iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I recently decided to start a #Substack as a hopefully effective way of sharing my bit of light in the world's darkness. Who else is there? Please make yourself known 😊 And here's my article for today substack.com/home/post/p-... #HolyCross #BVM #Knitting #PetrarchanSonnet #Poetry #PoetsOfBluesky

substack.com

Poem: “Knitting Madonna”

...for Holy Cross Day, 14th September

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

#Poets, what's the longest period you've experienced between submission to a magazine and acceptance (hopefully) or rejection (@#$%^&*) ??? I've just received a #rejection almost exactly 18 months after sending! #PoetsOfBluesky #Poetry #ExistentialQuestions

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Here's a poetic triptych relating to boat people, St George as asylum seeker, and our shameful response Thanks to @elsewherejournal.bsky.social for publishing "Us English" earlier this year www.elsewhere-journal.com/palimpsest/2... #PoetsOfBluesky #PoetryCommunity #BoatPeople #StGeorge #Flags

Poem text: Us English are a country / of boat people. / Waves washed in the craft of Neolithic, Beaker folk, Celts / before ever the Romans / came and saw and conquered. / And which of us has not dwelt / in the settlements of Angles, Saxons, / Jutes, Frisians, Franks? / Or swayed on the Tube and tram as / Danes and Vikings / on the aft decks of their dragonships? / Us Normans rub along with traders, troubadours, / seekers after life and the curiously off the map. / William of Orange is old news.

Poem text: St George stares out of the hotel window. / His ears are filled with sun, / family, orange trees and childhood. Mama / has been telling her stories of Palestine. / She leaves out the occupying forces. / He looks down at twisted white faces / but he doesn’t understand / what or why they are shouting. / At the front he sees a boy / look up from his Baba’s shoulders. / He would like to have a friend. / Mama has been telling stories of Baba, too. / She says he is following them from Syria / and shows him on the map. / But all the map is telling him is / ‘Here Be Dragons’.

Background photo of two boys with a Palestinian flag, hosnysalah on Pixabay

$Poem text: You who imagine ‘Here Be Dragons’ beyond \ these shores \ to set St George against himself, who \\ drape England flags over \ motorway bridges and, \ demanding everyone give way always to the \\ Right, \ paint a rash of red crosses on mini- \ roundabouts — wouldn’t \ you agree they were \ built to connect and \ painted to ease passage? \ there is equal opportunity on a roundabout and \\ everyone has \ their own dragons to slay? What if \ some of them were hoarding \ offshore treasure? Background photo: one of the Dragons of the City of London mzmatuszewski0 on Pixabay$

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Now you can rest in peace #WendellBerry www.theguardian.com/books/2026/s...

THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS
Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Thanks to Amethyst Magazine for publishing Transfigurations today. It's in three parts: Hand, Apple, Leaf. Here's Leaf... amethystmagazine.org/2026/08/30/t... #UKPoets #Poetry #Attention

LEAF

take hold this leaf in your miraculous hand
its inner workings in your mind’s eye
count the pulsing chlorophyll
follow the sap through its veins
let it fall into your stunned heart

A photo of red apples on a tree (sourced from the linked post)

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I just harvested the last lot of plums this afternoon. I've probably eaten as many again over the last couple of weeks. This is the first year the cordon has produced anything #TinyJoys

A tray of about 60 large dark purple plums

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Coincidentally, alongside this @churchtimes.bsky.social piece, I also have out this weekend "Recycling" (a very different take!) and five other poems in @sixtyoddpress.bsky.social sixtyoddpoets.substack.com/p/108-clare-...

sixtyoddpoets.substack.com

108. Clare Bryden

making connections and finding patterns in the physical realm and beyond

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Including a short article I wrote about what to do with your copy after reading. Hints: - May involve #Compost - Don't #BurnAfterReading www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/202...

churchtimes.co.uk

Read, reuse, recycle, repeat

Clare Bryden finds a multitude of uses for this publication

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Websites Ahoy! @websitesahoy.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Exeter Food Action rescues excess food from shops, providing it to 70 food banks and communities in Exeter & Devon, supporting 1,000s of people. Right now, rising costs and funding shortfalls have put severe pressure on finances and their future is uncertain. Can you help? exeterfoodaction.org.uk

exeterfoodaction.org.uk

Home - Exeter Food Action

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc faucibus erat eu porttitor molestie. Pellentesque sollicitudin quam et turpis convallis molestie. Mauris eget porta leo. Quisque ornare or...

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Today we heard at @exetercathedral.bsky.social about the corbel of Mary with Christ Child, above a Green Man. "Such images speak of an overcoming of sin, renewal of life, and the salvation of [hu]mankind." devonchurchland.co.uk/blog/the-gre...

Carved corbel of the Virgin Mary with Christ Child (before 1309), above disgorging Green Man motif, representing The Tree of Mercy erupting from Adam’s gaping mouth, in the late-13th century chancel of Exeter Cathedral, photo Lucy Miller

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

My social media profile image is staying remarkably young, even as I continue in the attic getting ever more battered by the years. So here's a proposal for a social media network: one that shows our avatars fading into decrepitude, while we go about our lives as spring chickens.

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Elsewhere. A Journal of Place @elsewherejournal.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

'They mean well, the poets of place and landscape, but in their pages I observe I am the offspring of flat.' From our Palimpsest issue, poems by @clarebryden.bsky.social www.elsewhere-journal.com/palimpsest/2...

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

38% increase when England lose 26% increase when they win For women National Domestic Abuse Helpline Interpretation services available Phone hours: 24/7 Chat hours: Mon-Fri, 10AM - 10PM Call 0808 2000 247 #WorldCup #Football #DomesticViolence

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Second, here's @theosthinktank.bsky.social on one context - the erosion of Theology and Religious Studies in the UK - and why we should care Hint - soft power, empathy, cohesion, and the ability of society to understand itself are also mentioned www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2026...

theosthinktank.co.uk

The collapse of Theology and Religious Studies in the UK will be a loss for all

George Lapshynov responds to the University of Exeter’s considerations to cut Humanities staff and calls for safeguards to religious education.

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Some posts re the proposed cuts at @universityofexeter.bsky.social which disproportionately affect academic posts in Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences, and Environment & Energy at its #Cornwall campus. First up, please sign the @exeterucu.bsky.social petition at www.change.org/p/stop-redun...

change.org

Sign the Petition

Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Dropped my phone in the River Bovey on Saturday 🙄 I needed a new one anyway... which would have been easier to set up if I could have opened the old one, but its touchscreen was throwing a wobbly... until just now, so I can export and import all my hiking, podcast and reading settings #TinyJoys

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Re @universityofexeter.bsky.social proposed #cuts to staff numbers, disproportionately affecting #Humanities, #Arts and Social Sciences, here are a couple of quotes: "The arts are essential to any complete national life. The nation owes it to itself to sustain and encourage them." - Churchill

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Exeter Green Party @exetergreens.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Exeter Green Party stands in solidarity with the Exeter University and College Union in condemning the University of Exeter’s announcement of sweeping job cuts. These plans will recklessly imperil the University’s vital contributions to the social, cultural, and economic life of the city. 1/4

Graphic which reads: Statement of solidarity with Exeter University and College Union.

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Monday Moon! @mondaymoon.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Have a palate cleanser/reminder that the Cowlitz beaver kit livestream is still going strong, and if you need a break for today you can watch sleepy beaver babies whenever you need! www.youtube.com/live/hy765ud... #TinyJoys #Wildlife

youtube.com

Cowlitz Beaver Kit Cam Live

YouTube video by Cowlitz Indian Tribe

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Big red signs and barriers at the Branscombe end of Hooken undercliff. Why not at the Beer end? @southwestcoastpath.bsky.social @nationaltrust.org.uk #SWCP

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The Poetry Society @poetrysociety.org.uk · 11/05/2026

Congratulations to our Exeter Stanza on the publication of their new zine, The Silken Twine! What a gorgeous book! 😍

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

I'm so glad I found this group of wonderful #poets - so inspiring and helpful with critique. Thank you for your amazing work and #poetry wisdom. It was a great joy to edit you in this first Black Ven #zine. Here's to next year 🍻😅 @davidbirch.bsky.social + many on Insta @poetrysociety.bsky.social

Group of nine poets holding up copies of our Zine at its launch last Thursday. We're in Exeter Custom House, so we're standing under a decorative ceiling and the lion and the unicorn crest, and there's a barrel over on the right.

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

A happy hour this morning immersed in puffin research - they don't have their own emoji, so here's a parrot instead 🦜 #TinyJoys #VogelFlausch #PapageiTaucher www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz4k...

youtube.com

How Can Puffins Fly Both in the Air and Underwater? Wild Birds Revealed

YouTube video by Cornell Lab of Ornithology

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Jane Hill @janehill.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

They’re not kids, but the work of the Rebel Botanists in Plymouth is a joy. rebelbotanists.org

rebelbotanists.org

#RebelBotanists

We're shadows chalking on the street, to name the wild plants at your feet!

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Hallo liebe Vogelfreunde! Ich schreibe Gedichte (auf Englisch) über Vögel mit poetischen deutschen Namen. Bisher sind es der Eisvogel (Ice Bird), der Mauersegler (Wall Sailor) und der Zaunkönig (Fence King). Als Nächstes, der Papageientaucher. Habt ihr noch weitere Ideen? Vielen Dank! #Vogel #Vögel

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

Do come join us for our Zine launch! 1-2pm on 7th May at @exetercustomhouse.bsky.social with #QuayWords @literatureworks.bsky.social Free! Pls book at quaywords.org.uk/events/exete... so we know rough numbers to expect. Look forward to seeing you there 🥰 #Poetry #Poets #Exeter #Zine

Text on background image of silk thread/veil
(sorry for all the uppercase shouting)

LAUNCH!
7TH MAY
1-2PM
FREE
READINGS / DISCUSSION
Custom House Exeter
tea / coffee / nibbles

The Silken Twine
A Zine by the Black Ven Poets
Strand #1
May 2026

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

1️⃣ Singing Eastertide hymns 'con belto' 2️⃣ Post-Cathedral picnic with three friends... 3️⃣ ...at the annual outbreak of mass wisteria in Pinces Gardens #Exeter #Spring #TinyJoys

A long long spread of wisteria in flower

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Launch with readings on 7 May at @exetercustomhouse.bsky.social with #QuayWords @literatureworks.bsky.social More info coming soon clarebryden.co.uk/zine-toot/ sarahacton.co.uk/the-silken-t... quaywords.org.uk/exeter-stanz... #Poetry #UKPoets #Zine #Exeter

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Zine toot! From the Black Ven (Exeter) Stanza @poetrysociety.bsky.social – the first issue of /The Silken Twine/, featuring work by me (also editor), @davidbirch.bsky.social and many more. Read it at clarebryden.co.uk/zine-toot/

clarebryden.co.uk

NEW! The Silken Twine zine

The very first issue of The Silken Twine, by the poets of the Black Ven (Exeter) Stanza of the Poetry Society.

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

For Earth Day today, I'm sharing my poem Heartwood in five parts, featuring the trees of Tymawr Convent. See the ALT text. #EarthDay #EarthDay2026 #Trees #Poetry #Poems tymawrconvent.org

HOSPITALITY

Come with me to Tymawr, where I have found
a spreading olive tree in the house of God —
the ideal secluded tree to hang a hammock.
Two stout branches at the perfect height.
Abeam, a mossy place to rest my head.
Above, a lavish canopy of leaves might
shelter me from sun and God willing
showers, should I ever take the risk.

Heartwood pt1, © Clare Bryden

TWO LEYLANDII

This morning I had the strangest sense
the two Leylandii beyond Our Lady’s Orchard
were about to wake, unfold their arms and shake
their shaggy heads, unbend their knobbled knees,
gird up their skirts, peck a parting kiss
and stump off to their day jobs —
or, contrariwise, were simply glad to squat
merged in each others’ congenial greenery.

Heartwood pt2, © Clare Bryden

STATIONS OF THE CROSS

Fifteen tapped from all the trees tell
the winding tale of inhumanity. Grief and fear
the world’s daily companions on this long route
around the convent grounds. Just so.
The line separating good and evil passes

right through every human heart.
The Leylandii stand too for Station 14
— the Cross of Inhospitality —
minding all without a place to turn.
The end is close to where it all began.

Heartwood pt3, © Clare Bryden

THE STUMP

Even this mouldering stump may serve
to lift up a crucifix — a small stone frieze.
Jesus is marked out
through the camouflage of moss and weather
by his hands, huge and welcoming.

AND THE DAMSONS

keep on cropping. Pail upon pail.
How on earth could one small tree bear
such a heavy load of dark
sharp-sweet tears?

Heartwood pt4&pt5, © Clare Bryden

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Christ is risen! Happy Easter! (Written in 2024, when Easter coincided with the clock change. Published in Theology Journal last year.) #Easter #Poetry #Poem

*And there was light*

Very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb -- after Mark 16.1-8

It’s Summer Time at 6am the day
the clocks have changed. Within,
the Lady Chapel broods
a silent dark. Without,
the dawning chorus start an inkling
there is something in the air:

/Let there be light/ they sing and
flickers of remembering
catch in charcoal, flaring
fire and flame and
bursting to /Exsultet! Be radiant
in the brightness of your King!/

It’s Summer Time and everything
has changed. An angel
perches where the stone is rolled and
all is surging life on life expressly
as foretold.

© Clare Bryden “And there was light”, Theology, Volume 128, Issue 3, 23 May 2025.

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

Happy PI Day! #Maths Or rather #Math given that the date is in US money

Pie chart of most of a pie, with labels
Pie I have eaten
Pie I have not yet eaten

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

This weekend I made the annual pilgrimage to the host of wild daffs at Steps Bridge, on the edge of Dartmoor, so here's a video of an amazing ant heap

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Clare Bryden @clarebryden.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Women and under-represented minorities are more likely to be appointed to leadership roles during a crisis, perhaps breaking a glass ceiling but at the risk of falling over a glass cliff. They may think they are taking the reins but wind up taking the blame. International Women's Day #IWD2026 #Poem

Text of the poem follows, © Clare Bryden.

Framing the poem above is a line of tiny repetitions of 'glass ceiling', and on the right reading vertically, repetitions of 'glass cliff'.

** Who shatter upwards **

Raise a glass to the women
who shatter upwards.

Cheer the women
who are wise and say no
or if they say yes
know how

executives hedging their bets
appoint them to run over cliffs
ready to crumble
and either way claim the credit.

And who are these architects designing glass ceilings
into every office block?

No need
to bow beneath such impractical fragility.
Raise a glass to the women
who shatter upwards.

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