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Daniel Duggan

@danieldugganwriter.bsky.social
212 followers 89 following 81 posts

Pushcart nominated, published writer pouring words in the Scottish Borders

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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
I gauge my girth by a method that requires no ruler. If I suck in my hull bottom belly, and still can’t see the flaccidness of my spam javelin, I need to sidestep cake until I stop wanting to take stale bread sticks to my Mr Greedy eyes. #poetry
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
I brought #Odyssey and the Illiad from a book and Mythos drinks machine on the main street in Perissa, Santorini, when I was there just after I finished high school in the 90s. Since then, I haven't managed to remain sedimentary or sedentary.
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
I brought #Odyssey and the Illiad from a book and Mythos drinks machine on the main street in Perissa, Santorini, when I was there just after I finished high school in the 90s. Since then, I haven't managed to remain sedimentary or sedentary
Odyssey 

My incendiary tongue, a Swift wing, unable to be pressed like a dandelion 
between the pages of a hefty book.

I'll tell you of my debauchery, 
of my inability to be still, 
of the lust-tide in my blood
for leaving home, even though 
I’ve just returned, years 
later than grief can cling.

Tie me to the mast again, 
so I might be tempted,
and watch me endure beyond 
the fate assigned to me.

Daniel Duggan
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
A #poem called Talking Shit.
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Victoria Spires @victoriaspires.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Another fantastic @iamb.uk lineup! 😎
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Helen Mort @helenmort.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
🎉 🥳 Arvon PLUS in September with me, Declan Ryan and Sarah Howe. Two experienced editors and…er, me! Who fancies joining us? The course includes extra days to write at the end, unique to the ‘Arvon plus’ format. www.arvon.org/writing-cour...
arvon.org
Residential Arvon Plus: Poetry | Arvon
Sometimes finding inspiration isn’t the biggest challenge: it’s moulding your poems into the best shape, the best form, the best sequence or collection once you have the raw material. What makes a gre...
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Helen Mort @helenmort.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
open.substack.com/pub/helenmor...
open.substack.com
Heron on the stroke ward
What hides inside things we do not know how to listen to?
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
I buy two coffees some days. #poetry
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The Broken Spine (SUBS OPEN) @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 12/04/2026
Introducing the first group of #Wave3 poets who will take it further: @bethosmond.bsky.social @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social @vespertine4.bsky.social @dbodepudi.bsky.social @fionaswriting.bsky.social This is a serious line-up. #TheWhiskeyTree #Wave3
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
She throws salt mills #poetry
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... You know you have half an hour to spare... go listen to @helenmort.bsky.social exploring how light is housed. It's lyrical and you can feel how the coast hugs its slender guardians.
bbc.co.uk
Artworks - The Last Sweeping Beams - BBC Sounds
Helen Mort explores the allure of the lighthouse as their sweeping beams are modernised.
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
Scare the bejesus out of me #poetry
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Helen Mort @helenmort.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
It was wonderful to do this ‘listening chair’ for Elizabeth Alker recently and talk about John Grant but - more importantly - this episode of Unclassified features musical gorgeousness from Sheffield…. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
bbc.co.uk
Unclassified - Helen Mort's Listening Chair - BBC Sounds
Elizabeth Alker invites poet Helen Mort to pick a track that transports her
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Corinna Board @corinnaboard.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
Link in bio, would love to see you there! 🌱
Zoom launch invitation on a beige background with a botanical illustration of giant fescue grass.
Text reads:

Mædwe online launch -
Tuesday 3rd March, 7.30pm.
Hosted by Victoria Spires.
With guest readers Vasiliki Albedo, Sophia Argyris, Tom Branfoot and Victoria Spires.
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
For #ValentinesDay this is called Half up, Half down.
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
The moon that pulls mountains by their hair. #poetry
Poem
I lie awake in the slumber dark
with feathered thorn moths
on the pleated ledges
of my eyelids
I thought pulling out my eyeballs
and pushing starlight into
the voids would
change me.
I'm just the same,
and so are you.
You'll go on being the fucking
moon that pulls mountains
by their hair.
Daniel Duggan
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Victoria Spires @victoriaspires.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
Reviewing @louisepoetical.bsky.social 's The How in the World over at @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social 📚
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
The slant of your shoulders #poetry
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
For #Imbolc The light is getting dressed again.
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Sarah Raybould @sarahraybould.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Sharing my film poem published by @inksweatandtears.co.uk for their 12 days of Christmas project. #filmpoem #poetry
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
Grief is a trail of smudges. #poetry
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
Coin under a sheet of paper. #poetry
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Roger Hare @hareontherun.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
I didn't know Simon Armitage has a new series of his 'Shed' podcast up-&-running. Great first episode with Frank Skinner & looking forward to the others 🤗
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
The light is rising. #poetry
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
I've been tomb cold all day, mainly because I'm still wearing shorts to work in the forest #poetry
Poem

I'm hugging the radiator 
like an old friend who's 
turned up out of the blue 
for a catch up. 

I'm going to be here 
a while as no one
knows my address, 

and it's fucking cold.

I miss getting letters,

like 
proper 
handwritten 
letters, 

and hugs, 
I miss the crush
of longing on my ribs.

Daniel Duggan
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Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
I was so delighted to join Dan, James and Andy for this edition of Fish! podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/n...
podcasts.apple.com
No Such Thing As Pudsey's Passport
Podcast Episode · No Such Thing As A Fish · 01/01/2026 · 56m
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Victoria Spires @victoriaspires.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
Sharing this little-read (by me) poem from my @salopress.bsky.social pamphlet Soi-même, in honour of last night's #SuperWolfMoon.
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
They scream sap as they fall. #nature
Poem
Too many forests
sit alone, with no one
to listen when they need
an arm around the
shoulder during winter. 

The birds are too busy
badmouthing the impenetrability
of the frost licked ground
to lend an ear,

so I'm here in the woods,
because I know what happens
if people throw a deaf one,
and yes, they do make a sound
when they fall. They scream
as their sap slips into the underland. 

Daniel Duggan
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Victoria Spires @victoriaspires.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
Hello from deepest Lincolnshire. Happy #smallpoemsunday. Two spoils. One by me, one by Cavafy (spoils of my Christmas book haul).
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Robert Macfarlane @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
Hell of a title & last line, Daniel
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
On the #Solstice I've written this piece called A Dying Star Inside My Mouth. The thin veil will thicken from now. This day always prods me... It brings @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social to mind, because in turn he makes me think of Susan Cooper's book The Dark Is Rising.
Poem


On this hardly here day,
when the sun crawled by
on its hands and knees

I want magic 

that stoops low like that. 
I'm laid out on the landing 
between flights, waiting 
to see a ghost.

I fall asleep right there,
my garnet eyes, blind
to your waif light as 
you slip past.

You walk your veil fingers,
across my waxing lips.

I slow wake hours later
in the dark and it feels 
as if you have pushed 
a dying star inside my mouth.

Daniel Duggan
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
Be yourself #poetry #poem #poet
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
This piece is called I can't look at you #poetry
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Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Domination is now available as an audiobook - read by me! books.apple.com/gb/audiobook...
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
Thumb Stars by Daniel Duggan #poetry
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 12/10/2025
Love is lumpy #poetry
Poem
There's a collection
of scraggy mountain ranges
beneath my skin

mapping the pulled triggers
and kite lifts of my feelings

It's all blood knots 
and banged up 
lumps,

They mark 
my attempts at love,

and I aim to die,
resembling a poorly
stirred bowl of porridge.

Daniel Duggan
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Victoria Spires @victoriaspires.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
#poetsofbluesky #promptcombo #poemsabout Hope you don't mind a polite shout-out for this zoom event happening soon! Would love to see many of you there to hear these fantastic poets. DM me for zoom link x
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
For #SuicidePreventionDay
Poem
Find me, and ask me
if I'm OK, but ask me 
like five times, until 
I run out of instant 
replies and open up
like a moth’s mouth 
as it tries to swallow 
a nightlight. 

Daniel Duggan
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
It's too good not to share by me...Daniel Duggan. #poetry
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
Faultline flowers by Daniel Duggan #poetry
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Leigh Goodwin @leighgoodwin.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
The heron Its heart is an old compass pointing off in four directions. Ascending tall ladders that walk to the edge of dusk. Surely that would be considered miraculous almost anyplace 🪜 #poem excerpt: Louise Erdrich #art Karl Mårtens #resist
heron: gray & white
wings lifted in
imminent flight

illustration
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
As the nightjars fill the air sings. #poetry
Poem
There are monsters 
slumped on the kerb below 
my window squawking 
at each other 

and the eavesdropping 
moon is a bit afraid 
of what might happen
when they're done talking.

I can't take my eyes off them
in case they perform magic
and just vanish. 

Daniel Duggan
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
Become a landmark #poetry
Poem
I went for a walk, even though it was a little too hot to be outside climbing hills. It was either that or sit, overthinking how 

when you leave, you still manage to drag shit along behind you, even when you've taken a stanley knife to the strings and anchor ropes.

You can't sink half of yourself.
The water takes everything, 
or nothing at all, 
even shadows swim. 

Dare yourself 
to not hide anymore,
become a landmark.

Daniel Duggan
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
For #promptcombo subject #hidden with @victoriaspires.bsky.social I've cobbled a short piece into being. This is called What You Didn't Get To See
Poem
I’m that stone
you didn't pick to skim
across the river,

my leading edge,
too proud to lightly kiss
the water.

Daniel Duggan
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
I miss looking up to dad, seeing the underneath of his chin #FathersDay
Poem
I’m forty eight but I still drew my dad a card and sent it to him 
because growing up never occurred to me. I didn’t get a letter 
stating when to mature from the government. I’m sure 
my parents mentioned it at some point but no doubt
I was daydreaming at the time. 

I got my pens and pencils out and thought
of where we used to walk when I wasn’t growing up. 
We would wander around the Lido Park, inspecting the bandstand, 
guessing how cold the water in the outdoor swimming pool was. 

I had a Tigger in each leg back then. 
Gravity had a right battle 
keeping me from cavorting with the Starlings.

I miss looking up to Dad,
seeing the underneath of his chin,
but puberty came and gave me long legs.
I draw so he can still show people
what his little boy made him.

Daniel Duggan
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Helen Mort @helenmort.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
I share unpublished short stories about women in bars on my Substack for paid subscribers (there are about 8 or so of them up there now). Sometimes they even include a brief heron, spider or - like this one - an unexpected goat. open.substack.com/pub/helenmor...
open.substack.com
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Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Everyone needs a Bacchus on (and in) their fridge…
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Everyday moments are never everyday #poetry
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Spring poetry #poetry
Poem
I've got the sun's hat on
and yes, it is a little big
for me so I'm holding 
at a jaunty angle between
my finger and thumb 
to keep it out of my eyes
as I skip down the street.

I sing
Good Morning 
to everyone I meet
until my lips crack.

I'll not hibernate again.
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Daniel Duggan @danieldugganwriter.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Care bears #poetry
Poem
I took today 
at the neck of dawn, 
and throttled it of light.

There are ash hours,
all over my furnace fingers
and I don't care for it,
or myself one bit.

Daniel Duggan
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