Dawn Sands

Jesus at the Gay Bar He's here in the midst of it - right at the centre of the dance floor, robes hitched up to His knees to make it easy to spin. At some point in the evening a boy will touch the hem of His robe and beg to be healed, beg to be anything other than this; and He will reach His arms out, sweat-damp, and weary from dance. He'll cup this boy's face in His hand and say, my beautiful child there is nothing in this heart of yours that ever needs to be healed.

Okay so this one always makes me cry.

Thank you @jayhulmepoet.bsky.social

and other poems never miss!

VERMEER So long as that woman from the Rijksmuseum in painted quiet and concentration keeps pouring milk day after day from the pitcher to the bowl the World hasn't earned the world's end.

wislawa szymborska, tr. clare cavanagh #smallpoemsunday

#poetrysky any presses that publish very short pamphlets/poem series? like 10 poems or less?

I am sure seagulls are directly descended from pterodactyls

i want to fold myself into a poem curl up and stay there forever is this possible

I dreamed someone I had thought was a millionaire despite claiming poverty had written a poetry collection called ‘The Metaphorical Swimming Pool’, but I broke into their house, and they had a real one.

I got in it and kept yelling ‘it isn’t a metaphor if I can get wet inside it!’ down the phone.

my bluesky feed is just full of people posting about poems & poets they love and it is wonderful

I loved Eleanor among the Saints - definitely deserving of a place on such a wonderful shortlist!!

❛ Every time scientists go into the midnight zone / they find a new species. My son is telling me this / as he picks at his hands as if they are locks to release.

David Stavanger's 'Octonaut', from the #MothArchives – Issue 36. 🐙

reading round-up 2024! a few days late but filling in 366 tiny boxes takes TIME

fun fact: the traitors uncloaked episode for the series 2 final received more viewers than the documentary about discovering richard iii's body

speaking of which claudia winkleman has the same hair as richard iii kind of

today's writing spot:

in the mood to rashly submit to mags i have no chance with

Ooh this is such a fun question!! Probably Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr... old manuscripts + multiple timelines + art connecting humanity + "we are always at the point of believing we are nearing the end of human civilisation but we never actually are"

26 pages in to The Gospel of Eve by @revrachelmann.bsky.social and already 2 margery kempe references, this is wonderful

my poem 'Dialogue on Survival', just published in the Solstice Young Writers Anthology 2024 by @writingeastmidlands.com 💚

the end of hedda gabler is literally yellowface by rf kuang

Does anyone know of any (preferably UK-based) lit mags that would be likely to accept a poem with a very misfit premise?? I have a poem about Antony Sher's Richard III playing the cello and it keeps being rejected and I would like it to find a home amongst other bizarre little nerd poems if possible

as calvino would say, "seek and learn to recognise who and what, in the midst of the inferno, are not inferno, and make them endure, give them space." also 'this is today's conflagration' is a beautiful phrase I will be using

i love @andotherpoems.bsky.social season!! they really never miss

owen sheers writes similes like a year 9 am I allowed to say that

i am turning 18 in two days and as the girl who cried herself to sleep aged 10 because she convinced herself her childhood was over, this is proving an interesting poetic experiment

Calm and Collected Poems

I actually love poetry so much and I do not think I will ever be able to articulate this in the way that I want to

it just feels like a necessity you know??? like a staple part of life in which the whole purpose is to just experience something beautiful?? for sanity's sake?? am i going insane here

this is also me begging mansfield college oxford to let me in please i KNOW aestheticism used archaic language to create a rich linguistic texture and reinforce ideas of the inherent beauty of art!!! i won't call it restoration era again let me in please

pro tip: 5 practice oxford interviews in 3 days is not a good lifestyle choice

(pro tip 2: just because a poem has thee and thou etc does not mean it is 17th century, a trap i unfortunately fell into in one of said interview practices today)

One year ago today Israel murdered poet Refaat Alareer along with his entire family.

the dark is rising!!! an absolute favourite