Rory Waterman
@rorywaterman.bsky.social
Poet, writer, prof of modern literature, leader of AHRC Lincolnshire Folk Tales project (2024-5). New poetry collection COME HERE TO THIS GATE (Carcanet, 2024). Co-editor of New Walk Editions. Views yours; likes/RTs=marriage proposals. OTBC🔰/COYP
TOMORROW (20 November), online, 7pm: MARK FORD and SEAN O'BRIEN launch their New Walk Editions pamphlets. Sign up below.
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
November 19, 2025 at 7:05 PM
TOMORROW (20 November), online, 7pm: MARK FORD and SEAN O'BRIEN launch their New Walk Editions pamphlets. Sign up below.
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Posted yesterday, and just sent to me by a friend. ‘That dog nonce “reviewer” from The Times’. This person is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, apparently, and has won a Scottish Book Trust Award. I’m not sure what ‘TERF’ has to do with any of this. Well, nothing, obviously.
November 13, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Posted yesterday, and just sent to me by a friend. ‘That dog nonce “reviewer” from The Times’. This person is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, apparently, and has won a Scottish Book Trust Award. I’m not sure what ‘TERF’ has to do with any of this. Well, nothing, obviously.
20 November (one week today), online, 7pm: MARK FORD and SEAN O'BRIEN launch their New Walk Editions pamphlets. Sign up below.
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
November 13, 2025 at 10:42 AM
20 November (one week today), online, 7pm: MARK FORD and SEAN O'BRIEN launch their New Walk Editions pamphlets. Sign up below.
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Choosing poems for a reading in Oxford next week. This starts a sequence in my most recent collection (www.carcanet.co.uk/978180017396...).
I worried it was too syrupy, but concluded it provided balance to other parts of the sequence & could survive in context. Here it is OUT of context.
I worried it was too syrupy, but concluded it provided balance to other parts of the sequence & could survive in context. Here it is OUT of context.
November 7, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Choosing poems for a reading in Oxford next week. This starts a sequence in my most recent collection (www.carcanet.co.uk/978180017396...).
I worried it was too syrupy, but concluded it provided balance to other parts of the sequence & could survive in context. Here it is OUT of context.
I worried it was too syrupy, but concluded it provided balance to other parts of the sequence & could survive in context. Here it is OUT of context.
MARK FORD and SEAN O'BRIEN launch their New Walk Editions pamphlets online, 20 November, 7pm UK time.
Book here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Book here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
October 25, 2025 at 6:08 PM
MARK FORD and SEAN O'BRIEN launch their New Walk Editions pamphlets online, 20 November, 7pm UK time.
Book here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Book here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Reading in Oxford on 12 November, 6pm. I'll mainly read from my new(ish) @carcanet.bsky.social collection Come Here to This Gate, plus some of my earlier work. There will be a reading also by N.S. Thompson, and a public discussion about poetry. Do come! It's free.
October 7, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Reading in Oxford on 12 November, 6pm. I'll mainly read from my new(ish) @carcanet.bsky.social collection Come Here to This Gate, plus some of my earlier work. There will be a reading also by N.S. Thompson, and a public discussion about poetry. Do come! It's free.
As it is Lincolnshire Day, on which all citizens of the good earth genuflect in the direction of Market Rasen, here are two of the Lincs-set poems from Come Here to This Gate, published by
@carcanet.bsky.social last year.
If you order it, St Guthlac won’t curse you: carcanet.co.uk/author/rory-...
@carcanet.bsky.social last year.
If you order it, St Guthlac won’t curse you: carcanet.co.uk/author/rory-...
October 1, 2025 at 3:12 PM
As it is Lincolnshire Day, on which all citizens of the good earth genuflect in the direction of Market Rasen, here are two of the Lincs-set poems from Come Here to This Gate, published by
@carcanet.bsky.social last year.
If you order it, St Guthlac won’t curse you: carcanet.co.uk/author/rory-...
@carcanet.bsky.social last year.
If you order it, St Guthlac won’t curse you: carcanet.co.uk/author/rory-...
For the past week and a bit, I’ve often been preoccupied with two sets of thoughts: about John Lucas, and about ridiculous responses to reviews. Here I am, writing 11 years ago, in a piece included in a book I published with John’s Shoestring Press a year ago. Be more John.
October 1, 2025 at 11:22 AM
For the past week and a bit, I’ve often been preoccupied with two sets of thoughts: about John Lucas, and about ridiculous responses to reviews. Here I am, writing 11 years ago, in a piece included in a book I published with John’s Shoestring Press a year ago. Be more John.
One of three ‘interludes’ in ‘All But Forgotten’, a sequence in my book Come Here to This Gate (@carcanet.bsky.social, 2024).
I probably wouldn’t have written these 3 poems without Tony Harrison’s From the School of Eloquence. He gave us direct, moving poems, and I’ve wanted more of them ever since.
I probably wouldn’t have written these 3 poems without Tony Harrison’s From the School of Eloquence. He gave us direct, moving poems, and I’ve wanted more of them ever since.
September 28, 2025 at 10:55 AM
One of three ‘interludes’ in ‘All But Forgotten’, a sequence in my book Come Here to This Gate (@carcanet.bsky.social, 2024).
I probably wouldn’t have written these 3 poems without Tony Harrison’s From the School of Eloquence. He gave us direct, moving poems, and I’ve wanted more of them ever since.
I probably wouldn’t have written these 3 poems without Tony Harrison’s From the School of Eloquence. He gave us direct, moving poems, and I’ve wanted more of them ever since.
Next millennium you'll have to search quite hard
to find my slab behind the family dead,
butcher, publican, and baker, now me, bard
adding poetry to their beef, beer and bread.
Tony Harrison (1937-2025)
Photographs taken in 2019
to find my slab behind the family dead,
butcher, publican, and baker, now me, bard
adding poetry to their beef, beer and bread.
Tony Harrison (1937-2025)
Photographs taken in 2019
September 28, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Next millennium you'll have to search quite hard
to find my slab behind the family dead,
butcher, publican, and baker, now me, bard
adding poetry to their beef, beer and bread.
Tony Harrison (1937-2025)
Photographs taken in 2019
to find my slab behind the family dead,
butcher, publican, and baker, now me, bard
adding poetry to their beef, beer and bread.
Tony Harrison (1937-2025)
Photographs taken in 2019
Two evenings in two cities for two very different reasons with the one and only Imtiaz Dharker. Here she is reading for Inspire in Notty.
September 25, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Two evenings in two cities for two very different reasons with the one and only Imtiaz Dharker. Here she is reading for Inspire in Notty.
I'm also reading at No Limits Festival, Normanby Hall, on Sunday 21 September, 1.30pm. Thanks for Rabbit Hole Books for inviting me!
Normanby Hall is gorgeous, and a lot will be going on.
Normanby Hall is gorgeous, and a lot will be going on.
September 13, 2025 at 6:09 PM
I'm also reading at No Limits Festival, Normanby Hall, on Sunday 21 September, 1.30pm. Thanks for Rabbit Hole Books for inviting me!
Normanby Hall is gorgeous, and a lot will be going on.
Normanby Hall is gorgeous, and a lot will be going on.
Reading on 4 October, in Louth, which is somewhere close to the centre of the universe. When you're in it, anyway, by definition. Please come if you are in the area. I only bite when invited to do so. Free entry.
September 13, 2025 at 5:37 PM
Reading on 4 October, in Louth, which is somewhere close to the centre of the universe. When you're in it, anyway, by definition. Please come if you are in the area. I only bite when invited to do so. Free entry.
TONIGHT! Venue: everywhere. Be there.
August 31, 2025 at 6:29 PM
TONIGHT! Venue: everywhere. Be there.
It's not (quite) too late to sign up for this, tomorrow 11am-12.30pm, online.
poetrybusiness.co.uk/whats-on/wor...
poetrybusiness.co.uk/whats-on/wor...
August 26, 2025 at 6:48 PM
It's not (quite) too late to sign up for this, tomorrow 11am-12.30pm, online.
poetrybusiness.co.uk/whats-on/wor...
poetrybusiness.co.uk/whats-on/wor...
I'm reading from my newest @carcanet.bsky.social collection in CHELTENHAM on Sunday 13 July.
At the Exmouth Arms, for Buzzwords. I'll also lead a workshop.
Workshop: 7pm
Reading: 8pm
Open mic too!
I'd love to see you there, whoever you might be.
buzzwordspoetry.blogspot.com
At the Exmouth Arms, for Buzzwords. I'll also lead a workshop.
Workshop: 7pm
Reading: 8pm
Open mic too!
I'd love to see you there, whoever you might be.
buzzwordspoetry.blogspot.com
July 3, 2025 at 5:40 PM
I'm reading from my newest @carcanet.bsky.social collection in CHELTENHAM on Sunday 13 July.
At the Exmouth Arms, for Buzzwords. I'll also lead a workshop.
Workshop: 7pm
Reading: 8pm
Open mic too!
I'd love to see you there, whoever you might be.
buzzwordspoetry.blogspot.com
At the Exmouth Arms, for Buzzwords. I'll also lead a workshop.
Workshop: 7pm
Reading: 8pm
Open mic too!
I'd love to see you there, whoever you might be.
buzzwordspoetry.blogspot.com
'Well worth perusing and returning to time and again as an aid to re-reading poetry from the last decade or so. It is informative and wears its learning lightly.'
I'm very grateful to Kate Noakes for this review in London Grip of my book of articles, Endless Present. Link 👇
I'm very grateful to Kate Noakes for this review in London Grip of my book of articles, Endless Present. Link 👇
July 2, 2025 at 9:57 PM
'Well worth perusing and returning to time and again as an aid to re-reading poetry from the last decade or so. It is informative and wears its learning lightly.'
I'm very grateful to Kate Noakes for this review in London Grip of my book of articles, Endless Present. Link 👇
I'm very grateful to Kate Noakes for this review in London Grip of my book of articles, Endless Present. Link 👇
No, they're not in this building.
June 27, 2025 at 12:36 PM
No, they're not in this building.
If anyone, between now & midnight on 15/6, orders Come Here to This Gate directly from Carcanet, then sends proof & an address to me in a DM/email, I'll send you a signed copy of its predecessor, Sweet Nothings (or another of my books, if you have that).
www.carcanet.co.uk/978180017396...
www.carcanet.co.uk/978180017396...
June 14, 2025 at 5:08 PM
If anyone, between now & midnight on 15/6, orders Come Here to This Gate directly from Carcanet, then sends proof & an address to me in a DM/email, I'll send you a signed copy of its predecessor, Sweet Nothings (or another of my books, if you have that).
www.carcanet.co.uk/978180017396...
www.carcanet.co.uk/978180017396...
I thought the reviews of my Come Here to This Gate (@carcanet.bsky.social 2024) had stopped coming. I'm very grateful for this perceptive piece by @jwikeley.bsky.social, in the new Poetry Birmingham/PBLJ. It is an honour to receive this kind of attention.
June 11, 2025 at 9:37 AM
I thought the reviews of my Come Here to This Gate (@carcanet.bsky.social 2024) had stopped coming. I'm very grateful for this perceptive piece by @jwikeley.bsky.social, in the new Poetry Birmingham/PBLJ. It is an honour to receive this kind of attention.
Over three years after he died, with alcoholic dementia and liver cancer (leaving behind still-unresolved administrative disasters), I am beginning to see him whole, and can bear to think about him again. I wrote about his last year as he died, angry, terrified, and largely alone.
May 30, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Over three years after he died, with alcoholic dementia and liver cancer (leaving behind still-unresolved administrative disasters), I am beginning to see him whole, and can bear to think about him again. I wrote about his last year as he died, angry, terrified, and largely alone.
My dad would’ve been 85 two days ago. I was driving back from the Scottish Highlands, and stopped at a waterfall. The first time I was in a landscape like this, I was with my dad in Ireland, and waterfalls always make me think of him. He wasn’t wholly bad, just wholly flawed. 1/2
May 30, 2025 at 7:54 PM
My dad would’ve been 85 two days ago. I was driving back from the Scottish Highlands, and stopped at a waterfall. The first time I was in a landscape like this, I was with my dad in Ireland, and waterfalls always make me think of him. He wasn’t wholly bad, just wholly flawed. 1/2
My copy of Poetry Birmingham landed yesterday. It is at least as good as any of its predecessors, and long may that continue (see last image). And thank you to Jeremy Wikeley
for his review of my newest @carcanet.bsky.social
collection, Come Here to This Gate. (1/2)
for his review of my newest @carcanet.bsky.social
collection, Come Here to This Gate. (1/2)
May 20, 2025 at 3:21 PM
My copy of Poetry Birmingham landed yesterday. It is at least as good as any of its predecessors, and long may that continue (see last image). And thank you to Jeremy Wikeley
for his review of my newest @carcanet.bsky.social
collection, Come Here to This Gate. (1/2)
for his review of my newest @carcanet.bsky.social
collection, Come Here to This Gate. (1/2)
It's been a while since this last happened.
April 20, 2025 at 1:08 PM
It's been a while since this last happened.
...near Saxilby, a few miles away. There is no memorial for Mary anywhere. She was buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave in Saxilby. Folk tales about the murder and its aftermath are numerous, and were fuelled by pulpy and spurious accounts in the press in and after 1859...
April 18, 2025 at 5:23 PM
...near Saxilby, a few miles away. There is no memorial for Mary anywhere. She was buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave in Saxilby. Folk tales about the murder and its aftermath are numerous, and were fuelled by pulpy and spurious accounts in the press in and after 1859...