Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 03/06/2026Many 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.ukThe Lake - contemporary poetry webzine - Ben BrugesNew page 140
Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 29/03/2026I 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. 020
Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 29/03/2026Do you like ghost stories? How about ghost poems? substack.com/@benbruges/p... 110
Reposted by BruiseLynne #TaxTheRich #WelfareNotWarfare. Eco-Socialist. Pro-🇵🇸 @bebsdotteragain.bsky.social · 28/03/2026This explains it all really… 17443
Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 22/03/2026My poem needs someone to read it! And, while you're there, subscribe to my Substack? open.substack.com/pub/benbruge...open.substack.comA Tissue of LiesHow secure do you feel? A question posed by this poem. 120
Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 22/03/2026Do you need a beta reader? open.substack.com/pub/benbruge...?open.substack.comDo you need a Beta Reader?Suggestion and an offer 020
Reposted by BruiseKevin the Librarian 🇪🇺🇺🇦🇨🇦🏳️🌈 @the-librarian.bsky.social · 22/03/2026Sums it up. 142
Reposted by BruiseHASTINGS PEOPLE’S PARTY @hastingspeople.bsky.social · 06/03/2026Vicky 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... 111
Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 04/03/2026Did 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.ukEnd the sewage pollution scandalWe'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... 012
Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 22/02/2026Roundabout - a poem about addiction and generation loops open.substack.com/pub/benbruge...open.substack.comRoundaboutA poem about addiction and generational loops 100
Reposted by BruiseHASTINGS PEOPLE’S PARTY @hastingspeople.bsky.social · 21/02/2026Hastings 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/c2HSYmcbcvc.orgCan you spare a minute to help this campaign?Southern Housing - stop selling off our social housing 111
Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 10/02/2026Why 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? 000
Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 10/02/2026A 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.comSharon's MouthfulModern myth-making in this newly published poem 230
Reposted by BruiseHASTINGS PEOPLE’S PARTY @hastingspeople.bsky.social · 10/02/2026FILM 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 131
Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 27/01/2026New 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.comTalking EnglishAre you interested in the meanings encoded in language? 111
Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 21/01/2026I just published Reading poetry medium.com/p/reading-po...medium.comReading poetryI 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… 110
Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 06/01/2026Excuse 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 120
Reposted by BruiseFrederick Speers @frederickspeers.bsky.social · 03/01/2026Impeach. Convict. Remove. Now. 021
Reposted by Bruise𝕄𝕒𝕣𝕜 𝔸𝕟𝕥𝕠𝕟𝕪 𝕆𝕨𝕖𝕟 @markantonyowen.com · 03/01/2026Give 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. 191
Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 30/12/2025Are 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.comPoetry 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... 110
Reposted by BruiseSandra Marchetti @sandrapoetry.bsky.social · 30/12/2025It 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! 232
Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 30/12/2025Walking down from the coastal path into Tenby, and came across this blue plaque. I thought I'd share. 160
Reposted by BruiseArmin T. Wegner @coldmorningcoffee.bsky.social · 28/12/2025If 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. 152
Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 28/12/2025Attempting to start a Substack for my poetry. Please subscribe or follow. open.substack.com/pub/benbruge...open.substack.comAbraham's ChildrenMaybe attempting to create hope is a revolutionary activity? 130
Reposted by BruiseJessica Edmond @genesis-pearl.bsky.social · 28/12/2025I write for my pain to breathe. #healingjourney #writing #poetry #writesky #survivor 051
Reposted by BruiseLee Chottiner @leechott.bsky.social · 26/12/2025My 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. 011
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.orgAlice 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.” 131
Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 23/12/2025Why not read it online? www.theparisreview.org/interviews/8...theparisreview.orgAlice 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.” 121
Reposted by BruiseErin Coughlin Hollowell @beingpoetry.bsky.social · 23/12/2025Surely 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? 134
Reposted by BruiseTory Fibs @toryfibs.bsky.social · 23/12/2025Starmer’s government is letting the hunger strikers die. 098
Reposted by BruiseDavid Hanlon @vespertine4.bsky.social · 11/12/2025Excited 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... 095
Reposted by BruiseDavid Hanlon @vespertine4.bsky.social · 18/12/2025Over 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! 🏆 094
Reposted by BruiseThe Broken Spine (SUBS OPEN) @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 18/12/2025Tomorrow: #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 0117
Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 21/12/2025I 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. 120
Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 20/12/2025Great concise advice from @dodgingtherain.bsky.social 's Neil Slevin dodgingtherain.com/2016/12/01/_...dodgingtherain.comNeil Slevin, How to Get Your Work PublishedWriters 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… 111
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... 130
Reposted by BruiseThe Broken Spine (SUBS OPEN) @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 19/12/2025Visibility that makes a difference: For £3/month, promote your open calls, workshops, and competitions—while supporting our £5000 #BrokenSpineAward Fundraiser.thebrokenspine.co.ukJoin Our Independent Press Directory - The Broken SpineAt 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 022
Bruise @bbruise.bsky.social · 19/12/2025The 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.ukSelected Poetry: Autumn 2025 - Eds. David Hanlon & Katie Jenkins (Digital) - The Broken SpineSelected 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... 152
Reposted by BruiseDai Versions @daiversion.bsky.social · 05/10/2025Dear Israel, Yes, YOU are the baddies. Love, the entire world. 043
Reposted by BruiseGeorge Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 10/11/2025Once 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 … 11642921386
Reposted by BruisePatrick - Here for the craic❗️🤷🏼♂️😉 @paddyopatrick.bsky.social · 15/12/2025Monday’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.comTommy 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. 3525470
Reposted by BruisePeter Blois @peterblois.bsky.social · 15/12/2025I 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. 2105