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Matthew Stewart

@roguestrands.bsky.social
10K followers 9K following 1.3K posts

Weaving ways through poetry. Second full collection, ‘Whatever You Do, Just Don’t’, a Poetry Society Book of the Year 2023, available from HappenStance Press.

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Reposted by Matthew Stewart
Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
No way I can compete with the major poetry publishers who get collections stocked by bricks-and-mortar bookshops But I do have word of mouth and all you wonderful people here on Bluesky, pushing the numbers of readers of Whatever You Do, Just Don't far beyond the sales of the big boys. Thank you!
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 23h
Word of mouth lasts longer than a sale-or-return promotion. In the poetry world, at least.
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Poetry publishers will tell you 99% of sales occur within three months of a collection's launch. That's why I'm stunned to find that sales of Whatever You Do, Just Don't have gone through the roof this year, all thanks to Bluesky. Drop me a DM and I'll sort out your signed copy for you...
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
If you're up for a copy, just drop me a DM and I'll sort one out for you (U.K., Ireland, mainland Europe, Canada and Oceania)...
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Jon @jonw67.bsky.social · 23h
I rarely buy poetry, but this is quite wonderful.
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MaccaAimless @cherryaimless.bsky.social · 15h
Give yourself this gift. I have mine and it fair made me smile.
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 15h
Lovely to see this...!
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
A new batch of books has now reached me and they're all itching to find a reader, clamouring for me to slip them into an envelope and post them off, ready to be devoured. Would you like to lend them a helping hand?! 😜 If so, just drop me a DM and I'll sort out your signed copy for you...
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 15/12/2024
As parents, we're supposed to remember the first time we did stuff with our kids, but the last time is equally as significant, if not more. This poem is from Whatever You Do, Just Don't (HappenStance Press, 2023), my second full collection...
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 22h
And in the poetry world, the vast majority of collections don't even sell in that short window. They just sit on a shelf for a few months till they're quietly removed and sent back to the publisher.
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
If we don't use our small poetry presses, we'll lose them. This is why I refuse to flinch or shy from asking you to purchase a copy of Whatever You Do, Just Don't, my second full collection. Here's a sample poem from the book. Just drop me a DM and I'll sort out a signed copy for you...
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 22h
And in the poetry world, the vast majority of collections don't even sell in that short window. They just sit on a shelf for a few months till they're quietly removed and sent back to the publisher.
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 22h
And in the poetry world, the vast majority of collections don't even sell in that short window. They just sit on a shelf for a few months till they're quietly removed and sent back to the publisher.
0221
Reposted by Matthew Stewart
Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 23h
It's a real privilege to get this terrific feedback from a reader...!
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 23h
Word of mouth lasts longer than a sale-or-return promotion. In the poetry world, at least.
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 23h
It's a real privilege to get this terrific feedback from a reader...!
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Poetry publishers will tell you 99% of sales occur within three months of a collection's launch. That's why I'm stunned to find that sales of Whatever You Do, Just Don't have gone through the roof this year, all thanks to Bluesky. Drop me a DM and I'll sort out your signed copy for you...
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Reposted by Matthew Stewart
Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
Copy by copy, every hard-earned sale of a poetry collection is an act of trust, a contract between the poet and the reader that reaches far beyond cash. This is why I refuse to shy away from reminding you about Whatever You Do, Just Don't. Drop me a DM and I'll sort out your signed copy for you...
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Amy Ludwig VanDerwater @amylvpoemfarm.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
❣️
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
Poets, if they're lucky, end up having signature poems. But they don't choose them for themselves. Instead, certain poems take on lives of their own once they're published. The Last Carry is one such example. When I first posted it here, I didn't have a clue it would reach so many people...
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
Certain numbers accompany us through our lives, connected to our memories of people and places, of significant events. What numbers remain with you decades later? And why? This poem is taken from Whatever You Do, Just Don't (HappenStance Press, 2023), my second full collection...
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
"Whatever You Do, Just Don't will raise important questions in your own mind as you read Matthew Stewart’s beautifully crafted poems. I can thoroughly recommend this collection..." londongrip.co.uk/2026/01/lond...
londongrip.co.uk
London Grip Poetry Review – Matthew Stewart – londongrip.co.uk
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 20/07/2025
The emotional significance of objects sends ripples through our lives, which is why this is often my final poem when I give a reading. It's taken from my second full collection, Whatever You Don't, Just Don't. If you fancy a signed copy, drop me a DM and I'll sort one out for you...
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 20/07/2025
Libraries are transformative. In fact, Farnham Library saved me. Kept me afloat when I was being bullied at South Farnham Middle School in the 1980s. This poem from Whatever You Do, Just Don't is my homage to it...
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
This is a poem of loss, taken from Whatever You Do, Just Don't (HappenStance Press, 2023)...
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Ansaphones were still a thing when I wrote this in 1998. I hope the poem stands the test of time...!
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
This poem from Whatever You Do, Just Don't is for anybody who's had to clear a house, who's found objects that must have had significance for someone no longer here to tell their story....
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
A blast from the past here, a poem that didn't quite make it into my last book. Thanks to Hilary Menos for publishing it in The Friday Poem...
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
A blast from the past here, a poem that didn't quite make it into my last book. Thanks to Hilary Menos for publishing it in The Friday Poem...
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
What's it like to return to your home town years after leaving? This poem from Whatever You Do, Just Don't finds that nothing's changed. But then everything's changed too...
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Ok, so every day's National Poetry Day in our household (to groans from my long-suffering wife!), but if this means poetry's on your mind today, I might just have a book for your consideration! Drop me a DM and I'll sort out your signed copy for you...
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Paul Garrard @paulgarrard.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Ok, so every day's National Poetry Day in our household (to groans from my long-suffering wife!), but if this means poetry's on your mind today, I might just have a book for your consideration! Drop me a DM and I'll sort out your signed copy for you...
03110
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Here's a video of me reading The Last Carry, now up on my YouTube channel... youtube.com/shorts/W3oTH...
youtube.com
The Last Carry, a poem by Matthew Stewart
YouTube video by Matthew Stewart
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
As a wine blender and poet, I have to admit that alcoholic fermentation resembles the alchemy of writing, but malolactic fermentation is far more like the first edit, that moment when all the defects of the wine or poem suddenly become apparent.
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
As a wine blender and poet, I have to admit that alcoholic fermentation resembles the alchemy of writing, but malolactic fermentation is far more like the first edit, that moment when all the defects of the wine or poem suddenly become apparent.
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Kate Bielinski @katebielinski.eurosky.social · 29/09/2026
Book post today with signed books of poetry by @roguestrands.bsky.social
Two books being held in front of a computer monitor

The book in front is called whatever you do, just don’t by Matthew Stewart. It is cream coloured with a map motif.
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Stewart Horn he/they @thenakedpoet.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
It is a great collection.
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Paul Ings @ings4words.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Great and impressive news. Well deserved too.
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sword tree @sword-tree.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
My first crush's phone number. Land line. I remember because I got excited when I saw it on the caller ID. I saw it almost as often as my stalker's number on that little display screen; I can't recall those digits. maybe that's dread editing memory's record.
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sword tree @sword-tree.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
My ICQ number from the mid-late 90s. Strangers all over the world knew more about me than any family or acquaintance IRL. that hasn't changed. (12954978)
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Kate Bielinski @katebielinski.eurosky.social · 28/09/2026
Phone numbers. 01 681558 (our first house phone) circa 1975 “Limerick 17” my school friend Mary circa 1977 Can I remember my husbands mobile number? Or that of my kids? No. I cannot.
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Duncan Jones (aka Merrion) (he/him) @duncanjonesmerrion.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Numbers. I am haunted by the license plate number of every vehicle I ever owned, in order of the scale of my neglect of their owners. OLJ 565 M haunts me the most.
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
No way I can compete with the major poetry publishers who get collections stocked by bricks-and-mortar bookshops But I do have word of mouth and all you wonderful people here on Bluesky, pushing the numbers of readers of Whatever You Do, Just Don't far beyond the sales of the big boys. Thank you!
514162
Reposted by Matthew Stewart
Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Looking good, but they'll look so much better once they're in a reader's hands. Drop me a DM and I'll sort out your signed copy for you...
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 21/09/2025
I only want a single pair of hands to stretch my spine and open me at last...
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Matthew Stewart @roguestrands.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Looking good, but they'll look so much better once they're in a reader's hands. Drop me a DM and I'll sort out your signed copy for you...
2378
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Bob Bear @bobbearwales.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Woolton Library in Liverpool was where I went for peace and quiet. Away from the mad house that was home, the lovely ladies in there allowed by beloved dog to hide under the chair and gave her wine gums and mints. I'll remember their kindness and empathy forever.
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Siobhan Logan @siobhanloganwriter.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
One of the first books I bought on Bluesky and it's an absolute treat. Gorgeous, thoughtful poems that navigate time and borders with a delicate touch. So many of these poems struck a deep echo. "Whatever You Do, Just Don't" @roguestrands.bsky.social 📖 👌
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