLS CRUMBLE, YOUTH CLUBS SHUT DOWN, RENTS SKYROCKET AND WAGES FALL, WHEN YOU COULD JUST TAX BILLIONAIRES? — anonymous billboard, Armley, Leeds.
the joy of not being sold anything. billboard by Banksy
November 28, 2025 at 8:15 AM
the joy of not being sold anything. billboard by Banksy
feeling the late semester squash. fossils cheer me. with their zero fucks to give about time. this adorable blob of flint is giving echinoid (sea urchin) vibes. with rows of pores indicative of a Micraster cast. & a bonus tubercle mould from maybe a Temnocidaris.(100–66 million yrs old) #mudlarking
November 21, 2025 at 5:03 PM
feeling the late semester squash. fossils cheer me. with their zero fucks to give about time. this adorable blob of flint is giving echinoid (sea urchin) vibes. with rows of pores indicative of a Micraster cast. & a bonus tubercle mould from maybe a Temnocidaris.(100–66 million yrs old) #mudlarking
a loose approximation of a painting. Still Life with a Stoneware Jug, Berkemeyer, and Smoking Utensils, 1640, Pieter Claesz (Dutch, about 1597–1661) echoed in #mudlarking finds from the Thames
November 17, 2025 at 9:57 AM
a loose approximation of a painting. Still Life with a Stoneware Jug, Berkemeyer, and Smoking Utensils, 1640, Pieter Claesz (Dutch, about 1597–1661) echoed in #mudlarking finds from the Thames
a cracking addition to the asterisk collection #mudlarking
November 16, 2025 at 7:22 AM
a cracking addition to the asterisk collection #mudlarking
meanwhile, in south london. cherry trees are still losing their autumn leaves. and also, already in blossom.
November 8, 2025 at 8:17 PM
meanwhile, in south london. cherry trees are still losing their autumn leaves. and also, already in blossom.
a score for packing for five days of trains, friends, opera, mudlarking, performing at a poetry festival, walking on a beach, and important work meetings. lipstick and a fountain pen. work gloves and a silk scarf. a ring and a loop. implements of magnification. to see both near and far.
November 7, 2025 at 9:27 AM
a score for packing for five days of trains, friends, opera, mudlarking, performing at a poetry festival, walking on a beach, and important work meetings. lipstick and a fountain pen. work gloves and a silk scarf. a ring and a loop. implements of magnification. to see both near and far.
I have a chapter called “Library of Wind” (after Nancy Campbell’s book Library of Ice) in this wonderful new book from Torque Editions BiblioTech: ReReading the Post-digital Library torquetorque.net/publications...
October 30, 2025 at 8:31 AM
I have a chapter called “Library of Wind” (after Nancy Campbell’s book Library of Ice) in this wonderful new book from Torque Editions BiblioTech: ReReading the Post-digital Library torquetorque.net/publications...
epic 27 hours in London for Small Publishers Fair. so many favourite people. much buzz. such books. spotted my books on four tables this year: @essencepress.bsky.social @shearsmanbooks.bsky.social @pamenarpress.bsky.social @uniformbooks.bsky.social @smallpublishers.bsky.social
October 26, 2025 at 8:07 AM
epic 27 hours in London for Small Publishers Fair. so many favourite people. much buzz. such books. spotted my books on four tables this year: @essencepress.bsky.social @shearsmanbooks.bsky.social @pamenarpress.bsky.social @uniformbooks.bsky.social @smallpublishers.bsky.social
normalise lecturing on weather writing wearing battered wellies with waterproofs and knee pads in rucksack #mudlarking
October 24, 2025 at 12:17 PM
normalise lecturing on weather writing wearing battered wellies with waterproofs and knee pads in rucksack #mudlarking
as fate would have it, I was in the beautiful Brotherton Library today at @leedsunilibraries.bsky.social looking at ships logs and weather lore. old habits die hard.
October 23, 2025 at 6:43 PM
as fate would have it, I was in the beautiful Brotherton Library today at @leedsunilibraries.bsky.social looking at ships logs and weather lore. old habits die hard.
my contribution is called Library of Wind, after Nancy Campbell’s wonderful Library of Ice (with permission). it’s a sort of reading log of the interior weather of the many libraries I’ve researched wind in.
October 23, 2025 at 6:41 PM
my contribution is called Library of Wind, after Nancy Campbell’s wonderful Library of Ice (with permission). it’s a sort of reading log of the interior weather of the many libraries I’ve researched wind in.
my contributor’s copy of BiblioTech: ReReading the Post-Digital library arrived today, edited by Nathan Jones and Sam Skinner.
October 23, 2025 at 6:40 PM
my contributor’s copy of BiblioTech: ReReading the Post-Digital library arrived today, edited by Nathan Jones and Sam Skinner.
sneak peek at “cobble” — a new micro publication launching at @smallpublishers.bsky.social next weekend. very much a rock paper scissors situation. thank you @essencepress.bsky.social for cutting these paper stone poèmes. 2nd image is a cobble of coral fossil from the River Ribble in North Yorkshire
October 18, 2025 at 12:34 PM
sneak peek at “cobble” — a new micro publication launching at @smallpublishers.bsky.social next weekend. very much a rock paper scissors situation. thank you @essencepress.bsky.social for cutting these paper stone poèmes. 2nd image is a cobble of coral fossil from the River Ribble in North Yorkshire
librarian: have you tried searching the catalog?
me: not sure where to find what I’m looking for …
the catalog:
me: not sure where to find what I’m looking for …
the catalog:
October 17, 2025 at 8:52 AM
librarian: have you tried searching the catalog?
me: not sure where to find what I’m looking for …
the catalog:
me: not sure where to find what I’m looking for …
the catalog:
The Gathering Cloud collates research into the history and language of meteorology with current thinking about data storage and climate change. With a foreword by Jussi Parikka and an afterword by Lisa Robertson: www.uniformbooks.co.uk/thegathering...
October 17, 2025 at 5:08 AM
The Gathering Cloud collates research into the history and language of meteorology with current thinking about data storage and climate change. With a foreword by Jussi Parikka and an afterword by Lisa Robertson: www.uniformbooks.co.uk/thegathering...
people: hope you’re feeling better soon. me: maybe just a short walk in the park. this slag heap: you’re never going to know if we’re full of upper carboniferous fossils or not unless you climb us. the upper carboniferous: sure, we think 30 metres is a perfectly reasonable height to grow club mosses
October 10, 2025 at 3:17 PM
people: hope you’re feeling better soon. me: maybe just a short walk in the park. this slag heap: you’re never going to know if we’re full of upper carboniferous fossils or not unless you climb us. the upper carboniferous: sure, we think 30 metres is a perfectly reasonable height to grow club mosses
Wanderer overlooking the Kirkstall Road, Leeds, circa 1896.
Source image from: THE CHARACTER AND EXTENT OF AIR POLLUTION IN LEEDS. A Lecture delivered before the Leeds Philosophical Society, on March 3rd, 1896.
en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Cha...
Source image from: THE CHARACTER AND EXTENT OF AIR POLLUTION IN LEEDS. A Lecture delivered before the Leeds Philosophical Society, on March 3rd, 1896.
en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Cha...
October 5, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Wanderer overlooking the Kirkstall Road, Leeds, circa 1896.
Source image from: THE CHARACTER AND EXTENT OF AIR POLLUTION IN LEEDS. A Lecture delivered before the Leeds Philosophical Society, on March 3rd, 1896.
en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Cha...
Source image from: THE CHARACTER AND EXTENT OF AIR POLLUTION IN LEEDS. A Lecture delivered before the Leeds Philosophical Society, on March 3rd, 1896.
en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Cha...
many thanks to the judges of the Forward Prizes — this year’s Forward Book of Poetry is beautiful and I’m very happy to have a poem in it. get your copy here: www.faber.co.uk/product/9780...
September 22, 2025 at 7:12 AM
many thanks to the judges of the Forward Prizes — this year’s Forward Book of Poetry is beautiful and I’m very happy to have a poem in it. get your copy here: www.faber.co.uk/product/9780...
thanks to everyone involved in making the Laurel Prize ceremony at the BBC Contains Strong Language Festival in Bradford last evening such a joyful occasion. congratulations to Katrina Porteous, whose Rhizodont is really something special. we both read poems about fossils. what a night!
September 20, 2025 at 10:05 AM
thanks to everyone involved in making the Laurel Prize ceremony at the BBC Contains Strong Language Festival in Bradford last evening such a joyful occasion. congratulations to Katrina Porteous, whose Rhizodont is really something special. we both read poems about fossils. what a night!
images of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein together projected on to Windsor castle ahead of Trump’s state visit to the UK. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
September 17, 2025 at 5:21 AM
images of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein together projected on to Windsor castle ahead of Trump’s state visit to the UK. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
The Laurel Prize asked me some questions and @poetryschool.bsky.social published the answers poetryschool.com/laurel-prize...
September 16, 2025 at 4:06 PM
The Laurel Prize asked me some questions and @poetryschool.bsky.social published the answers poetryschool.com/laurel-prize...
obsessed with the geology of Kirkstall Abbey near Leeds, built with locally quarried Millstone Grit 1152-1182. the stone contains quartzite pebbles that washed down from huge mountain ranges further north over 300 million years ago #kirkstallabbey #geology #erosion #millstonegrit
September 14, 2025 at 6:32 AM
obsessed with the geology of Kirkstall Abbey near Leeds, built with locally quarried Millstone Grit 1152-1182. the stone contains quartzite pebbles that washed down from huge mountain ranges further north over 300 million years ago #kirkstallabbey #geology #erosion #millstonegrit
here’s an excerpt
September 12, 2025 at 7:43 PM
here’s an excerpt