iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Liam Bates

phillip crymble @phillipcrymble.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I knew that we / were in training for a strange / future Bruce Taylor

Moon Town

Life is short, but afternoons are long.
Adrift in the vastness of
a tuesday, I used to put my cheek
up to the perforated hardboard
behind the TV to feel its heat,
looking in at the red vitals
of our modernity, and I knew that we
were in training for a strange
future, for lives filled with
dial gauges and horseshoe magnets,
moon towns and mechanical pets.
And it has been strange,
but one thing has never changed, I still
look into the future
closely inspecting the days left,
staring at them until they grow transparent,
like the blades of a fan.

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Michael Conley @mconley.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

I have TWO poems in here, TWO

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Dr Anna Lawrence @annamlawrence.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Enjoyed dipping my toe back into the academic waters today at the @rgs.org Annual Conference, presenting some of my work on settler women's floriculture in NZ in a fabulous session on more-than-human friendship organised by @katiecmoliver.bsky.social & @liambatespoet.bsky.social

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Gabriel Flynn @gabrielflynn.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Sitting on a couch in IKEA and scrolling aimlessly for an hour to get a realistic sense of what it would be like to own it

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Wendy Allen @wendycaitlin.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Searching for a citation in a haystack.

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Liam Bates @liambatespoet.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Silver Jews - American Water, though apparently multiple others more qualified have pitched it already

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Tom Snarsky @tomsnarsky.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

A single drop of rain Sara Nicholson, from HONESTY

Fake Ruins
Where the sparrows nest And me, reading Medieval lyrics in bed
It was never about me
My life I mean
I didn't ask for this
I didn't ask for this
Nice weather
The very air 1 breathe
The cruel colors, pink & red
A splash of cloud
Cut through by solid gold
I didn't ask for this Miracle, a mind & body
Fake ruins & a tower
Where the sparrows nest
My life I mean
A single drop of rain
A scrap of paper
Upon which I wrote
A few lines about beauty
It was never about me
An owl & a mourning dove
Playing in the dark

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Jorie Graham @joriegraham.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

This is amazingly smart. Few read poetry as if "from the inside " like this. 🙏

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Centre for Place Writing @centreplacewriting.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

This week's edition of The Poems We Made Along the Way is with Liam Bates. Listen to Liam in conversation with @gregorykearns.bsky.social talking about friendship, popular song lyrics being published in poetry anthologies, & self-consciously informal citations. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/e...

podcasts.apple.com

Episode 57: Liam Bates - "Capacity for uncertainty"

Podcast Episode · The Poems We Made Along The Way · 6 July · 59min

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phillip crymble @phillipcrymble.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

One more from Wendy Cope's Collected Poems (2024)

The South Bank Poetry library, London

This is a pleasant library. I'd enjoy every minute
But for the danger of meeting other poets in it.

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Georgia Cook @georgiacooked.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

I need to update my examples, but a reminder that I am OPEN FOR COMMISSIONS I still have not been able to find steady employment anywhere, and money is running short, so any shares would be appreciated!

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mark leidner @markleidner.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

if you memorize more digits of pi than someone, you should be able to criticize them, but if they later memorize pi to a further digit than you originally memorized, that should invalidate all your criticisms—until you memorize pi to an even further digit than them

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Liam Bates @liambatespoet.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Saw this at just the right time when I’m writing about nonhuman emotional labour

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Jeremy Noel-Tod @jntod.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Paywall down for the week @prospectmagazine.co.uk if you're interested in pieces by me on John Ashbery, W.H. Auden, Glen Baxter, Raymond Briggs, T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, Lee Seong-bok, Poets Laureate, J.H. Prynne, Sam Riviere, Richard Siken and Stevie Smith www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/author/3551/...

prospectmagazine.co.uk

Jeremy Noel-Tod - Prospect Magazine

The latest news, opinion and analysis for Prospect by Jeremy Noel-Tod

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becimay @becimay.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Lecturing on allusion today ✨

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Jen Calleja @jencalleja.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

"How will a student who is learning to write well know when to transform an automated output or how to infuse it with A-worthy value? Which of a chatbot's always confident ideas or texts do or do not meet the bar?" Really brilliant piece on AI infiltrating the university.

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Alex Houen @alexhouen.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Chicago Review seeks pitches of critical reviews, commentary essays, notes and reflections on contemporary British experimental poetry 👇 mailchi.mp/d31d83f35611...

mailchi.mp

CHICAGO REVIEW CALL FOR PITCHES: NEW BRITISH POETRY

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Liam Bates @liambatespoet.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

will I still be able to follow the film if I didn’t see the previous one, wuthering hsevens

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Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪 @neonpajamas.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Randall James Tyrone

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Liam Bates @liambatespoet.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Jeff VanderMeer recommending Richard Siken

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Laura C Forster @lauracforster.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

📢Call For Papers📢 Sociability & Political life Marc Jaffré & I are organising a conference! We're asking: can there be politics without sociability? How have friendship, intimacy, socialising & informal attachments been central to political projects & movements? Get your abstracts in by Feb 14th!

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Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪 @neonpajamas.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

one of my two poems in the newest print issue of @waterstonereview.bsky.social much love to guest editor @josehernandezdz.bsky.social

America invents a machine. They call it the machine. It’s a machine you need if and when you want to reinvent yourself. It helps, America promises, with everything. No one knows where to look or how to turn it off. The waitlist is thick. Every kid wants one. It costs 48 thousand dollars and last I checked it’s still out of stock.

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Caleb Parkin @calebparkinpoet.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Hi friends - I'm Featured Poet on the new @interpretershouse, with three poems & an introductory essay to them: theinterpretershouse.org/parkin-84 They're PhD work: one of my jay poems & two from my travels last year 🐦 🚢 🐻

theinterpretershouse.org

Parkin 84 — The Interpreter's House

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Liam Bates @liambatespoet.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

the poetry competition is pounding at the door; your tithes are overdue

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Laura McGrath @lbmcgrath.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

I would love to see more rigorous, popular criticism of contemporary children’s media. Love this, on Miss Rachel, from Sophie Pinkham. thebaffler.com/salvos/speak...

thebaffler.com

Speak and Sell | Sophie Pinkham

The siren song of Ms. Rachel cannot be understood outside of America’s ongoing impoverishment of families.

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Manchester Literature Festival @mcrlitfest.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Last chance to get tickets for tonight🎟️ manchesterliteraturefestival.co.uk/whats-on

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Julie Bell @buliejell.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

Beautiful readings today from #YvonneReddick and @liambatespoet.bsky.social exploring #friendship #climate and #journeys

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Ian Seed @ianseedauthor.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

Looking forward to listening to the wonderful Yvonne Reddick and @liambatespoet.bsky.social reading at @litfest.bsky.social later today

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Liam Bates @liambatespoet.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

No news but agonising over the ending of a poem I’ll ultimately decide was shit anyway. National Poetry Day!

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Jeremy Noel-Tod @jntod.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

Is there a poet listening in to your conversation? Watch out: you might become an immortal line...

someflowerssoon.substack.com

Booking the Phrases

The power of found speech in poetry

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Liam Bates @liambatespoet.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

Who are the poets you think of as citational or allusive, the kind that might allude to, quote or paraphrase e.g. cartoons, philosophy, music?

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Liam Bates @liambatespoet.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

Saw that the strong white cider we used to drink in the park as teenagers is being bottled in recycled plastic now.

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Daniel Hinds @danielghinds.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

I was fortunate to spend some time with Liam's excellent poetry earlier this year. Highly recommend taking him up on his offer in the below post!

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Liam Bates @liambatespoet.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

I’m clearing the house out so have some copies of my debut poetry collection, Human Townsperson, going cheap. A BARGAIN EVERYTHING MUST GO SALE PRICE £5+P&P if you’d like one.

Human Toznsperson, the debut collection by Liam Bates. centres around a heroic quest. The hero? Somebody. The quest's objective? Unsure. Utilising Bates' engaging and absurd poetics. Human townsperson follows the journey of a poet leaving town bearing gear and supplies: a pack full of fantastic weaponry, potions and prescription medication. The work will be precarious and the costs grave, but out in the wilderness for long enough, maybe we'll remember why we're here.
Al the speed of human brain synapses Liam Bates poems in Human lozensperson zing around conceptually but always hold the dry wit at their centre. The poems constantly strive to make sense of a world that plays out as if it's a dream state. As the book progresses we become aligned with Bates' mode of thought. because it scems like the only sanity in a constantly discombobulating world. A book we all need. to guide us gently back to the ordinary from the bizarre times weire in.
- Roger Robinson
To encounter these poems is to embark on a surreal quest, where the language of gaming and fantasy act as waymarkers to move deeper into our understanding of ourselves.
- Andrew McMillan
Reading a poem by Liam Bates is like embarking upon a mysterious mission. You don't know who the enemy is, or where you're going. but the poet hands you a scroll and a sword and an office stapler and sends you out to seek yourself.
- Caroline Bird
Bates makes ludic operations, life as endless side quests, magic potions and mysterious exchanges collide with the hyper-real. Intense invention is balanced with a compassionate sensibility and connection with the world. The voice is so charming and the experimentation worn so naturally that the moral challenge and heartfelt Ivricism arrive by stealth and take your breath away.
- Luke Kennard

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Liam Bates @liambatespoet.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Someone else recommended this! I’ve been remiss

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Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪 @neonpajamas.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Alice Notley - The Descent of Alette CAConrad - The Book of Frank GennaRose Nethercott - The Lumberjack's Dove

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Liam Bates @liambatespoet.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Oh wow yeah just looked it up and sounds v cool. Will try and find a copy or pdf

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Liam Bates @liambatespoet.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Haven’t read it! Will look it up

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Liam Bates @liambatespoet.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

I think I have it on a shelf somewhere but will have to actually read it some time!

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