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Sam Garvan

@garvansam.bsky.social
1.9K followers 2.3K following 375 posts

Poet. Reader. Plums, raspberries, apricots. Recently in Asymptote, New Welsh Review, Finished Creatures, Cyphers. Troubadour Prize. Jt runner-up Keats-Shelley prize. He/him.

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Reposted by Sam Garvan
Claude Monet @monet.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The trees in Monet's Poplars were auctioned off for timber while he was still painting them. Rather than lose the motif, he struck a deal with the buyer: a share of the cost, on condition the poplars stayed standing a few months more.
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Sam Garvan @garvansam.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Oo-er, Louise Glück, so good
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Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪 @neonpajamas.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
my book is out next month! if you grab a copy, let me know, and I'll write you a personalized poem www.gasherpress.com/product-page...
"Made death new to me." - Hedgie Choi

book cover of Uncle Time by Benjamin Niespodziany, 2025 poetry chapbook prize winner

out on October 15, 2026 with Gasher Press
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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Rowan MacGregor, UK based artist making delicate copper sculptures #WomensArt
Flat copper artwork featuring a central tree with birds and a human figure either side of the trunk
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Sam Garvan @garvansam.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Beautiful poem ...
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Elena Zhang @ezhang77.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The mid-autumn festival is this week, so it’s the perfect time to get a copy of my mini-chapbook, full of tiny poems inspired by Chinese folklore www.tinywrenlit.com/product-page...
Cover of chapbook The Moon, My Heart
poems by Elena Zhang, the cover is the moon with pink blossoms in the foreground The Moon, My Heart
In this story, Chang'e opens her mouth and I eat the egg inside.
Yolk sun in white moon.
I finally understand what Teresa Teng meant when she sang the moon represents my heart.
She meant immortal mothers and birthday gifts, and the starlit waning of time.
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Sam Garvan @garvansam.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
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Sam Garvan @garvansam.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Oh - marvellous surprise poem by Caroline Bird
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Henri Matisse @henrimatisse.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Woman in a Purple Coat, 1937 botfrens.com/collections/48/content…
Woman in a Purple Coat
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Elena Zhang @ezhang77.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
A poem of mine in the @robmclennan.bsky.social spotlight series (robmclennan.medium.com/spotlight-se...) #smallpoemsunday @tomsnarsky.bsky.social
Iced Coffee
The grief counselor counts the mangled eyes.
The daughter slips attention.
There is no evidence of escape. Everyone is crying. I forget your name and start to speak heartbeat.
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Nicholas Allen @dedalusdenaries.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
My souvenir from Edo Is the refreshingly cold wind Of Mount Fuji I brought home on my fan. Bashō
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Julia @chiaroscuro1897.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
If you find yourself in Cambridge this weekend, do explore the ‘Everyday Histories’ group show at the Keate Family Arts Trust. It features pieces by local artists such as Roelof Bakker, @garvansam.bsky.social, @erincoppin.bsky.social… & me! www.opencambridge.cam.ac.uk/events/keate...
opencambridge.cam.ac.uk
Keate Family Arts Trust
'Everyday Histories' - following an open call to local artists, we have curated an exhibition in our customary fashion with a mixture of works from our collection and other artist's work. There will
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Emma Mitchell @silverpebble2.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Small finds from the wood, September 🍒🪶🌿:
A collection of small nature finds from my local woodland, including green acorn, rosehips, Viburnum opulus berries, pigeon feather, spindle berries & leaves , alder cones & grove snail shells
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Litbowl @litbowl.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
What a perfect late-summer poem. From Li-Young Lee's book, Rose: bookshop.org/a/862/9780918526533 #poem #booksky #writing
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Sam Garvan @garvansam.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Thanks! Hope to bump into you there ..
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Sam Garvan @garvansam.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Microsoft wants to build three massive AI data centres in Leeds. It’ll drain thousands of litres of water from the River Aire and become the city's biggest carbon emitter. We can still stop the council's final sign-off, but we need more voices. Add your name: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/pr...
you.38degrees.org.uk
Stop the Microsoft AI megasite in Leeds!
Microsoft want to build three huge AI data centres at Skelton Grange. It would drain the River Aire and become the city's biggest carbon emitter. We can still stop it - add your name to the petition.
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Sam Garvan @garvansam.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Crikey!
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Sam Garvan @garvansam.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Clever, funny and beautiful poem here by Allison Funk, about the tightrope walker Blondin www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazi...
poetryfoundation.org
The Poetry Foundation
Poems, readings, poetry news and the entire 110-year archive of POETRY magazine.
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Sam Garvan @garvansam.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
"Once I was half flower, half self" Marvellous Alice Oswald poem on the @poetrypharmacy.bsky.social website - scroll down to see it poetrypharmacy.co.uk/blogs/newsle...
poetrypharmacy.co.uk
from the store of the self itself
Something wicked has been brewing at the Poetry Pharmacy…We’re aware of a chill in the air, the evenings drawing in and the darkness beginning to encroach and it's the perfect time to introduce Poetry...
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Sam Garvan @garvansam.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
🚨 An undercover investigation shown on Channel 4 exposed Reform figures allegedly breaking the law over foreign funding. Now demand a full criminal investigation. Sign the petition. 🔥 you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/in...
you.38degrees.org.uk
Sign the petition to hold politicians to account
Together, we can make sure no one - however rich or powerful they may be - is allowed to take us or our democracy for a ride.
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Sam Garvan @garvansam.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
An online course coming up with the wonderful Stav Poleg www.hillsroad.ac.uk/adult-educat...
hillsroad.ac.uk
Poetry Writing (online)
Learn to write poetry, or enhance your skills, in the comfort of your own home with our online Poetry Writing course. Each week you’ll learn about a…
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David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
As we close out August and bring summer to an end I will leave you with this perfect little sonnet I may spark some controversy with this statement, but... I think this might be a better blackberry poem than Heaney’s ‘cramming the black honey of summer into my mouth’ #poetry #poemoftheday
Poem - 'August' by Mary Oliver
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Sam Garvan @garvansam.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Oh, would be lovely to go to this ...
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Titania @titaniasrealm.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
When I say I'm travelling by sea, this is what I mean 🎨 DD McInnes
Painting depicting a mouse inside a tea cup using a spoon to paddle.
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littlebluestudio.bsky.social @littlebluestudio.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Sometimes I use Emerald Ash Borer carved bark in my mosaics. The patterns I find remind me of ancient glyphs. #BlueSkyArtShow #Nature #MessagesFromInsects #Fascinating #WaterCuredWoodMosaics #WildMagickWoman #LittleBlueStudio LUVLOCAL luvlocal.co/pages/vendor...
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Séamas Aloysius @seamusaloysius.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
An image drawn 36,000 years ago in Spain's Altamira Cave, probably drawn by Cro-Magnons.
An image drawn 36,000 years ago in Spain's Altamira Cave, probably drawn by Cro-Magnons.
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DJ Plague Mouse 💎🐁 @rhinestonemice.wtf · 30/08/2026
Walt Whitman #smallpoemsunday #poetry
SOMETIMES with one I love I fill myself with rage for fear I effuse  
 unreturn'd love,
But now I think there is no unreturn'd love, the pay is certain one  
 way or another,
(I loved a certain person ardently and my love was not return'd,
Yet out of that I have written these songs.)
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Sam Garvan @garvansam.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Wow - I have heard these many times, in Greece, but never seen one - extraordinary!!
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Sam Garvan @garvansam.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
If you are in Cambridge on 12th/13th Sept, I have a poem/print with Asemic Writing on display at the Keate Family Arts Trust - a quirky, delightful place. www.opencambridge.cam.ac.uk/events/keate... Detail below:
a fragment of the poem, which reads "the sound of crickets in the", and below that a part of the Asemic Writing - an image evocative perhaps of blades of grass.
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Stoat Poetry @stoatpoetry.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
The cover art for our first issue was done by the fabulous Tamizh Ponni VP. We publish a few pages of art in each issue, as well as poems and we're always looking for cover art - please send us your art/drawings by 31st August and tell your artist friends! www.stoatmagazine.co.uk/submit
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Sam Garvan @garvansam.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Lovely, poignant poem by Carrie Shipers, 'Mother Talks Back to the Monster'
Tonight, I dressed my son in astronaut pajamas,
kissed his forehead and tucked him in.
I turned on his night-light and looked for you
in the closet and under the bed. I told him
you were nowhere to be found, but I could smell
your breath, your musty fur. I remember
all your tricks: the jagged shadows on the wall,
click of your claws, the hand that hovered
just above my ankles if I left them exposed.
Since I became a parent I see danger everywhere—
unleashed dogs, sudden fevers, cereal
two days out of date. And even worse
than feeling so much fear is keeping it inside,
trying not to let my love become so tangled
with anxiety my son thinks they're the same.
When he says he's seen your tail or heard
your heavy step, I insist that you aren't real.
Soon he'll feel too old to tell me his bad dreams.
If you get lonely after he's asleep, you can
always come downstairs. I'll be sitting
at the kitchen table with the dishes
I should wash, crumbs I should wipe up.
We can drink hot tea and talk about
the future, how hard it is to be outgrown.
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John Vigar FSA @johnevigar.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Medieval singing face formerly in Walsoken Church, Norfolk now in Wisbech Museum #woodensday
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Campaign for the Arts @campaignforthearts.org · 30/07/2026
🌱 Momentum is growing. Will you keep it going? www.campaignforthearts.org/petitions/10...
campaignforthearts.org
Prime Minister – put the arts in your 10-year plan for the UK | Campaign for the Arts
Sign our petition urging the UK Government to build a country where the arts are available from childhood, accessible to all and thriving everywhere.
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Paul Nash | Paul atten Ash @northseanavigator.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Celebrated our 20th anniversary in Bath. Discovering the work of Jane Urquhart (1947–1983) was one of the highlights at Victoria Art Gallery. ‘Self portrait’ 1969 Oil on canvas 'A Box of Saints’ 1967 Oil on canvas #janeurquhart #janeurquhartartist #painting #victoriaartgallery #bath
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Rattle Poetry @rattlepoetry.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Katie Kingston from Rattle 23, Summer 2005 Read the full poem: Rattle.com/primary-hue-by-katie-kingston #poetry
"I can read all the parts of red." Katie Kingston from "Primary Hue"
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Paula Cooper @iceniphoto.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Dandelion
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Stoat Poetry @stoatpoetry.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Fabulous review of Stoat Issue 1 by the wonderful Alison Miller in The Orcadian. And we are open for submissions for Issue 2! Send us your poems by the end of August, via: www.stoatmagazine.co.uk/submit
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Sam Garvan @garvansam.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
mysterious and beautiful
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Katherine @katherineo.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Sensible policies for a happier Britain.
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Sam Garvan @garvansam.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
A fascinating article on Marlowe and Shakespeare
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Sam Garvan @garvansam.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
I went to a really delightful exhibition of @dbrownprintmaker.bsky.social prints (plus Sutherland, Hepworth, Piper et al) on Saturday, at the quirky Keate Family Arts Trust in Cambridge. Open til Aug 31st by appointment.
Invitation with address: 7 Trafalgar Road, Cambridge, CB4 1EU, and email address for arranging to see the exhibition: keatefamilyartstrust@gmail.com      Plus beautiful image of blue and yellow speckled feather, and abstract yellow shapes on dark background.
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East Anglia Bylines @eastangliabylines.co.uk · 14/07/2026
Britain has more than 50 billionaires. Each owns more than 3,000 times the wealth of the average person. Should we tax those fortunes a little more? Stephen McNair makes the case. 👇
eastangliabylines.co.uk
Fixing inequality: just tax the extremely rich
Inequality is at the root of most of our social ills. It could be fixed with a wealth tax. And Gabriel Zucman has a cunning plan
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Sam Garvan @garvansam.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Ha! Love this story, and the voice ..
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Longbarrow Press @longbarrowpress.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Five sales this month (!), yet Longbarrow Press staggers on. Here's an opportunity to pick up an excellent book with a couple of quid off.
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Sam Garvan @garvansam.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Beautiful small poem ...
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Supertanskiii @supertanskiiii.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
A reminder
As you hear the latest news of Tory greed and corruption from the Covid inquiry, don’t forget that we had THREE pandemic preparedness exercises, the biggest, exercise Cygnus, in 2016. 

Findings showed the UK was scarily unprepared for a pandemic. The Tories didn’t just fail to act on the findings they refused to fully participate in the exercise including making life or death decisions. 

Ultimately, they favoured ideological austerity over replenishing stockpiles. Four years later Covid hit and instead of acting fast they thought about how their donors and mates could profit as our NHS workers used fucking BIN BAGS while attending to patients. 

To add insult to injury the fuckers partied and got coked off their tits in Westminster as millions died and suffered in isolation.

Never forget what those scumbags did.
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Marc Chamberlain @marcchamberlain.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Elizabeth Jennings. Here she is on summer and angst, from The Animals' Arrival (1969). #poetry
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Sam Garvan @garvansam.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
"One blue boy holds a rag in his teeth between panes like a conjuror." I love this very strange poem by Sinéad Morrissey ... poetrysociety.org.uk/poems/throug...
poetrysociety.org.uk
Through the Square Window - The Poetry Society
In my dream the dead have arrived to wash the windows of my house. There are no blinds to shut them out with. The clouds above the Lough are stacked like the clouds are stacked above Delft. They have ...
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Water companies reclassify bonus as retention payments, circumvent rules. Anglian Water CEO gets £1.3m retention pay. AW won't meet its regulatory targets. 44% rise in customer bills, sewage in rivers, 182m litres a day lost to leaks, criminal convictions. Govt/Ofwat do nothing. archive.ph/kmZz8
ft.com
Anglian Water hands chief £1.3mn in retention pay despite bonus curbs
Nearly two-thirds of £1.9mn pay package paid by parent company unregulated by Ofwat
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soulsister58.bsky.social @soulsister58.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
🤣🤣
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