iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 1h

“Tante Miele” looks like she’s about to drop this year’s most hotly anticipated analogue rhythms

A totally sick 1920s print advert for Miele washing machines

000

Reposted by Ben Blench

Dr. Han VanderHart @hanvanderhart.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Love, cast all thought aside. I cast aside all thought. Wendell Berry

A POEM OF THANKS

I have been spared another day
to come into this night
as though there is a mercy in things
mindful of me. Love, cast all
thought aside. I cast aside
all thought. Our bodies enter
their brief precedence,
surrounded by their sleep.
Through you I rise, and you
through me, into the joy
we make, but may not keep.

05613

Reposted by Ben Blench

Daniel Sugarman @danielsugarman.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

The world's most notorious custard-pie thrower is dead. What an obituary. He got Bernard-Henri Lévy seven times.

Known to his army of fans as L’Entarteur or Georges le Gloupier, Godin launched his career as a serial deflator of egos in 1969, when he planted a tarte à la crème on the face of the French novelist Marguerite Duras (“She has a kind of intelligence and cleverness that serves only her own vanity,” he complained), and he went on to “pie” a cast list of celebrities for sins ranging from pomposity to “choosing to function in the service of the capitalist status quo”.

The same could not be said of Bernard-Henri Lévy, one of France’s “new philosophers,” whose provocative views on sex, frequent appearances on television and penchant for white silk shirts unbuttoned practically to the navel, had made him a cult figure – and one of Godin’s most satisfying victims.

Levy once declared: “I am the most gifted writer of my generation,” and often boasted of his reasonableness and tolerance, but he was forced to endure footage being repeatedly shown on French television of himself, covered in cream, during a visit to the Belgian city of Liège, trying to strangle Godin and shouting: “Get up, or I’ll kick your head in.”

Noël Godin was born on September 13 1945 and came to pie-throwing after a rebellious youth in which he scandalised the priests in the confessional by speaking of his “horrible sexual life”, and was thrown out of Liège University after emptying a pot of glue over the head of a law lecturer who had helped write the constitution for the Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar.

He found work at Friends of Film, an obscure magazine published by the Belgian Catholic League. It had a tiny readership, which was just as well, as Godin made up most of his articles. In one he claimed that Louis Armstrong had once been a cannibal and had invested in a film called The Vegetables of Good Will in which Claudia Cardinale played a giant endive.

In another he conjured up a fictional blind Thai filmmaker named Vivian Pei, describing her film, The Lotus Flower Will Never Again Grow on the Edge of Your Island, in such convincing terms that an Asian film specialist travelled to Thailand in an effort to track her down.

“We’re very careful not to hurt people,’’ he explained. “Well, they are hurt, but always in their amour-propre.”

In 1995 Godin published an autobiography, Cream and Punishment. His other targets over the years included the New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard (who charmed his assailant by hailing the attack as a homage to silent film), the French politician Nicolas Sarkozy, the choreographer Maurice Béjart and the Ryanair chairman Michael O’Leary. He tended not to pick Belgian victims, he explained, because few would notice if he did.

131365640

Reposted by Ben Blench

Mia You @miayou.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Deadline moved to 7 September!

045

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

New #micropoem by me inspired by... something.

Text of a micropoem by Ben Blench, it reads:
The sun
The dread sun

030

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

I picked up a paperback from a street library. I didn’t like it, so I turned it into erasure poems. Here’s one! #poem #poetry #erasure

Photo of a page of a book with selected words and word fragments circled in pencil to create an erasure poem:

Everything is terrible
We watch loops
Allow ourselves our certainties
A dour life
The arrival of hell.

Text of a poem by Ben Blench:

Everything is terrible
We watch loops
Allow ourselves our certainties
A dour life
The arrival of hell.

150

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Still buzzing from last night’s extraordinary, transcendent gig by Sunn O))) at @paradisoadam.bsky.social Many thanks to the EHBO lady who tweezed the earplug from my left ear afterwards LOL

Photo of the stage in the main room of the Paradiso, Amsterdam l, set up for a performance by Sunn O))) Thirty amplifiers stacked and arranged like an amp-henge. Red stage lights.

010

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Idea for a sitcom called "Aloo Aloo", set in a Balti House in Birmingham. Owner Mudit deals with problems from a dishonest Reform UK councillor, local foodies, a stolen Instagram account and a pair of trapped asylum seekers, all while concealing the affairs he's having with his waitresses...

010

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Director Michael Cumming's Brass Eye Hidden Secrets Ep. 1, featuring Chris Morris in the guise of a variety of different Davids: David Sanction, David Voffov, David Unesco, David Waving, David Enthusiap, David Compression, David Bovvinge, David Qunt, and David Jatt. youtu.be/ml6AJARRVno?...

youtu.be

000

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Fun :) Now do Sometimes, by Sheenagh Pugh LOL

110

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Here's Willie Thorne (RIP to a real one) having his lunch with a budgie on his shoulder. Plate of selected biscuits. Bottle of salad cream. Massive bowl of sugar. And what's going on with that tiny, glass fronted cabinet on the wall above the kettle?

Photo of snooker player Willie Thorne having his lunch with a budgie perched on his shoulder.

000

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

“I had never seen poets before, one poet yes but not poets.” From The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein

Photo of a page from the Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein.

The text reads: I can so well remember the first time Gertrude Stein took me to see Guillaume Apollinaire. It was a tiny bachelor’s apartment on the rue des Martyrs. The room was crowded with a great many small young gentlemen. Who, I asked Fernande, are all these little men. They are poets, answered Fernande. I was overcome. I had never seen poets before, one poet yes but not poets.

020

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Correction! My zombie binge poem is in the Featured Creator section, not the issue itself. Anyway: I got published BOOYAH! www.fullhouseliterary.com/poetry/how-t...

fullhouseliterary.com

How to survive the apocalypse by Ben Blench — Full House Literary

010

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

I visited the British Library the other day. Of all the books and all the pages in the place, this one presented itself to me.

Photograph of an art book featuring a quote from Anselm Kiefer. The text reads “Art is longing. You never arrive, but you keep going in the hope that you will.”

040

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

I'm super happy to be able to share this link to one of my poems, just published in the "Featured Creators" section of the @fullhouselitmag.bsky.social website. Go there! Read it! Or listen to me reading it to you, if that's the kind of thing you're into. www.fullhouseliterary.com/poetry/how-t...

Screenshot of a page on the Full House Literary website featuring a poem by Ben Blench, entitled "How to survive the apocalypse"

120

Reposted by Ben Blench

Edward @edwardodell.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Incredible sequel. Edge of my seat!

1393197846

Reposted by Ben Blench

ONLY POEMS @onlypoemsmag.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

the grief the grief the grief the grief

03814

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

Now playing: Johnny Cash - Man in Black open.spotify.com/track/7wL9EV...

open.spotify.com

Spotify – Web Player

010

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

Having a great time getting stomped into a pulp by the monsters in DEVASTATION SONGS, the @brokensleepbooks.bsky.social anthology of Kaiju writing. Too many good ones to highlight so here's an especially stomach-turning monstrosity by @poetbex.bsky.social

Cover of DEVASTATION SONGS, an Anthology of Kaiju Writing on Broken Sleep Books

Text of a poem by Bex Hainsworth, entitled Globster:

Something has washed up on the shore.
A mass of greying flesh, a lumpy silhouette,

with one string of carcass that could be a tentacle,
or embedded kelp, or a plesiosaur neck.

With the gravity of the uncategorisable,
saltwater is drawn around its chthonic body,

retreats, then returns for cyclical scrutiny.
Barnacle stars scattered across a sky of black skin

lead to a translucent flap, like the bulb of a jellyfish.
It could be an eye, or some other bloated organ,

slumping above a clump of jagged shells,
maybe teeth, maybe swallowed bones.

A curved tool, like a beak or a claw,
jabs two briny points into oozing sand.

The stink of death keeps the gulls wary.
There is a net, orange, obscene, wrapped

around its slender end. Blubber bursts
through tight diamonds of woven chains

stretching back into the sea, like Genesis.
One flabby island bears scars, perhaps a predator,

perhaps a propeller, and another is frothy
with plastic loops, squeezed by canless ripples.

Its dark, sleek hide shines like a mirror.
We should recognise monstrosity.

192

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

Now playing: Baltimora - Tarzan Boy, because oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh! open.spotify.com/track/6FwMGM...

open.spotify.com

Tarzan Boy

000

Reposted by Ben Blench

Jenny Cromwell / Papyrus Stories @jennycromwell.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Interested in poetry in games / games in poetry - including in historical games? Check out the call for papers for our annual conference (Multiplatform) below, which will take place in Manchester in mid-June. manchestergamecentre.org/events/2026/...

manchestergamecentre.org

Multiplatform 2026: Poetry in Games/ Games in Poetry — Manchester Game Centre

Multiplatform is the annual Manchester Game Centre symposium dedicated to analogue and digital game studies and practice. In 2026, we turn to the lively, uneasy, and productive overlaps between poetr...

22511

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

Rewatching Maarva’s “Fight the Empire” speech. All of #Andor is great, but this bit is especially powerful. youtu.be/TaKrm5txGCQ?...

youtu.be

Andor | Maarva Andor’s Monologue | Disney+

YouTube video by Star Wars

000

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

I have just been made aware of the Swan Car: louwmanmuseum.nl/en/car/brook... It's got electric bulbs in the swan’s eyes that glow eerily in the dark! It has an eight-tone, keyboard-operated Gabriel horn! You can shoot steam out of the swan’s beak!

louwmanmuseum.nl

Brooke 25/30-HP Swan Car - Louwman Museum

Matthewson wanted to shock the local elite with his car, and he certainly succeeded in doing so. The bodywork represents a swan gliding through water. The rear is decorated with a lotus flower design ...

051

Reposted by Ben Blench

Granta @grantamag.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Last summer, on behalf of Granta, Sheila Heti underwent ketamine, DMT, and LSD/MDMA treatments. Her essay about these drug therapies is free to read online until Monday, along with the rest of Granta 174: Therapy.

1199

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

In case you missed it earlier in the week — maybe other things are occupying your attention these days? — anyway, I had a sweet little poem published by the lovely people @atriumpoetry.bsky.social. It's about the terrible love and fear of being a dad. atriumpoetry.com/2026/02/03/b...

atriumpoetry.com

Bedtime stories – Ben Blench

Bedtime stories . . Ben Blench writes poems, hymns, and incantations about life and love. He has been published by Broken Sleep, Full House, Iamb, and Visual Verse. He lives in Amsterdam and mostly…

082

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Now playing: Gnonnas Pedro et ses Dadjes - Dadje Von O Von Non open.spotify.com/track/4bkIej...

open.spotify.com

Spotify – Web Player

000

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

I don’t get published much, so it’s extra exciting when I do. Thanks very much to Atrium!

082

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

I, too, recommend this awesome anthology featuring incredible work by some astonishingly talented poets, hem hem

130

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

I'm super stoked that the next issue will feature my poem, inspired by watching far too many episodes of Fear the Walking Dead after my daughter and her friend made me sign up for Amazon Prime so they could watch White Chicks, which they then gave up on half way through.

031

Reposted by Ben Blench

Rose Ruane @regretteruane.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

Celebrate Ivor Cutler’s birthday by watching one of the most divine pieces of television ever made. Dave Allen *and* Ivor Cutler, how could you possibly resist? youtu.be/6RX1fMWkims?...

youtu.be

Dave Allen - In Search of the Great English Eccentric

YouTube video by Radio & TV memories

711045

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

Found poem in an English language transcript of a Dutch voicemail

Garbled English transcript of a Dutch voicemail. The text reads: The heaven is a belt in for bumpness..,...•.
111
"...... Still to it,
nit tango, price of the fear, telephone contact, if you can, Duncan Jahir, achheif, not that you need me, telephone is
more.....
111•
So, it's ain un feder to hand.. The heaven is a belt inf

Garbled English transcript of a Dutch language voicemail. The text reads: hand.. The heaven is a belt in for abundance, you'll be talking about.
Some a meton, spray for a muyer virodna, and it's spray for name, incident, yo, contact, and of maniram, from stone, and onsimisi.. Spelt to it, need long ago, priced of a fear, telephone contact message, you can..! going here you need me telephone

010

Reposted by Ben Blench

Atrium @atriumpoetry.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

Thank you for reading and sharing today's poem - My Sister Went to Live on the Moon by @suefinch.bsky.social

064

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

Now playing: Alienbaby Collective - Breakage open.spotify.com/track/0eLwro...

open.spotify.com

Breakage

110

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

No reason, just LOL. Prints of this @daveyjones.bsky.social banger are available from philiplarkin.com/product/lark... #poetry #philiplarkin #viz #space #doom

A cartoon by Davey Jones for Viz Comic.
The title is "The Collected Poems of Philip Larkin in Space"
We see a starship pilot warning: "Captain Larkin, our ship is caught in the gravitational pull of Doom Planet... moment by moment, we are inching inexorably towards oblivion!"
Larking replies: "Tell me about it."

14716

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

"A hedgehog in a thicket" 🦔 Really lovely poem, this. From Jo Matthews' debut chapbook, Sunlight Later: www.cathexisnorthwestpress.com/product-page...

Text of a poem by Jo Matthews, entitled "Birds":

The branches above are breaking into the sky —
as birds like ink on air swirl from trees to flight
great black lungfuls of them freewheeling across
the white winter sky, humming the secret rhythm
of fragment to solid, then loosening into dance.
Look up.

I wonder what it is in me that still fears my light
turning instead to the sharp inhale of darkness —
and I keep thinking: don’t let me mess this up
me, with my gaze skewed down to tangled ground
missing this quiet kindness, this wild mess, this show.
Be still.

The sky is still mine if I want it
the ground doesn’t care if I’m a poet or a mother
the birds don’t care if the words fly out of me
or fester on vein branches in my mind
waiting for the perfect moment to be set free.
Let go.

Fear comes when you have something to lose.
Once, I was a puffin on a cliff-face, a hedgehog in a thicket,
a terrapin watching shadows blur on faces in the morning sun.
Once, I was the white on the wave and the notes on a piano
playing until the dark in my heart became a song taking flight.

Under the light of a single star, I waited blindly
for the call, for the hair-breath moment of arriving
looking at the light for the first time shining —
and a mother not sure if her child had survived.
Once, I squeezed through a star-hole to be here,

once, I hopscotched across the dark glass sky
to claim my name, once I was the wind and the light
riding hidden eddies to a freedom I didn’t know was mine.
Once, I counted tears until they became stars in the sky —
or poems: blossoming, or birds: laughing.
Take flight.

010

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

New side quest unlocked: keep the numbers in sync FOREVER

020

Reposted by Ben Blench

Radiophrenia @radiophrenia.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

Radiophrenia 2026 Open Call – now open for submissions. We are pleased to announce that Radiophrenia will be returning to the airwaves in September 2026. You can find details of our new open call for radio works and how to submit in the link below. submissions.radiophrenia.scot

03919

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Happy birthday to me! I just heard I got a poem accepted by a cute poetry site. Gonna be published next year :) No it's not the one about frangipane (bsky.app/profile/benb...)

010

Ben Blench @benblench.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

Now playing: The Velvet Underground - Beginning To See The Light open.spotify.com/track/7nDdOt...

open.spotify.com

Beginning To See The Light

040