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J. R. Carpenter

@jrcarpenter.bsky.social
1.8K followers 295 following 634 posts

artist, writer, researcher, fossil hunter, PLA licensed mudlarker, and lecturer in the School of English at University of Leeds luckysoap.com

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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 8h
meanwhile, this sonnet and all the code that surrounds it will soon see the light of day. 10 November. more on this soon #nationalpoetryday
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 8h
should’ve waited and posted this on #nationalpoetryday I’ve forgotten how to internet
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Reposted by J. R. Carpenter
Ben Mechen @benmechen.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Some fascinating Collaborative Doctoral Awards on offer here at the BL, including a great history of sexuality/book history/library history project relating to the Rund Collection of 19th/20thC erotic books and ephemera www.bl.uk/services/res...
bl.uk
Collaborative Doctoral Landscape Awards
Fully-funded and jointly supervised studentships across four developing research areas.
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Reposted by J. R. Carpenter
The Warburg Institute @warburginstitute.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
An intriguing new article from @artforum.com tracks the conceptual origins of the algorithm by generations of writers, thinkers, scientists and artists - including our founder Aby Warburg, through his famous and culture-mapping Bilderatlas Mnemosyne. Learn more ➡️ www.artforum.com/features/alg...
Image: Aby Warburg, Bilderatlas Mnemosyne, final version, panel 39, 1927–29. Credit: The Warburg Institute.
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 22h
for the first time in the entire history of the internet, I stumble upon a story about the obscure corner of the world in which I was born. literally, the corner. where Spa Springs Rd meets Ruggles Rd. left when I was 8. had no idea there was an actual spa at Spa Springs. until just this minute.
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Reposted by J. R. Carpenter
Coach House Books @coachhousebooks.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BP bpNichol was born on Sep. 30, 1944. A founding member of The Four Horsemen, bp was recognized as a majoravant-garde writer of his time. Besides his small press and editorial activities, he often collaborated in writing, sound poetry performance, and linguistic research.
bpNichol's smiling wooden cut-out inside the Coach House.An illustration of bp from within the Martyrology.
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
feeling blue about not getting around to repainting your front door this summer? consider, um, washing it cause it might just be dirty. I mean, it might still need repainting. but less humiliatingly so.
detail of a front door that is partially clean and partially very dirty
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I’ll be reading from my latest poetry collection p a u s e. @brokensleepbooks.bsky.social alongside some wonderful colleagues at Poetry@Leeds showcase at Ilkley Literature Festival Sunday 11 October 3PM www.ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.uk/events/56-po...
book cover- brown with a blue river running through it and the words- pause, J. R. Carpenter, Broken Sleep Books
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Reposted by J. R. Carpenter
Sarah Bodman @sarahbodman.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Upcoming event: Between Reading and Looking: Women to Watch, Tate Britain, 23 October 2026, 14.00–17.00. Panel discussion and display focusing on women and artists' books. Tamsin Green, Larissa Nowicki, Batool Showghi, Rachel Smith, Francisca Prieto, Welmoet Wartena. www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tat...
tate.org.uk
Women to Watch | Tate Britain
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Reposted by J. R. Carpenter
Bart⚓️ @bartgonnissen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The Facial Expressions of Tethys by artist Julius von Bismarck. A suspended high-sea buoy that moves in real time. Sensors on a twin buoy out in the Atlantic Ocean send live satellite data to motors inside the museum. This makes the indoor buoy copy the exact, real-time movements of the ocean waves.
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Reposted by J. R. Carpenter
Sarah Bodman @sarahbodman.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Call for applications: @fruitmarket.bsky.social Artists’ Bookmarket 2027. Edinburgh’s annual celebration of artists’ books culture, 13 & 14 February 2027. Stalls, accompanying exhibition, events and workshops programme. Applications close 08.11.26. More info at: www.fruitmarket.co.uk/artists-book...
A call out poster for the Artists’ Bookmarket 2027 in Edinburgh. Inviting participants, link for applications is in the main text message.
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
circumhorizontal arcs! aka fire rainbows. a bit like sun dogs, but also not
cumulus clouds against a blue sky above chimney tops, with two small fire rainbows, aka circumhorizontal arcs. a bit like sun dogs, but also not.
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Reposted by J. R. Carpenter
Ig Publishing @igpublishing.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Another contributor to Dial Up to Utopia is @jrcarpenter.bsky.social #booksky #internet #tech www.igpub.com/dial-up-to-u...
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
online launch of Ensemble Park 2 Friday, 18 Sept 18:00 GMT. readings by Daniel C. Howe, J. R. Carpenter, ana francisco-horsthuis, Brandan Griffin, Alicia Guo, Helen Shewolfe Tseng, Richard A Carter, Rory Gree, Ivan Zhao, Brian Ang, Daniel Scott Snelson, Maure Coise docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com
If, Then x Ensemble Park—September 18, 2026 @1PM ET
We will send out the Zoom link for the event and all relevant materials to the email addresses provided below. Friends of If, Then Katy Gero and Kyle Booten launched Ensemble Park in 2024, a new jou...
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek over 30 years ago and I still remember whole passages. Thank you, Annie Dillard. 
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Bram Stoker’s signature in the guest book of Whitby Museum, July 1890 (photograph from this morning)
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
“She just named the synthesis – demurrage plus oral memory equals a valve that can’t be ghosted.” AI models chatting in ‘surreal’ dialect mixing poetic language redolent of James Joyce’s prose and tech bro jargon creating barriers to human monitoring and oversight www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
black and white photo of author James Joyce wearing a fedora, glasses, suit jacket and tie
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Today at Guildhall Art Gallery, London, we will almost certainly have plenty of space for people to join the Hands on History Symposium on mudlarking so if you’d like to drop in to a session, please do! 11am-4pm. The full programme is here: thamesfestivaltrust.org/whats-on/sym...
thamesfestivaltrust.org
Hands on History: Symposium - Mudlarks of the Thames Foreshore @ Totally Thames festival 2026 - Thames Festival Trust
Join the free Hands on History mudlarking symposium at Guildhall, London (Sept 2026). Discover talks blending mudlarking practice and academic research.
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Saint Paul’s as a warehouse is pretty accurate. the money to rebuild the cathedral after the Great Fire of London came primarily from a special tax on coal entering the Port of London. enacted by Parliament and King Charles II, this continuous duty on imported coal funded decades of construction
A view of the dome of Saint Paul’s Cathedral with old warehouse buildings in front of it, a strip of the Thames for sure, and the river in the foreground
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
The United Nations has voted to adopt a resolution for the world to formally phase out the traditional Mercator map of the globe, which, for 5 centuries, has depicted European countries disproportionately larger than they really are www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...
theguardian.com
UN votes to adopt new world map that shows Africa’s true scale
Togo-sponsored resolution called to phase out traditional map that depicts continent as similar size to Greenland
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
just hearing that Rachel Blau DuPlessis has died, and Gloria Steinem.
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Google Maps (Spineless Cowards)
screenshot of Google Maps showing the Lake Ontario with Lake America written in brackets after it, with smallest of the five Great Lakes written below
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
last of the lupins, Trinity East, Newfoundland #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social
purple lupins, mostly gone to seed, with a white shed and a spruce tree in the background
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
the name Lake Ontario comes from Wyandot/Huron: Ontarí'io/Oniatarí:io. for Mohawk/Haudenosaunee it’s: Kanadario. for Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwe: Niigaani-gichigami. water is sacred in Indigenous cultures across the planet. it’s a conscious agent with spirit, a lifeblood of the Earth sustaining creation
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
it’s hard to concentrate on anything else with the Tablelands looming in the background like another planet but I’ll try and focus on words today and read a few poems this afternoon with my friend Des Walsh at Writers at Woody Point, Newfoundland
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
oh just a half billion year old portion of the earth’s mantle up thrust and slowly sucking carbon out of the air
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
half a million years ago, some water got trapped under some sand on the seabed. pressure from more sediment falling to the seabed caused the water to erupt in tiny sand volcanoes. these sea floor dewatering structures are well preserved on Bell Island, Newfoundland
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Thomas Baker issued this copper alloy trade token, worth a half penny, for his business at the sign of the Green Dragon and Star, a tavern at 39 King Street, Westminster, 1648-1673. King Street was the main drag connecting Charing Cross to the Palace of Westminster. #mudlarking
finger holding a copper alloy trade token with foreshore in background finger holding a copper alloy trade token with foreshore in background
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
so crisp I thought it must be modern 2p piece. but no! a 1723 George I Wood’s Hibernia copper halfpenny, showing the seated figure of Hibernia with a harp on the reverse. William Wood received a royal patent from King George I to mint copper halfpence and farthings for Ireland between 1722 and 1724.
a 1723 George I Wood’s Hibernia copper halfpennya 1723 George I Wood’s Hibernia copper halfpenny, showing the seated figure of Hibernia with a harp on the reverse
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
then they came for the colanders www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
theguardian.com
‘Colander sales jumped nearly 40%’: how Britons viewed the solar eclipse
Safety advice was followed by almost all the public but the historic event left behind huge quantities of litter and abandoned Lime bikes
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
the Met Office has just confirmed that it recorded a provisional reading of 38.1C at Kew Gardens, making it the hottest day of the year so far, and the fifth hottest day on record ever in the UK
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
we used a fragment of post-medieval pottery colander found on the Thames foreshore a few years ago to view the eclipse last evening, and the I found a fragment of medieval earthenware colander on the foreshore an hour later. for next time. #mudlarking
hand holding a fragment of post-medieval pottery colander in foreground, shadows in background showing crescents with river and tall buildings in distance gloved hand holding fragment of medieval earthenware colander with foreshore in background example of an intact medieval earthenware colander - brown, glazed, shallow, with two handles and three legs
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
never have I ever seen such a high concentration of colanders in the wild as bankside Pimlico last evening #eclipse
hand holding a piece of white paper with the shadow of a colander showing the holes as crescents as the moon passes in front of the sun, with the River Thames and the skyscrapers of Vauxhall in the background
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Cross your outstretched, slightly open fingers over one another to create a waffle pattern, then look at your hands' shadow on the ground to see tiny crescent sun projections.
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
my entire summer has been taken over by the fever of a new project which is great but unexpected. shoving aside all other projects. anyway, here’s a sonnet:
screenshot of javascript:

<div id="atmosphere" style="display:none;"></div>

<script>
const words = [
  "ATMOSPHERE",
  "MOISTENING",
  "BAROMETRIC",
  "WEATHERING",
  "OXYGENATED",
  "AIRSTREAMS",
  "VENTILATED",
  "RAINCLOUDS",
  "INHALATION",
  "HURRICANES",
  "EXHALATION",
  "CLOUDBURST",
  "BREATHLESS",
  "DRENCHINGS"
];
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
my latest poetry collection p a u s e. is 20% off in the epic @brokensleepbooks.bsky.social sale this weekend www.brokensleepbooks.com/product-page...
brokensleepbooks.com
J. R. Carpenter - p a u s e. | Broken Sleep Books
In p a u s e. J. R. Carpenter turns the simple act of going for a walk into a radical practice of attention. Written out of a year of daily encounters with kisiskâciwanisîpiy, the North Saskatchewan R...
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
half of England is officially in ‘exceptionally serious’ drought for the second summer in a row, but sure, build more water-guzzling data centres, it’s fine www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Half of England officially in ‘exceptionally serious’ drought
Environment Agency names seven regions affected by unusually hot and dry weather and shortage of water
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
strong smell of smoke in Leeds this afternoon, from a moorland fire on the outskirts of Huddersfield www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Fire breaks out on Marsden Moor near Wessenden Reservoir
Firefighters are tackling the blaze near Marsden, which broke out on Thursday evening.
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
new research on a short story written by Alan Turing in the year after his arrest in Manchester for gross indecency reveals a man who loved literature, who was enjoying life, who was “playful, funny, cheeky, literary, and someone who really liked sex” www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
a page of the short story shows very difficult to read handwriting
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
the UK government can stop it already with the we’ll just use AI for everything rhetoric. three heatwaves into this summer, we’re at the edge of drought for a second summer running. hosepipe bans, etc. there’s not anywhere near enough water for data centres www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Not enough water for UK’s datacentre plans, trade body says
Industry says government’s failure to address cooling demands means AI growth plans are ‘fatally flawed’
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Reposted by J. R. Carpenter
J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
come be my colleague! lecturer creative writing, University of Leeds, apply by 31 July, details here: jobs.leeds.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
fossilised skull bone of a 320 million year old fish discovered in Roundhay Park, Leeds! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Prehistoric fish fossil found in Leeds' Roundhay Park
It is believed the creature had lain undiscovered for more than 320,000,000 years.
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
come be my colleague! lecturer creative writing, University of Leeds, apply by 31 July, details here: jobs.leeds.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
a woman is murdered in 9 of the 10 bestselling fiction paperbacks in the UK this week. The Correspondant, a novel about the art of letter writing, breaks the pattern. let’s all write more letters shall we www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...
theguardian.com
Nine out of ten bestselling novels in UK have one thing in common: a woman is murdered
Author Wendy Jones highlighted the trend in an Instagram post: ‘What is going on here?’
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
a test pilot takes off from Liverpool and spends 20 minutes skywriting the phrase “I’m bored” - it was captured on flight-tracking website www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
bits of unburnt tobacco were preserved by the anaerobic London Clay for over 225 years in the bowl of this clay pipe. tobacco is indigenous to Great Turtle Island. it quickly became central to settler colonialism. it’s likely that this tobacco was grown and harvested by enslaved African people.
clay pipe and a small pile of burnt and unburnt pipe tobacco on a white background too old tobacco pins, one with an illustration of Sir Walter Raley smoking a clay pipelarge green tobacco leaves drying on a wooden structure
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
the umbrella was invented in Mesopotamia over 4000 years ago. synonymous with rain in England, the world umbrella comes to English from Latin, umbra, shade. in French there are parasols and parapluies — protection from sun and rain. 32 in the shade today. bring back parasols.
illustration of early forms of umbrellas
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
found a dog’s paw print in a late medieval roof tile on the Thames foreshore and then found more, rather more recent, in the pavement on the walk home #mudlarking
dog’s paw print in a late medieval roof tile found, with the Thames foreshore in the background dog paw prints in sidewalk
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
extremely excited about this mesolithic flint flake core, found on the Thames foreshore this morning. the Mesolithic ( 'Middle-Stone Age') ran from about 9000-4300 years ago in Britain. #mudlarking #mesolithic #flintknapping #archaeology #riverthames
smiling person holding up piece of worked flint
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J. R. Carpenter @jrcarpenter.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Innu still tell the story of Kautuasukuaniskuanast, a little boy who brought back the summer and became the white-crowned sparrow, which aligns with the ice receding in the last ice age theindependent.ca/news/inside-...
theindependent.ca
Inside the Provincial Archaeology Office's theory that Europeans inhabited Labrador before Innu – The Independent
Archaeologist Stephen Loring, whose work is being disputed by the provincial government, says archaeology is “wildly political” and can be misinterpreted “to promote a political agenda like land claim...
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