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Jessica Boatright

@oh-so-boatie.bsky.social
380 followers 286 following 50 posts

Creative Project Manager by day, writer by night. Advocate for the power of community and the arts. Big fan of sunsets!

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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
The course of poetry never did run smooth... a little over a year ago a publisher accepted a poetry pamphlet from me on concept. There were contracts signed and I beavered away writing the book, drafting, having mentoring to perfect the pieces etc. I told some people I know about it, but before
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Eeek! Exciting! Thanks so much to @thebraag.bsky.social for publishing this quirky little toucan-y micro of mine ❤️🦜
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The Braag | Press & Journal @thebraag.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
We're here for ur weird! Subs open the whole month of Feb, read the subs guidelines on the website or I'll USE YOUR BONES TO MAKE MY BREAD ❤️
Carmen et Error

Submissions Open 
All February


Poetry, 40 lines. Flash fiction up to 400 words. 

carmenerror.com
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Thank you so much to @atriumpoetry.bsky.social for publishing this one of mine today ❤️
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 01/11/2025
Delighted to be a part of this issue of Paperboats Zine 💚⛵️ So many highlights - go read!
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
Delighted to have a poem in The Broken Spine's Selected Poetry: Autumn 2025 😊 Thank you @vespertine4.bsky.social and @katiejenkinspoet.bsky.social 😊 Loved reading this issue!
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
I could not be more excited to be able to share this little toucan-y book with you all 😊 Coming soon! Eeek! #WhereIsTheToucanEmoji
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
Book post! This gorgeous magazine dropped through my door yesterday from Ireland - dedicated to the men, women and children of Palestine 🧡 That front cover 🔥 I have a tiny spicy poem in this one, which I am delighted about of course! @poetrybuspress.bsky.social have been a dream to work with.
A coral orange A5 magazine with a cartoon of two women wearing eclipse glasses on the front looking at the sky - effortlessly cool. Written on the front is 'Poetry Bus - A magazine of poetry'. The photo is taken in front of a bright almost garish floral wallpaper
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Todd Dillard @toddedillard.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
my issue of Threepenny is here! here’s my poem “Present Tense,” I would love for you to give it a read! “I know this so loudly I don’t hear, at first, my father’s silence.”
Present Tense
by Todd Dillard

My father’s telling me about his dog,
how it fell into a well
when they were walking down a wooded path.
His dog ran across some rotted planks,
the planks splintered, “And whoosh!”
my father says. “No more dog.”
I look at the clock and remind my father it’s three A.M.
“I’m not finished,” he says.
He tells me about the rope he bought, the bucket,
how he knotted the rope to the bucket, lowered it down,
and yelled for the dog to get in.
“But all I pulled up was more barking.”
“Dad,” I say. “This never happened.”
He says he can’t remember 
how long he tried to get the dog 
to shimmy into the bucket.
Just that at some point
when the sky turned tawny—“Dad—“
as a pitcher of sweet tea—“Dad—“
he decided to give up.
“Dad,” I say. “It’s late.
I’m tired. And you’re dead.”
“Dammit, son,” my father says. “Let me finish!”
My father tells me about filling the bucket with dirt 
and pouring the dirt into the well.
And I know what he’s getting at, I know
he’s going to tell me bucket by bucket
he filled the well and 
the dog jumped out. He’s going to say
something about how the dog
led him home through the dark.
I know this so loudly I don’t
hear, at first, my father’s silence.
“Dad?” I say. “Dad, are you there?”
I keep lowering the bucket
but all I ever pull up are leaves.
Red leaves. Lately, some gold.
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Maya C. Popa @mayacpopa.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
Love this poem by Kevin Young:
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
😊😊😊
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
Friends, the little charity I'm Head Elf at is putting on a virtual comedy night for Christmas in July on 24th July. It's pay what you can but do attend for free if you'd like - we'd love more people to be there. Not Christmas themed! Link to book is here: www.ticketsource.co.uk/christmas-fo...
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 28/06/2025
Happy to have one of my older poems in this gorgeous root themed anthology 😊✏️ The team putting this one together were just lovely!
Cover of York Literary Review 2025 - two red hands reaching to each other covered with foliage. Book photographed by a red flower and green plants on a sunny day
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
🔥🔥🔥
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
This poem is incredible ❤️
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
Eeeek! Placing third in the @proppencil.bsky.social Spring 2025 competition has made my week ☺️ I'm pretty new to flash so this feels extra exciting! Thank you so much to @judehwriter2.bsky.social and to the reading team at The Propelling Pencil 😊 thepropellingpencil.com/wanting-by-j...
thepropellingpencil.com
Wanting by Jessica Boatright – The Propelling PencilExpandExpandExpandExpandExpandExpandExpandExpandExpandExpandExpandExpandTwitterToggle MenuExpandExpandExpandExpandExpandExpandExpandExpandExpandExpa...
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serrey.bsky.social @serrey.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
‘In every hallucination there has to be a full stop. Dawn was milking the sky when our bear became a flock of frantic blackbirds.’ Such gorgeous writing @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
I love the intense creative phases of being a writer the most I think. The days where the cats wake you up at 5:30am for breakfast and instead of being (rightly!) frustrated you are mainly just excited for a couple of hours of poet-ing before work 🖋️ Such a lovely way to start the day ❤️
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
I feel seen! ❤️
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Litbowl @litbowl.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
I love poems that also function as surreal, dark, beautiful flash fiction. From Natalie Diaz's book, When My Brother Was an Aztec: bookshop.org/a/862/9781556593833 #poem #books #writing
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
😊😊😊😊😊
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
It's been one of those lovely weeks in writing where i've been shortlisted for two fab poetry comps and longlisted for a flash one and it feels a bit like showing off to tell you about all of them and say how completely delighted I am... but also, this so rarely happens, so - tiny celebration ☺️🎉
The 2025 Artemesia Arts Poetry Competition shortlist selected by Jo Bell

D.A. Angelo
Lydia Jane Bennnett
Jessica Boatright
Paul Burns
Lynn Caldwell

etc (not pictured)The Kathryn Bevis Memorial Prize 2025 Shortlist

The Dragon Inn, Birmingham - Helen Kay
Staghouse - Stephanie Powell
Caper in the Castro - Holly Moberley
Under the new mandate - Rachel Jeffcoat
Bleating - Jessica Boatright
It is a serious thing just to be alive on this fresh morning in the broken world - HLR
Late season - Belinda Rimmer
Hope Service - Karan Chambers
June break on the Caledonian sleeper - Helen Kay
Mother on the Dancefloor - Jane Bonnyman
Popcorn - Lucy Heuschen
Instead - Rachel Jeffcoat
Her worldly goods - Catherine Redford
Hindsight - Lesley Sharpe
Breaking the code - Rosie Jackson
Orange - Lynnda Wardle
Can I give you a word of advice - Rachel Jeffcoat
This one's for the girl that rode a goat bareback down the dirt track - Bean Sawyer
At chronic risk of death by misadventure - Penny Shutt
Disabled girl meets neanderthal - Imogen McHugh
On finding a cow's jawbone in my garden - Sarah Doyle
You are strapping your toddler into the car sea - Jen Feroze
I am told (after Fran Lock) - Emma Elobeid
Salvage - Rosie Jackson
Underworld - Lesley Sharpe
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Super happy to have a weird little mole poem in the latest issue of The Alchemy Spoon 😊 It's a beautiful issue, filled with fantastic artwork too. Well worth getting your hands on! #PoetsOnBluesky #Poetry
Excavation

Have you ever taken a spoon 
and dug into a molehill?

The crowds were digging that day
bottoms bobbing over grass

silver spoons clasped in sweaty palms
scooping mouthfuls of mud away

Not long 'til we get her lads a suited man shouts
and they all peel themselves with laughter

Under it all, Mole rocks
squashes between clods

hugs deep pressure
Into timorous bones.

It's time to get the spades, lads!
Why not rev the diggers?

Their knocks ricochet.
She shifts the tunnel tighter

Burrows beyond
the black claw of home

until peach nose melds
with salt and rock

and oxygen becomes
a worn memory.

When they find her skin
her stilled whiskers

will be clogged
with their muck.
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Joanne Harris @joannechocolat.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Unsolicited writing advice, no. 2466: Writing takes resilience. You will sometimes be afraid. You will sometimes be rejected, criticized, disappointed. Don’t try to avoid those things. Feel them. Learn from them. Use them. Tell yourself that you have already done the hardest part. You have begun.
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Highly recommend Season 2 of The Glimpse - I've really enjoyed listening 😊
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Some weeks, being a writer is receiving rejection after rejection and just having to be OK with it. This is one of them! But I've been cheered up by the news that 2 funding applications I wrote have been successful, bringing in £115k for two of my charity clients ❤️ And there's always blossom 🌸
A clump of white blossom flowers on a tree with blue blue sky above it. It's a sunny day.
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Salena Godden @salenagodden.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
Rewriting my post I was being way too polite: fuck off to this fascism, fuck this bigotry, fuck this ignorance and hatred. I stand with Love, I stand with freedom, I stand with choice and autonomy and human rights, I stand in solidarity with all of my trans friends and family 🏳️‍⚧️
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
Great to spot my poem, Abstinence, on @spread-the-word.bsky.social's website 😊 It's linked below if you'd like to read 🐝 www.spreadtheword.org.uk/abstinence-b...
Disabled Poets Prize 2025 - Third Prize, Best Unpublished Pamphlet Category. 

Jessica Boatright's pamphlet 'Burst' came third in the Best Unpublished Pamphlet category of the 2025 Disable Poets Prize.

Abstinence is one of the pieces that features in the pamphlet.

The Disabled Poets Prize looks to find the best work created by UK-based deaf and disabled poets.
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London Writers Centre @ldnwriterscentre.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
Congratulations to our #DisabledPoetsPrize winners! Winner of Best Single Poem - Oli Isaac with ‘to whom / it may / concern’. Winner of Best Unpublished Pamphlet - @thewordtinker.bsky.social with HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON. Announced earlier today at #DeptfordLitFest. @cripticarts.bsky.social
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Couldn't be more delighted to have a poem in this issue of Magma 😊 I couldn't believe it when I heard and only when a copy fell through the letterbox with my words on did I trust I hadn't dreamed the whole thing! I'm very grateful.
A hand holds 'In the Flesh' - a square Magazine with a photo of a wooden doll on it. On the cover it reads 'Magma 91'. Behind the magazine is a vase full of open daffodils in front of a wall decorated raspberry pink and also wallpapered blue mattise stylePartially visible text of a poem titled Woman, Sick in an open magazine
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Rosanna McGlone @rosannamcglone.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
thebrokenspine.co.uk/2025/03/15/h... @pdevonald.bsky.social @thepaulconnolly.bsky.social Sound advice reinforcing several points in The Process of Poetry and The Making of a Poem. #poets #poetry #poetrysky
thebrokenspine.co.uk
How to Get Your Poetry Published: A No-Bullshit Guide - The Broken Spine
Want to see your poetry in print? Then toughen up. The poetry world is brutal—editors are ruthless, rejections are constant, and nobody owes you a damn thing.
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
I always forget to mention this on my personal socials but I curate an online (mainly) poetry journal, Raising The Fifth, which amplifies the voices of people who are childless or child free (or somewhere in between), whatever the circumstances. raisingthefifth.co.uk/poetry/
raisingthefifth.co.uk
Poetry - Raising The Fifth
This collection of poems explores the experience of living without children from a myriad of perspectives. If you would like to add your voice, please do visit our submissions page.
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
Really like this piece by @mishiepoet.bsky.social in @fullhouselitmag.bsky.social's latest issue 🍄❤️
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Corinna Board @corinnaboard.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Gorgeous poem by the lovely @minorroarr.bsky.social ❤️
badlilies.uk
Vasiliki Albedo — Bad Lilies
A poem by Vasiliki Albedo
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Chen Chen @chenchenwrites.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
love, love, love this moment from an interview with Mary Ruefle
GC: What kind of advice would you give yourself as a younger writer?

MR: I would tell myself — but my younger self would not believe me — that all the things I thought mattered, none of them mattered. The only thing that mattered was writing. In other words, writing is the key to my own personal happiness. But when we’re young, we’re searching for many other keys, right? I think I’ve said this much more eloquently in an essay, but if the only thing you need to be happy is writing, you’ve got it. But you’re looking for community, you’re looking for love, you’re looking for a job, you’re looking for money, you’re looking for attention, whatever you’re looking for — you already have it, if you have an activity that completely satisfies you.
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Kim Moore @kimmoorepoet.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
Thanks to The New Statesman for publishing a brand new shiny poem www.newstatesman.com/culture/poet...
newstatesman.com
The NS Poem: Her Birth
A new poem by Kim Moore.
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Laura Theis @lauratheis.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
"I prefer the absurdity of writing poems to the absurdity of not writing poems." - Wisława Szymborska (one of my all-time favourites!)
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Cáit O'Neill McCullagh @kittyjomac.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Oh, lovely to see wonderpoets @oliverinthenorth.bsky.social & @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social listed in the 2025 Disabled Poets 'Best Single Poem' & 'Best Unpublished Pamphlet' categories 🙌✨ Congratulations to all whose work has been selected 💖Readings & announcement of winners on 29 March Details 👇
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Being shortlisted for this prize has been a lovely little glimmer of joy within such a tough month. I'm delighted! 😊❤️
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Jessica Boatright @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
It's been a rough start to 2025 - yesterday, my sweet little cat Emily died after an unexplained illness, and oh my goodness, what a gaping hole in my life she has left. I am always unable to write when hard things happen, and I've had more than my fair share over the past few months...
A black cat with yellow-green eyes looks deeply at the camera. She is sitting on a yellow window box
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Todd Dillard @toddedillard.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
I like the way writing a bad poem can lead to some good lines the way cooking a bad meal can lead to those little bits of fried cheese that are so good independent of anything else
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Corinna Board @corinnaboard.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Some more lovely poets to follow: (there are so many here now this is just a small selection!) @traceyrhys.bsky.social @khuangwrites.bsky.social @lauratheis.bsky.social @judemarr.bsky.social @oh-so-boatie.bsky.social #PoetsonBluesky
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