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Bruise

@bbruise.bsky.social
3.4K followers 3.5K following 1K posts

Let's write a better future. “Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently." Rosa Luxembourg linktr.ee/BenBruges

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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Check out the edition here!
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Many thanks to @thelakepoetry.bsky.social for publishing my poem 'Bone Stories'. Bone Stories (Capela dos Ossos, Evora, Portugal) After worms and soil of decay had done their cleansing best, skeletons and skulls were stacked... www.thelakepoetry.co.uk/poetry/ben-b...
thelakepoetry.co.uk
The Lake - contemporary poetry webzine - Ben Bruges
New page
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
I have a feeling I'm on some kind of list to be blocked. It would be nice if those maintaining the list or any of those following it would tell me their reason for blocking me. I won't hold my breath. The only reason I know, is because there's a @listifications.app that monitors.
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
Do you like ghost stories? How about ghost poems? substack.com/@benbruges/p...
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Lynne #TaxTheRich #WelfareNotWarfare. Eco-Socialist. Pro-🇵🇸 @bebsdotteragain.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
This explains it all really…
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
A new poem for anyone who has had a loved one pass away.
the title of the poem plus an image of candles
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
My poem needs someone to read it! And, while you're there, subscribe to my Substack? open.substack.com/pub/benbruge...
open.substack.com
A Tissue of Lies
How secure do you feel? A question posed by this poem.
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
Do you need a beta reader? open.substack.com/pub/benbruge...?
open.substack.com
Do you need a Beta Reader?
Suggestion and an offer
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Kevin the Librarian 🇪🇺🇺🇦🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈 @the-librarian.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
Sums it up.
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
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HASTINGS PEOPLE’S PARTY @hastingspeople.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Vicky Wilson is going to stand as an independent candidate in May, supported by Hastings Peoples Party, starting with a community meeting to ask - should she stand? will the attendees help get her elected? www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/who-will-s...
Photo of Vicky Wilson campaigning for her housing support group
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Did you watch Dirty Business? I can't believe how much water companies have gotten away with. They're putting profit before public health - it’s a scandal and the Government MUST take action! Sick of sewage? Add your name to the petition today: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/en...
you.38degrees.org.uk
End the sewage pollution scandal
We're sick of it. Sick of the lies, sick of the greed, and sick of a system rigged against us. This is a scandal and this dirty business must end. For more than 30 years water companies have put corpo...
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
Roundabout - a poem about addiction and generation loops open.substack.com/pub/benbruge...
open.substack.com
Roundabout
A poem about addiction and generational loops
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HASTINGS PEOPLE’S PARTY @hastingspeople.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
Hastings Housing Rebellion have occupied a family house to prevent private company Southern Housing from selling it off to the private market. Southern acquired the house with a covenant that they had to keep it for rented affordable accommodation. Please sign c.org/c2HSYmcbcv
c.org
Can you spare a minute to help this campaign?
Southern Housing - stop selling off our social housing
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Why is engagement on Bluesky so low?! There are very many people following very many people, but there appears to be very little debate or exchange of ideas going on. Do you have any idea why that might be? I want to engage with a poetry audience who are up for challenging poetry. Any suggestions?
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
A new poem published by the delightful people at @ausauthora.bsky.social - I think of it as modern myth-making. See if it resonates with you?
open.substack.com
Sharon's Mouthful
Modern myth-making in this newly published poem
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HASTINGS PEOPLE’S PARTY @hastingspeople.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
FILM NIGHT - to inspire and organise! Join Hastings People's Party for a community film night or short films and discussion, with contributions from local housing activists. Wednesday 11 February / 7pm / Quaker Meeting House, 5 South Terrace, Hastings
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
New poem published on new Substack. Read or read and follow. I've included an audio recording as well. open.substack.com/pub/benbruge...
open.substack.com
Talking English
Are you interested in the meanings encoded in language?
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
I just published Reading poetry medium.com/p/reading-po...
medium.com
Reading poetry
I thought you might like to hear me read some of my poems. I wanted to keep it simple — a short introduction and then the poem. Recorded…
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
Excuse the bloody photo. You might like the poem that goes with it and the collection of poems that are available in a downloadable PDF. Enjoy! (And subscribe) From lovely people @thebrokenspine.co.uk open.substack.com/pub/benbruge...
open.substack.com
'A Goring of Butchers'
A poem published in a downloadable PDF
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Frederick Speers @frederickspeers.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Impeach. Convict. Remove. Now.
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𝕄𝕒𝕣𝕜 𝔸𝕟𝕥𝕠𝕟𝕪 𝕆𝕨𝕖𝕟 @markantonyowen.com · 03/01/2026
Give it another hour or so, and it'll be a year exactly since a WhatsApp message from my sister informed me that our father had died. Speaking of WhatsApp, here's a poem about my (largely textual) relationship with my dad, written roughly 14 months before he passed.
My father chooses disappearing messages

As if he wants me to forget him,
even while he’s here. And I wonder,
does this newfound need for erasure
grow from his indelible cancer?

I’m watching as our chat balloons burst:
disperse, like so much digital air,
into that vast, virtual ocean.
All our jokes and his stoicism,

all his uncrematable fears – gone.
Like he means to leave no trace of him.
Like he hopes this buys him indulgence.
Like no setting holds any meaning.
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Victoria Spires @victoriaspires.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
Happy new year.
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
HNY via Samuel Beckett
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
Are you interested in a free PDF of poetry to download? How about the latest edition of Harrow House Journal? substack.com/@benbruges/n... And also my new Substack account to follow.
substack.com
Poetry by Ben Bruges (@benbruges)
Are you interested in a free PDF of poetry to download? How about the latest edition of Harrow House Journal? “Harrow House was born of a desire to create a healing space for poets to share works cen...
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Sandra Marchetti @sandrapoetry.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
It is an honor to have two new hyper vulnerable poems in the latest issue of SALAMANDER, a journal I’ve been trying to burrow into for a decade. If you need your Bell Jar fix, want to hear about my study abroad to France 20 years ago, or want a splitter explained, read these!
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
Walking down from the coastal path into Tenby, and came across this blue plaque. I thought I'd share.
Blue plaque: Dylan Thomas read the final version of Under Milk Wood here.
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Armin T. Wegner @coldmorningcoffee.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
If there was a justified humanitarian Zionist movement, it has mutated now into a monster. Perhaps ISIS began by feeding the poor. Perhaps the swastika used to mean "good luck" in Sanskrit but not today. Those who continue to describe themselves as Zionists are ignorant or guilty by association.
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
Attempting to start a Substack for my poetry. Please subscribe or follow. open.substack.com/pub/benbruge...
open.substack.com
Abraham's Children
Maybe attempting to create hope is a revolutionary activity?
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Jessica Edmond @genesis-pearl.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
I write for my pain to breathe. #healingjourney #writing #poetry #writesky #survivor
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Lee Chottiner @leechott.bsky.social · 26/12/2025
My first poetry chapbook, "Talking to Irwin," should be published in 2026 by Kelsay Books. I will be posting about the publication date when available, where the book can be purchased, times and dates for a release event and (hopefully) readings in Louisville, Pittsburgh, and other venues.
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
"I see literature as activist, particularly the epic forms of literature. It’s great to have lyric poetry that explores the self and identity, but the voice you choose gives you what you see, and if your voice is private, your vision will be private." Alice Oswald in the Paris Review resonates.
theparisreview.org
Alice Oswald, The Art of Poetry No. 119
“You come at poetry with the momentum of having failed. It’s only when other communication is absolutely impossible that a poem has to exist.”
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
Why not read it online? www.theparisreview.org/interviews/8...
theparisreview.org
Alice Oswald, The Art of Poetry No. 119
“You come at poetry with the momentum of having failed. It’s only when other communication is absolutely impossible that a poem has to exist.”
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Erin Coughlin Hollowell @beingpoetry.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
Surely one of you has a subscription to the Paris Review and can shoot me a copy of this: Alice Oswald, The Art of Poetry No. 119. Please? Pretty please?
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Tory Fibs @toryfibs.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
Starmer’s government is letting the hunger strikers die.
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
Make the mag - print, fold, read.
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David Hanlon @vespertine4.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
Excited to share that two new poems of mine are now published in @darkwinterlitmag.bsky.social! Read them both here: www.darkwinterlit.com/post/a-fores...
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David Hanlon @vespertine4.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Over the moon that my poem “Two Headless Snowmen” is in @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social's Winter Anthology! ❄️ Grateful to @matthewmcsmith.bsky.social for my first-ever Pushcart Prize nomination! 🏆
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The Broken Spine (SUBS OPEN) @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 18/12/2025
Tomorrow: #PoemsAbout #Money The pressure to perform in pounds. Write the things we buy to feel wanted. Post from Friday. Tag it. Use Alt Text. Prompts: shorturl.at/0Xm7A
A burning stack of dollar bills held in a human hand. The notes are scorched and curling in flame. The Broken Spine logo sits top left, "@thebrokenspine.co.uk" top right, and the lower right corner reads: "Read Repost Reply #POEMSABOUT #MONEY".
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 21/12/2025
I suppose the shortest day / longest night is a thing, a slight end of a dip towards 'getting colder and darker' and the start of 'getting longer and warmer', albeit in the UK we then go through a period of more wet and cold, but ignoring that.
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
Great concise advice from @dodgingtherain.bsky.social 's Neil Slevin dodgingtherain.com/2016/12/01/_...
dodgingtherain.com
Neil Slevin, How to Get Your Work Published
Writers need journals to accept their work to generate momentum. Here are eight steps to take when submitting your writing for publication. 1: Research opportunities Start by researching which publ…
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
'A Tissue of Lies' portrays a speaker grappling with hypervigilance from past trauma, juxtaposed against global fragility exposed by Gaza's conflict. An exploration of life's fragility, the personal and the global. Published in Mobius Magazine. mobiusmagazine.com/poetry/tissu...
screen grab of the current edition of the Mobius magazine
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The Broken Spine (SUBS OPEN) @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 19/12/2025
Visibility that makes a difference: For £3/month, promote your open calls, workshops, and competitions—while supporting our £5000 #BrokenSpineAward Fundraiser.
thebrokenspine.co.uk
Join Our Independent Press Directory - The Broken Spine
At The Broken Spine, collaboration and community have always been at the heart of what we do. We believe in uplifting fellow independent presses, writers, and
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
The wonders at @thebrokenspine.co.uk have released their Autumn 25 anthology, including a poem of mine - 'A Goring of Butchers' about a life-in-the-day of a younger self who worked in a well-known supermarket. The anthology is available as a free PDF download thebrokenspine.co.uk/product/sele...
thebrokenspine.co.uk
Selected Poetry: Autumn 2025 - Eds. David Hanlon & Katie Jenkins (Digital) - The Broken Spine
Selected Poetry: Autumn 2025 (Digital Edition) Selected Poetry: Autumn 2025 brings together bold, contemporary voices from across the globe. Edited by David Hanlon and Katie Jenkins, this downloadable...
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Dai Versions @daiversion.bsky.social · 05/10/2025
Dear Israel, Yes, YOU are the baddies. Love, the entire world.
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
Once every 20 years or so, the director-general of the BBC is forced to resign for being insufficiently rightwing. Alastair Milne in 1987. Greg Dyke in 2004. Tim Davie in 2025. The great irony is that the BBC was in all cases profoundly biased towards established power. But just not biased enough …
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Patrick - Here for the craic❗️🤷🏼‍♂️😉 @paddyopatrick.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Monday’s got off to a great start with news that Tommy Robinson is suing Nigel Farage 🤣😂👌🏼 This is definitely a case of “may it be brutal, painful, drawn out, eye wateringly expensive and neither man win” 🍿🍿🍺😄
thelondoneconomic.com
Tommy Robinson takes legal action against Nigel Farage over 'defamatory claims'
A far-right fall-out, you say? Tommy Robinson is pursuing a legal settlement from Nigel Farage following comments made in January.
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Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Grifter.
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Peter Blois @peterblois.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
I expect nothing less from the BBC. It has been a conduit for the Israeli propaganda machine since its compromised Panorama reporting of Corbyn's supposed "antisemitic" Labour. Nothing will change until Robbie Gibb, his editorial plants & wider leadership are excised from it. Starmer's govt too.
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