iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

It's the law of thermo-dynamics for writers that only after you submit new work, convinced it's done, dusted, and perfect, will you see all of the ways in which it must - with great effort - be improved.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Morning @nytimes.com. It's free rein, not free reign (Connections). Come on now.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Posted with gratitude to Gilgamesh Nabeel Sidqi, the Iraqi-born writer and translator, who was kind enough to let me natter and blather on for a whole hour about a book I published three years ago. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7Vd...

youtube.com

كيف رأت كاتبة بريطانية بغداد؟ | إليزابيث لودون تتحدث عن «غريبة في بغداد» | المشرق بودكاست #5

YouTube video by Gilgamesh Nabeel

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

It’s me, Anna Akhmatova, and Clarence Thomas.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

After looking in vain for a lost card I'd like to apologise in advance, should death suddenly take me, for the astonishing number of disgusting wadded tissues in every single pocket of my far too many coats and jackets.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

A poem on grief that skirts easy or false wisdom for the real thing. Thank you.

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Reposted by Elizabeth Loudon

Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

They don’t know we are becoming powerful. Every time we kiss we confirm the new world coming. * sharing this gorgeous, glorious poem by Essex Hemphill as part of my Pride Month celebration—

In america,
I place my ring
on your cock
where it belongs.
No horsemen
bearing terror,
no soldiers of doom
will swoop in
and sweep us apart.
They’re too busy
looting the land
to watch us.
They don’t know
we need each other
critically.
They expect us to call in sick,
watch television all night,
die by our own hands.
They don’t know
we are becoming powerful.
Every time we kiss
we confirm the new world coming.

What the rose whispers
before blooming
I vow to you.
I give you my heart,
a safe house.
I give you promises other than
milk, honey, liberty.
I assume you will always
be a free man with a dream.
In america,
place your ring
on my cock
where it belongs.
Long may we live
to free this dream.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Watched Sirat. When will I recover?

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Wordle 1,803 2/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

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Reposted by Elizabeth Loudon

SN Désirée Cha @sndesireecha.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

“When someone recognizes you in a grocery store / nod briefly and become a cabbage.” —Naomi Shihab Nye, “The Art of Disappearing”

Poetry is not a luxury screenshot of Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem titled, “The Art of Disappearing”.

Poem reads as follows:

Title: “The Art of Disappearing”

Poem:

“When they say Don't I know you? say no.
When they invite you to the party remember what parties are like before answering.
Someone telling you in a loud voice they once wrote a poem.
Greasy sausage balls on a paper plate.
Then reply.
If they say We should get together say why?
It's not that you don't love them anymore.
You're trying to remember something too important to forget.
Trees. The monastery bell at twilight.
Tell them you have a new project.
It will never be finished.
When someone recognizes you in a grocery store nod briefly and become a cabbage.
When someone you haven't seen in ten years appears at the door,
don't start singing him all your new songs.
You will never catch up.
Walk around feeling like a leaf.
Know you could tumble any second.
Then decide what to do with your time.”

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

I wrote a poem about Stac an Armin, where some poor lads were stuck for nine months once when smallpox hit their families back on St Kilda's. It placed third in the Cheltenham Poetry Festival. Here it is: cheltenhampoetryfestival.co.uk/poetry-compe...

cheltenhampoetryfestival.co.uk

Poetry Competition 2025 WINNERS! - Cheltenham Poetry Festival

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Reposted by Elizabeth Loudon

Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

I'm going to put this out there once again because 1) it's my daughter's 40th today and so the planets feel aligned, 2) Sarah Howe, the host, is a stunning poet, so join us if only to meet her, and 3) I'm one of the winners. You can read too. cheltenhampoetryfestival.co.uk#events

cheltenhampoetryfestival.co.uk

Cheltenham Poetry Festival - Cheltenham Poetry Festival

Our online programme of readings, workshops and performances feature some of the most important and exciting artists in the world.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

cheltenhampoetryfestival.co.uk

Cheltenham Poetry Festival - Cheltenham Poetry Festival

Our online programme of readings, workshops and performances feature some of the most important and exciting artists in the world.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Wordle 1,777 2/6 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 May the force stay with me.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

"She is over a year older than her husband, which is a relatively small, but consistent, age gap." Thank you, AI.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Hello all. I wrote a poem about Stac an Armin, and it came third in the Cheltenham Poetry Festival competition: cheltenhampoetryfestival.co.uk/poetry-compe.... There'll be a reading for the winners and an open mic on May 5th: cheltenhampoetryfestival.co.uk#events. Join us if you can. xxx

cheltenhampoetryfestival.co.uk

Poetry Competition 2025 WINNERS! - Cheltenham Poetry Festival

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

This is our life and the lives of so many -- whether or not you live with Parkinson's. Thank you @rorycj.bsky.social but I'm so sorry you are suffering through the frustration and chaos. AI at the surgery - great until it's not open.substack.com/pub/rorycell...

open.substack.com

AI at the surgery - great until it's not

A new way for the NHS to foul up patient communication

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

I've started Elizabeth von Armin's Enchanted April about faded women making a bid for freedom and joy before it's too late after years of entrapment in loveless oppressive marriages etc and all good, except, these women are the close to death age of - thirty-three.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

I read poetry every day -- maybe I read you. And every now and again something hits so hard, and I remember why. Here's one. www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56547/...

poetryfoundation.org

Outgoing

Our answering machine still played your message, and on the day you died Dad asked me to replace it.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

A neurologist once made med students write down 3 things: somebody they love, something they look forward to, a skill they're proud of. Randomly she then tore up some of the bits of paper. That, she said, is what neurological diseases do. In a year of loss and cancellation, I think of this so much.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

Thank you again @markantonyowen.com for giving these three shy poems a chance to step out into spring sunlight.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

And she once said she spent most her time lying on the sofa and thinking about poetry. open.substack.com/pub/onlypoem...

open.substack.com

Astonishment by Wisława Szymborska

"What made me fill myself with me so squarely?"

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

So after extensive consideration of AI and threats to us all I conclude: if you do your job sitting down, you’re toast. Unless you’re an airline pilot.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

I can’t hardly stand it this is so light footed and melancholic. All I want to do today is read it. Thank you @chenchenwrites.bsky.social.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Look what arrived today in sleepy, frosty Gloucestershire.

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Reposted by Elizabeth Loudon

Shō Poetry Journal @shopoetryjournal.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

Bsky experiment! Here's Elizabeth Loudon (@esloudon.bsky.social) reading her poem “Renunciation” from our forthcoming issue Shō No. 8. You can also read the poem on our website: shopoetryjournal.com/elizabeth-lo... An earlier version of this poem appears in Best New Poets 2025.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

BBC: "Photo appears to show Andrew laying across laps." No it doesn't. It shows him lying.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Sometimes at dusk I walk around and look (ok snoop) through people's windows, after they turn on lights and before they close the curtains. This poem just out in the lovely Dawntreader (from @indigodreamspub.bsky.social) is in part about that - in part about heartache.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

And thanks to Sho Poetry Journal from an ex American who will always love America for its wild poetry.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

I've been on the board of Judith Dimant Productions (formerly Wayward Productions) for a while now and this new show is going to be a stomper. www.shittheatre.co.uk See you there?

shittheatre.co.uk

Sh!t Theatre

OR WHAT'S LEFT OF US Touring 2025: UK, Sydney, Melbourne, Lisbon

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Here I am, folks. I’m so glad this very personal poem landed safely with @tinderboxpoetry.bsky.social. tinderboxpoetry.com/mine

tinderboxpoetry.com

Mine | Tinderbox Poetry Journal

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

I know spiderwebs are a dime a dozen and ditto photos of them, but look what the dog and I woke up to.

cobweb in garden slung between two wicker chairs

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Reposted by Elizabeth Loudon

Rory Cellan-Jones @rorycj.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

www.facebook.com/share/p/19C1... My friend Mark Mardell was chucked off his Turkish Airlines flight at the weekend because he had Parkinson’s and his son had asked for assistance for him. (He’s written about it as a public post on Facebook but the link is proving hard to share outside,)

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

Dear everybody out there - here's a new anthology of prize winning writing by carers, including a poem by me. The anthology officially launches on Wednesday November 12th: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-curae-.... Want to buy a copy for a carer? It's renardpress.com/books/the-cu....

eventbrite.co.uk

The Curae – Anthology launch

Join us for the online launch of the second Curae anthology, celebrating the work of writers who are carers.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

A lovely gift for the caring reader?

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

So much hidden suffering for patients and their carers.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

For a year or two I taught English to Ukrainian refugees, and several of them became close friends. They're scattered now, some back to Ukraine, some across the UK, and some still close by. This poem is for them.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

Coming soon coming soon.... an anthology of new work by writers who are also carers. I'm in here somewhere. Thank you so much to @bookwormvaught.bsky.social and a heads up to @ylbooks.bsky.social and any other bookshops who might like to carry a copy (out in November).

Cover of an anthology of writing. Title is Curae.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

What you may wonder is the big deal with a parent begonia and its titchy baby shoot from a leaf cutting. Well my lovelies this is literally Einstein’s begonia or at least a cutting therefrom. It’s a thing. There’s even an opera about it. I’m so damn proud.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Guess whose work will be in Best New Poets 2025? Which goes to show, you can endure months of battling with hospital park and pay machines and poetry still wins, for all of us.

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Elizabeth Loudon @esloudon.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

Also when somebody very close to you dies slowly while you watch helplessly, nothing encourages more magical thinking. Magpies and owls. Trees lit up at sunset. The wolf hour. Everything's a damn sign.

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