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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

My offering for the #PoemsAbout #Strays prompt: I love the Friday inspiration and seeing where it takes me. Thanks as ever to @thebrokenspine.co.uk and @alanparrywriter.co.uk 🙏💜

Pale pink box with the words of a poem:

Stray

Where are my limbs straying
to
now –
can they not be controlled?
Across that fiery mountain range
curled round that warm tempting flesh
stiff with fear
flapping
happily –
no they cannot.
So I will tend you
my dear limbs
I will bathe you
in tongues
of shining oil
of stellar dust
of affection
until you rest quietly at my side.

Where are my eyes straying

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Bloody gorgeous poems (of course!) from @pleomorphic2.bsky.social, visceral, beautiful, plenty of weird. And yes, love that line (resonates maybe too hard! 😅). 💜

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European Writers Salon @saloneurope.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Pressing send on final numbers tomorrow.... Any last minute literary adventure seekers out there? Join us!

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Dolphins, encouragement and mindfulness - what an excellent day! 🙏

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Another corker by @kathyfish.bsky.social - I'm going to call it deadpan weird. And looks like a great new journal. Congrats Kathy! 😍

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

AI is getting dangerous - beyond our control. 🤖 The race to build ever more powerful AI is reckless. Tell the EU to put safety first! ✊ action.wemove.eu/sign/2026-08...

action.wemove.eu

AI should serve us, not tech billionaires!

Share the petition and you'll help multiply the impact of this campaign: AI should serve us, not tech billionaires!

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Just such a perfect prompt for #PoemsAbout: #EndOfSummer. I do love September but can't help heeling summer-sad this last week of August...happy Friday poets! Thanks as ever to @thebrokenspine.co.uk and @alanparrywriter.co.uk 💜

Yellow box with black shading and the words of a poem:

summer’s end

the snake may or may not eat its tail
but the summer does not last and
last –
the bright dims
sky pulls up dark covers
green admits yellow, orange, brown –
and our skins
remember to shiver

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

A quick dip into #PoemsAbout and this week's prompt, #DeepCuts. Will read more over the weekend. Happy Friday poets! 🤩 Thanks @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk

Dark orange box with the words of a poem:

deep cuts

the butcher's knife
is never shy -
slices sure as the foot
of a mule on artful rock
as the fattest hungriest
moon
as stitches
gripping my heart

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

These two pieces by @cherylpappas.bsky.social in @leonliteraryreview.bsky.social are unsettling and hypnotic and beautiful as a star-filled night sky in the freeze of winter. 🙏@smokelong.bsky.social #archivechallenge leonliteraryreview.com/issue-5-cher...

leonliteraryreview.com

Issue 5 | Cheryl Pappas – LEON Literary Review

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

This year's programme for the @saloneurope.bsky.social in Madrid - just wow!! Will be so hard to choose from among the workshops, panels, hands-on activities.... 🥳🙌🏽😍

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

And another compelling piece in @leonliteraryreview.bsky.social by Steve Lane for the @smokelong.bsky.social #archivechallenge. Deeply chilling, reminds me of a David Lynch film. 🤩 leonliteraryreview.com/issue-1-volu...

leonliteraryreview.com

Issue 1 Volume 2 | Steve Lane – LEON Literary Review

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Two delicious pieces by Cindy Sylvester in @leonliteraryreview.bsky.social for the @smokelong.bsky.social #archivechallenge. Love the lyricism she brings to the ordinary and her offbeat use of the present tense. 🤩 leonliteraryreview.com/issue-1-vol-...

leonliteraryreview.com

Issue 1 Vol 2 | Cindy Sylvester – LEON Literary Review

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Thrilled that @megpokrass.bsky.social chose my story as an honorable mention for the Pokrass Prize at the @flashficfestuk.bsky.social, congrats to @daveswann.bsky.social and Maggie Fawcett on their gorgeous stories! 🤩

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Riffing on #ThriftStore for #PoemsAbout - no idea where this came from but you have to follow the poem, right? Look forward to reading other responses over the weekend. Happy Friday poets! 💜 Thanks for the ongoing space provided by @thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk 🙏

Pink-purple box with the words of a poem:

charity shop finds

back in the day
I always picked them up in the charity shop
the people I slept with -
better than trying to live up to
shiny newly minted lovers
who'd frown at the bedsitter
dust piles clothes piles dirty dishes piles
and wouldn't smell
as good as lived-in as familiar as the
second-handers
wouldn't have stories galore
falling out their pockets
the glorious goo of lived life
running through their
lovely creases

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Congrats to @nomad-sw18.bsky.social for this heart-breaking historical piece, tragedy is hard to write but you do it beautifully, thoughtfully. 👏💜

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

And joyful congrats to you @kawalker.bsky.social for this wonderful funny, loving, sexy piece in your inimitable voice! 👏🤩💜

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European Writers Salon @saloneurope.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Still a few tickets available for this wonderful weekend of writing, touring, dining and camaraderie⚡️

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Excellent prompt - love the world of trains, such a rich vein of inspiration! 🤩

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A Thousand Shades of Green @shadesofgreen.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

David Hanlon's @vespertine4.bsky.social poetry carries, at once, an exquisite brutality and undeniable beauty that I have loved since I first read his work. I am delighted to share one of his poem's today for our Sunday Poetry Series. Hear more on the podcast bhrater.podbean.com/e/dawn-s-inc...

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

A #LiftToTheSky for the amazing Susan Richardson and @shadesofgreen.bsky.social for all the hard work, passion and love she puts into supporting the poetry community (possibly my second lift for her, but if so, well deserved!). athousandshadesofgreen.com/sunday-poetry/

athousandshadesofgreen.com

Sunday Poetry - A Thousand Shades of Green

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Haven't been managing Friday's #PoemsAbout in recent weeks but here's one for #BadHabits, look forward to reading other responses tomorrow. Thanks as ever to @thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk 💜

Pale pink box with black shading and the words of a poem:

Habits

I had a lot of bad habits
back then
blinded by bad boy dazzle dark light
by wolf-gleaming teeth
by tongues with words
cajoling hot and cold as northern sun
some of those bad habits
I shrugged off
some I had ripped
from me howling open wound
stemmed
by the next one –
and sometimes I was
the bad habit
I gleamed wolfish
warming cooling
on a whim
leaving flesh wounds –
until I left them behind
only a good habit now
a kind and loving and joyful compulsion
turning bad habits to ghosts
banished
to the curling edges
of before

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Still buzzing from the @flashficfestuk.bsky.social weekend of creative inspiration, thought-provoking conversations and so much laughter! Thanks to @judehwriter2.bsky.social and all the team for such an amazing event. 🙏💙💋

Cream tote bag with the words Flash Fiction Festival.

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Oh I love this piece so much!! Bravo you two. 🥳🙌🏽💜

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Very happy to be featured on the wonderful @shadesofgreen.bsky.social platform with a host of inspiring writers! 🙏💚❇️

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Amazing story by @joycebingham.bsky.social, such great use of colour! 🤩🥰

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

And a lovely one of you reading! Xxx

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

What a great photo! And it really was a joyful weekend. 💜

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A Thousand Shades of Green @shadesofgreen.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

For today's Sunday Poetry Series poem, I am delighted to share this beautiful piece, this perfect moment in time, from the Incredible @pmosbornewriter.bsky.social You can also hear more of Patricia's work on the podcast bhrater.podbean.com/e/patricia-m...

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Kathy Fish @kathyfish.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Creative Magic: Twenty-Three Fun & HUMAN Ways to Transform Your Lackluster Draft open.substack.com/pub/artoffla...

open.substack.com

Creative Magic: Twenty-Three Fun & HUMAN Ways to Transform Your Lackluster Draft

Or create a whole new story out of thin air!

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

A must-read, there's something for everyone! 🎆🤩

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

It may be coming up to midnight but it IS still Friday which is #PoemsAbout day and here's my response to the #PowerCut prompt - possibley influenced by @johnchmura.bsky.social's ferocious poems. 💜 Thanks @thebrokenspine.co.uk and @alanparrywriter.co.uk as ever. 🙏

Red box with black shading and the words of a poem:

from under their feet

pull the rug till their feet are scoured their balance thrown their foundations dissolved

smash the exposed flesh of their toes like Greek fishermen tenderising octopuses

pick the bones of their nastiness certainties breath-taking indifference until the flesh is gone

and when you’re done

carefully slice black hearts from their puffed-out chests and cut their power to shreds

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

The first @saloneurope.bsky.social in Brussels last year was bloody amazing - and it looks like Madrid this year is going to be even better! 🤩💜

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Excellent - congrats!! ✨🥳🥰

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Delighted to have three poems featured as part of the amazing poetry and art feast created by @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social, thank you Paul! 🙏💙

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

So happy to have a poem showcased by the very lovely @shadesofgreen.bsky.social - especially with an artwork illustrating it by my sister! Thanks Susan for your commitment to shining a light on poets and poetry! 🙏💙

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

This week's #PoemsAbout prompt, #TheLook, took me straight to ABC's 1982 hit, the Look of Love. Look forward to reading the other responses over the rest of the weekend. Thanks as ever to @thebrokenspine.co.uk and @alanparrywriter.co.uk 🙏🩵

Dark blue box with the words of a poem in white:

The Look of Love
– letter to Martin Fry from David, age 16, Croyden

Dear Martin Fry, I really want your gold suit, I want your perfect helmet of hair, the glint in your eye, on your wry-smile mouth, but I don’t know if I want the look of love, I don’t know what it is, is it in the dimples of the boy at the supermarket checkout, the dip between the shoulders of another boy showing off on playground monkey bars, the slender curling fingers of yet another boy on the top deck of the no. 27 bus to Camden, because that’s all I can see, those boys, those jewels as shimmery as your suit, as the strings and bass and sax of your song – I look and look and look – is it love, is it? – don’t know how to stop, and I want to ask you, Martin, what if it isn’t love, what if my eye offends, what if I need to pluck it out and cast it away?

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Congrats - what a stunner of a story! 🙌🏽💜

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Excellent - but also pretty shameful it's taken so long. One love!! 💜🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

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European Writers Salon @saloneurope.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Good morning! In Madrid? Join us tomorrow evening for some informal drinks and chats and readings @desperatelit.bsky.social Please repost 🙏

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The Broken Spine (SUBS OPEN) @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 25/06/2026

Tomorrow: #PoemsAbout #TheLook. Don't explain the moment. Show it. A raised eyebrow. A lingering stare. A look that lands like a bruise. Theme opens tomorrow. Use Alt Text.

Soft-focus portrait of a person wearing a pearl necklace, with rainbow-coloured glitter streaked across one side of their face. Overlay text reads: “#PoemsAbout #TheLook”.

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