iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 4h

Well, I respect that investment of time. And the article was a good read.

John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 4h

It’s the opportunity cost of reading Prynne’s poetry that ranks with me. I’d rather continue reading the Sasha Dugdale collection that I have just bought. Or just gazing into space.

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Don’t you just love charity bookshops? They have some riveting books to read. #books

Looking up at old books on a high shelf, especially at a large volume entitled Civil Court Service 2013

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

'Bold and inventive' Canadian poet Anne Carson wins Nobel Literature Prize #poetry #literature #books

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Carcanet Press @carcanet.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

You have until midnight tomorrow to get 25% off ANYTHING on the Carcanet website. Go poetry mad: www.carcanet.co.uk Code: POETRYWEEK ✒️

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Just think of all those AI agents trawling through Jeffrey Archer's novels to learn how to write fiction!

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Ex Libris NC (aka Lynn Roundtree) @exlibrisnc.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

"Our age needs men and women who have the courage to do good even when it comes at a cost. Draw close to those who are alone, support those who are weary, and seek out those who have drifted away. Have the courage to forgive, to begin again, and to engage in dialogue." (Pope Leo XIV)

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Bill Manhire @pacificraft.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

. Without Form It is noisiest here in this middle place, cries of despair and those of praise, yet you might close your eyes and begin to walk forward. This must be how the first god did it. It was back at the beginning, and he began to sing, though the light – which was there – showed nothing.

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Roman wax tablets and metal stylus. I knew that Romans used wax tablets but had not seen one : until recently in the castle museum in Passau, Germany. I wonder how easy it was to read writing inscribed in wax, and whether it was hard to write without spoiling the surface? #RomanEmpire #writing

A glass case displaying two wax tablets in wooden frames, hinged together, and a metal stylus.

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

That is so interesting (I do find your posts thoroughly intriguing). May I check something though? Would this not have been well before the Neolithic period??

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Oops @oopsland.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Je vous laisse réfléchir là-dessus

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

It’s time I reread Middlemarch. Thanks for the prompt.

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Carcanet Press @carcanet.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Staff picks for National Poetry Day! Michael, our Publisher and Managing Director, chose these three collections. To celebrate #NationalPoetryDay, we are having a 25% flash sale across our entire website! Use the code POETRYWEEK at checkout: www.carcanet.co.uk/

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Haha — don’t hold your breath, Brad!

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

One of my standbys when I’ve finished a novel and don’t feel ready to start the next.

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David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Today is #NationalPoetryDay. It’s also #BlackHistoryMonth This reminds us that poetry is not an abstract art form - but something lived, overheard, dug up, carried, and spoken. Poetry belongs to everyone It is community, witness, survival. It is interest in one another. #poetry #poemoftheday

Poem - 'Ars Poetica #100: I Believe' by Elizabeth Alexander

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

This deserves close inspection: what on earth have you found on that bark?! It’s intriguing.

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

It’s definitely been our day today. In retirement, my wife and I routinely share a couple of poems with our morning coffee. And today is #nationalpoetryday in Britain, #internationalcoffeeday and #internationalolderpersons day. Just made for us. I suppose tomorrow will be another day.

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Carcanet Press @carcanet.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Happy National Poetry Day! 📚 We're offering 25% off EVERYTHING, all week! Head to our website checkout and use the code POETRYWEEK: www.carcanet.co.uk/search-resul...

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Peter Adamson @histphilosophy.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

BIG NEWS! I am launching a new podcast together with colleagues from the Cluster of Excellence on Cross-Cultural Philology here at the LMU in Munich. It's called Pages of History and will appear once a month, following today's initial launch with three episodes. pagesofhistorypodcast.net

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Someone ought to invent the comma.

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summerghost @asummerghost.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

bookmarks.

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This I understand! "Though the aim of legal documents is persuasion not truth, the revision habit acquired in drafting them accompanied my attempts to write poetry." Dan Burt talking with Sasha Dugdale in PNR 291. For me it was 40 years in the Civil Service. @pnreview.bsky.social #poetry

A photo of the title of the article, reading ‘Dan Burt in conversation with Sasha Dugdale’ from Poetry Nation Review issue 291.

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Paul Bavister @paulbavister.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Light and Landscape David Blackburn

a landscape painting of rich blues and golds

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I came across this riveting description of WB Yeats reading his poetry to a small group (in London around 1905 as remembered by Stefan Zweig). Note the altar candles and stagey setting, the deep melodious voice. Compare and contrast with poetry readings today! #poetry #literature #Yeats #Zweig

A page from 'The World of Yesterday' by Stefan Zweig.

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

That’s the trouble with mothers! My mother did the same, to my subsequent embarrassment.

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

"People who spout their emotions like blood exhaust me" — Rilke, speaking to Stefan Zweig as recalled by Zweig in his autobiography. “When he entered a room full of company, he did it so quietly that hardly anyone noticed him.” #Rilke #Zweig #poetry #literature #poets #writers #literature #books

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I find it extraordinary to hear e.e.cummings read this poem. I discovered his poetrywhen I was young and loved it. I would never have imagined this poem spoken the way he enunciates it himself.

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British Library @britishlibrary.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

It's European Day of Languages, so here are some of our favourite untranslatable and wonderfully-specific words from across Europe that we wish we had in English ✨

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

We were in Passau last week, the Dreiflüssestadt, the city built at the confluence of three rivers. From left to right you can see the Ilz, the Danube and the Inn, each a different colour. There must be other confluences of three rivers in the world but I don’t recall visiting any. #travel #nature

Looking down from the castle in Passau, Germany, on the confluence of the Danube and two other rivers.

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British Library @britishlibrary.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The book before the film. Always. We took a look at our first edition of Sense and Sensibility from 1811 ahead of the film hitting UK cinemas today📖 Be honest: are you book or film first?

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Oh, book first of course: far greater riches.

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Project Gutenberg @gutenberg.org · 24/09/2026

Lessons for the 21st century from a 200‑year‑old book by ‘Frankenstein’ author Mary Shelley by Eileen Hunt theconversation.com/lessons-for-... The Last Man by Mary Shelley at PG: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18247 #books #literature #postapocalypitic

The Last Man 1st ed title page.

First edition title page of "The Last Man" by Mary Shelley, credited only as "The Author of Frankenstein." Published in three volumes by Henry Colburn, London, 1826. Includes a Milton epigraph.

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Here you are, a bit of verse for the autumn equinox: Summer ends today; The lens on the cellphone Swings grimly from selfie To forward focus. And perhaps a photo will underscore the mood: #poetry #verse #equinox #autumn

Looking into the mist, a broad river flowing past a wooded shoreline.

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Three resounding cheers for Vàclav Havel! I once heard him address a small meeting in Prague while he was President. We need such people today. I believe they exist.

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James Lilliefors @jameslilliefors.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The view from Robert Frost's second-story window, across the eastern valley of the White Mountains to the Franconia Range.

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

So, is the Danube blue? Occasionally, yes, as here last week under a blue sky. More often it’s green, but mostly grey. Always beautiful. And so highly charged with history. #travel #Danube #Strauss

The Danube in Austria: its wooded banks and a shoreline village.

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David Atkinson @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Posting early, tomorrow I'll be in the Adriatic beyond the the reaches of the world wide Web 😁❤️🚢🚫🌍🕸️ Most war poems are really peace poems On the International Day of Peace Carol Ann Duffy, nodding to Owen, runs those old images backwards, unwinding the horror of the trenches #poetry #poemoftheday

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Glückliche Erinnerungen. A week ago we were in Vienna, and on the Danube. #travel #photography

The river Danube, so still at first light as it flows past the new suburb at Vienna.

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Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 17/09/2026

Beyond excited to have Rachael Clyne / @rachaelclyne.bsky.social Highly Commended for the Forward Prizes 2026 #BestSinglePoemWritten for her poem 'Homeland' which was published on IS&T and #PickoftheMonth for June 2025! #HighlyCommended #ForwardPrizes #ForwardBook2027 #Faber #PoetryAnthology

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Helpful advice on how to handle a new book. Apparently you don’t swipe left and right or scroll.

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John Looker @johnlooker.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Going up is harder work I suppose, but more rewarding. #sculpture #art #gardens

Sculpture entitled Stairs, by Lynn Chadwick at Somerleyton Garden, Norfolk, England. The sculpture shows two figures on a staircase, ascending and descending.

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Carcanet Press @carcanet.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Our September titles are looking good on the shelves! ❤️ From left to right: The Reverse Side of the Tapestry by #AlbertoManguel The Matter by #PadraigRegan My Destination by #DaisyFried Get 15% off with code SEPBOOKS15 at the link in bio 🔗

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British Library @britishlibrary.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

On International Literacy Day, we're looking back on how tablets were made of wood and wax. This wax tablet is a 2,000-year-old homework book, with a Greek maxim copied out by a student. How do you 'clear the screen' on a wax tablet? Find out in our blog: link.bl.uk/blw

A 2,000-year-old wax tablet with a Greek maxim copied out over several lines.

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