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Alice Stainer

@alicestainer.bsky.social
856 followers 232 following 188 posts

Poet; lecturer; Victorianist; singer; Scottish dancer; nature lover; wine or tea, that is the question; the sea, the sea; land of the mountain & the flood.

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Reposted by Alice Stainer
Victoria Spires @victoriaspires.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Another fantastic @iamb.uk lineup! 😎
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Carcanet Press @carcanet.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
From Graeme Richardson's article on his new collection Dirt Rich, which is published this month!🏦 Read in full here: open.substack.com/pub/carcanet...
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Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
Candlesnuff fungus, rising up like a ghostly apparition from the rainforest floor and waving its limbs. A saprotrophic species, it helps break down deadwood. It's also bioluminescent, emitting a faint green light by night.
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Michael Bazzett @mikhailbazharov.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
So delighted to have this little poem appear in @ampoetryreview.bsky.social, alongside a handful of others! Much gratitude to the editors!
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Dust Poetry @dustpoetry.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
✨COVER REVEAL✨ Here it is, the cover for Dear World, Issue 15! Featuring this stunning work by printmaker, Molly Lemon “They tried to bury us but they didn’t know we were seeds” feels so apt for this issue and we can’t wait to share its 30 new poems with you on Saturday! 🧡✨🌱
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The Emma Press @theemmapress.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
📣 NEW BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT📣 We are delighted to announce the acquisition of THE WAY THE WATER HELD ME by @catherineredford.bsky.social, a heart-wrenching debut about young widowhood THE WAY THE WATER HELD ME is available to pre-order now Publishing March 2026 ~ Pre-order here: buff.ly/i1HAi3Y
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Paul Brookes @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
Hear me read the following poem plus two others at the launch of this wonderful Crooked Spire Press anthology in the Unitarian Church, Doncaster, this Saturday from 13.00pm onwards:
Harsh Light

Gentle light should enter these open eyes, slow. Sat on slagheap blue sky midday see flit white clouds pass shadows over pit, ply and flow girded redbrick coal washery

over bright puddles, empty slurry tanks cross concrete bunkers of unused sand, lime, gravel. Recall days ago nightshift rank veins freeze blood heat, ice encrusted hands rimed, ground concrete hurt all when I fell one snowed winter day heavy weight hauls postal bag down, I slip on an iced drift to unload post bottom of door number eight. I rag, open sprung letterbox, sharp fringed brush put letter pull out quick metal lid slams shut.

Paul Brookes
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Alice Stainer @alicestainer.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
The building in which I teach recently had to change all the lights to LED ones, which are too bright for my eyes, so I've been teaching in semi-gloom. Today an uplighter was installed, so now everyone is super-jealous of my cosily lit tutorial space 😅💡🤩
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Alice Stainer @alicestainer.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
This was such a lovely evening. Great company, varied and accomplished poetry and just the right length. Do support @paulwritespoems.bsky.social if/when he holds another session.
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The Broken Spine (SUBS OPEN) @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 09/11/2025
Mark it down: Dec 20th @ 20.00 — #PoemsAbout #OpenMic + #ChristmasParty returns! Poets, readers, friends — one final night to lift your words before the year ends. 🎤✨ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1967176915...
A Christmas tree made of soft, out-of-focus lights glows against a dark blue background. The blurred bulbs form a tapering triangle of reds, greens, yellows, and oranges. White text on the left reads: “#POEMSABOUT VIRTUAL CHRISTMAS PARTY & OPEN MIC 20.12.25 @ 20.00 — Hosted by Alan Parry.” The Broken Spine logo, shaped like a black fountain pen nib, appears at the top right.
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Alice Stainer @alicestainer.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
This was such a lovely surprise!Thank you to @catherineredford.bsky.social & @tarawheeler.bsky.social for this vote of confidence 🤩
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Alice Stainer @alicestainer.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Well, this is fun! Fine company to keep @pdevonald.bsky.social @thepaulconnolly.bsky.social @eleanorholmes.bsky.social @sarahraybould.bsky.social Well done all!
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Beth Brooke @bethbpoet.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
So the UN agrees it’s genocide. Time to give this another airing. We are all complicit I fear.

Nakba

We are already deep into that night where
the unspeakable creeps out; 

we sense the tapping of its spindle fingers
as it feels it way along the walls,

crawls to meet the rhythm of our hurrying feet;
we are anxious to reach the safety of home 

where the lamps are lit and there are, we think, 
no shadows to disquiet us.

We walk, try to keep ourselves from running, 
but the monsters of our unfinished business

wait just ahead. Wraithlike, they slip in
behind us as we open the front door,

sit in our favourite chairs; their rictus smiles
greet us when we enter the sanctuary of our 

living room and turn on the light.
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David Hanlon @vespertine4.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
After a year and a half of trying, I finally got an acceptance from a poetry journal I’ve been aiming for — and on my twentieth submission, they took not one, not two, but three poems! Never give up! #persistence #poetry
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Alice Stainer @alicestainer.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
On the lighter end of my poetic output today, but I have a soft spot for this poem & am so gratified that @clairewalkerpoetry.bsky.social & @hollyannepoet.bsky.social saw something in it. Have a read & let me know what you think 🥰 #poetsofbluesky
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Bloodaxe Books @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
We're delighted that @niallpoetry.bsky.social and Vidyan Ravinthiran have been shortlisted for the @forwardprizes.bsky.social Prize for Best Collection for their third collections The Island in the Sound and #Avidyā. Many congratulations both! #ForwardPrizes www.bloodaxebooks.com/news?article...
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Alice Stainer @alicestainer.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
I so enjoyed @cheltpoetfest.bsky.social reading tonight with guests the luminous @johnglenday.bsky.social & deceptively light @jonathandavidson.bsky.social. A wonderfully resonant pairing, supported by fine mic maestros. Heartfelt thanks as ever @annasaund.bsky.social & @zoebrooks.bsky.social 😍
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Rachel Burrows @rburrows.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
Can’t make it this time I’m afraid.
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Black Bough Poetry @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
JOIN US and book your free ticket NOW for Louise Machen's online launch of 'I Am Not Light' on Saturday 12th July, 6pm, with special guests. Unmissable! @louloumach.bsky.social www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/louise-mac...
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The Broken Spine (SUBS OPEN) @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 26/06/2025
Want your book visible with our platforms the week #PIL launches? Submit on the 30th. Circa 20 platforms will be watching. Be on their radar — not lost in the scroll. #PromoteIndieLit #BookRelease #PoetsOfBlueSky
Promotional graphic for Promote Indie Lit (PIL), a free community network launching Monday, June 30th. Text reads: "Promote Indie Lit (PIL) – Connecting Poets, Presses & Platforms. A free community network for indie poets, publishers, reviewers, & podcast hosts. Supporting authentic, independent literature, together. Launching Monday, June 30th. Free to use. No sign-up. Just connection. Designed to boost book launches & indie visibility." The background is a muted teal colour with white serif text.
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Barb Milne @barbmilne.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
‘When the teacher read out ‘Ode to a Nightingale’, I think I was sixteen then, I instantly knew I wanted to be a poet…’ the wonderful @pascalepetit.bsky.social . Samuel West reading #Keats = a brilliant half hour of #poetry #PoetryPlease www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
bbc.co.uk
Poetry Please - Pascale Petit - BBC Sounds
Roger McGough talks to French British poet Pascale Petit.
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Alice Stainer @alicestainer.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
Yesterday morning I was teaching Radcliffe's The Romance of the Forest, & as I travelled in on the bus I did a quick Gaelic lesson on Duolingo. What did I have to translate? (never had this sentence before): 'They were hidden in an ancient abbey' 😱 Spooky, eh???
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Alice Stainer @alicestainer.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
I played my creative writing students a recording of Yeats reading The Lake Isle of Innisfree this morning, & one of them said he sounded like a ghost from The Christmas Carol 🤣😍
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Alice Stainer @alicestainer.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
After reading at an outside poetry event & then waiting for the bus, I am actually COLD 🥶& it's quite delicious! ❄️⛄💙
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Alice Stainer @alicestainer.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
Have realised that even in this heat, I'm incapable of travelling about without 54 cardigans 'just in case' 🙄😂
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Rosanna McGlone @rosannamcglone.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
I really like this poem and would like to use it for a poetry class, obviously acknowledging the poet! Can someone recognise this? If so, please dm me? The Last Light It did not fall with thunder,/ but with silence #Isthisyours
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Channel Press @channelpress.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
We're open for submissions! We'll be welcoming work in all forms, in English and Irish, for Issue 13 until 30 June ✨️ Full submissions guidelines at channelmag.org/submissions/
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Black Bough Poetry @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Next week’s host of TopTweetTuesday on Twitter - Paul Short, poet and blogger at The Book Bag @paulwritespoems.bsky.social 👉 paulwritespoems.com/category/the... #poetry #poetrycommunity #writing #poetic #poetryprompt
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Black Bough Poetry @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Next Tuesday’s challenge on TopTweetTuesday on Twitter. There’s level 1 and 2 there. 🖊️ 💎
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Channel 4 News @channel4news.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Pressure on Israel needed to stop ‘horrors’ in Gaza, Labour MP www.channel4.com/news/pressur...
channel4.com
Pressure on Israel needed to stop ‘horrors’ in Gaza, Labour MP
We spoke to the Labour MP, Sarah Champion who is chair of the International Development Committee.
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Sídhe Press @sidhepress.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
These are Khaled and Mahmoud. They urgently need your help. Their dad, Mohammed is trying to raise enough money to buy two tents and a bag of flour. Can we make that happen tonight? Please donate and share: chuffed.org/project/1302...
Photo of two small boys, one is now 3 years old and the other one 1 year old. They are sitting with their stuffed toys, one of them is looking at someone.
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Alice Stainer @alicestainer.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
I'm someone who's quite easily pleased. Today, despite body malaise, all it took for me to feel a million dollars was 2 secondhand Nike running tops from eBay (total 11 quid) 😂 Pretty in pastel! (Trying to do daily gentle strength workouts when body permits because it seems to help with pain)
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Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 04/06/2025
SEE: Gboyega Odubanjo’s poem ‘Genesis’ on the London Underground. There will be readings of his poetry at Covent Garden Station on 11 June. More to follow. @poetrysociety.bsky.social @poemsonthetube.bsky.social poetrysociety.org.uk/product-cate...
Image from The Poetry Society and Transport for London of Gboyega's poem 'Genesis' that is featured on the London Underground.
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Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 04/06/2025
The #JhalakPrize25 Awards are this evening and we have just enough time to feature the late shortlisted poet Gboyega Odubanjo's #Adam @faberbooks.bsky.social. This is especially poignant for us. Gboyega worked with IS&T on 'Runaways London' as a poet and as an editor on 'Uprising & Resistance'.
Blue background with Jhalak Prize logo (of folded books), which image is also repeated across the background.

Image of cover for 'Adam' with poet's name, Gboyega Odubanjo.

Text:

2025 Shortlisted
Jhalak Poetry Prize

in partnership with
National Book Tokens
(includes logo)Blue background with Jhalak Prize logo (of folded books), which image is also repeated across the background.

Image of cover for 'Adam' with poet's name, Gboyega Odubanjo.

Text:

'A tender yet ambitious poetic that is both proverbial and praise song ... and elegiac lyricism.'
Malika Booker, judge

2025 Shortlisted
Jhalak Poetry Prize

in partnership with
National Book Tokens
(includes logo)
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Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 04/06/2025
In 'Homeland,' Rachael Clyne / @rachaelclyne.bsky.social asks us to consider the ties between land, people, and memory—what is lost, what remains, and what might return. Read now! inksweatandtears.co.uk/rachael-clyn... #InkSweatandTears #Submission #PoetryCommunity
A vibrant rural landscape of green hills and farmland under a partly cloudy sky. Superimposed white text reads:
'Homeland
And if a land loses its people and they are exiled
will a land feel their absence'
– Rachael Clyne.
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Oh smart jacket how did humanity get so far in dumb mute clothes? How did we philosophize without the output of our socks? Design ships without a shoutout from a shirt? And now, will my overcoat override me?
ThermAdapt GX-Merino Heated Jacket
Modular. Heated. Graphene & Merino Powered. One jacket that thinks for you.
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Marcelle Newbold @marcellenewbold.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
We are open! We have received beautiful poems so far, send more! And your art, and essay proposals. Submissions read by myself, @victoriaspires.bsky.social, @vikkicwrites.bsky.social and our EIC @bornonadarkmoon.bsky.social
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Alice Stainer @alicestainer.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
😂
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Natalie Ann Holborow @natholborow.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
New blog post for all the anxious poets who want to be heard, but also sometimes want to hide in a corner with a book and a nice cat. natalieholborow.com/2025/06/03/f...
natalieholborow.com
For All the Anxious Poets: Writing, Readings and the Fear of Being Seen
Are you a writer who wants to be heard but also wants to hide in a corner sometimes? This one’s for you.
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Matt Gilbert @richlyevocative.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
Read Hedge School by Pat Boran today. Lots of highlights I could call out, particularly enjoy this one, ‘Billy, Billy’ for the sounds as much as the subject - almost forces you to read it aloud to enjoy the play of it on the tongue. Well worth a read. His 8th full collection.
Poem ‘Billy, Billy’ by Pat Boran from his collection Hedge School.
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RSPB @rspb.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
Irreplaceable habitats are on the line. This is the reality if an unamended Part 3 of the Bill passes. It must not.
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ZeeshanJaanam @zeeshanpathan.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
“All a poet can do today is warn.” —Wilfred Owen
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Paul Brookes @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
All are welcome. Please use hashtags #promptcombo and #spectating and tag @rfsmith.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/rfsm...
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Stanchion @stanchion.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
Two weeks away. 24 hours. Are you planning to send something in for Issue 19 of Stanchion Magazine?
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The Poetry Society @poetrysociety.org.uk · 02/06/2025
The new set of Poems on the Underground is here! Did you know you can get your hands on Poems on the Underground posters via The Poetry Society? Head to our online shop to get yours: poetrysociety.org.uk/product-category/poems-on-the-underground/
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Ronnie Smith @rfsmith.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
#PromptCombo Many thanks to @dragonslayerma.bsky.social for her wonderful last week. This week’ prompt is #spectating or hanging around watching. My finger wags. @dragonslayerma.bsky.social @drnaturegirl.debbiemross.co.uk @hool415.bsky.social @victoriaspires.bsky.social @paulbrookes.bsky.social
Poem - Complicity
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