iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Rother Writes @rotherwrites.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This week I'm reading '35 Up' following the recent and final episode '70 Up', having watched most of the series through the decades. I bought it some time in the 90s from a library clearout. It now lives in our home library. A rarity with value perhaps (or not).

000

Reposted by Rother Writes

Mike O’Brien @zoomburst.substack.com · 25/09/2026

#poemsabout #deadletters I'm a little out of practice...

The usual guff about life after death - I reckon that I must have enough for a small pamphlet by now.

104316

Reposted by Rother Writes

The Broken Spine (SUBS OPEN) @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 20/09/2026

Next up: #DeadLetters. Wrong addresses. Returned envelopes. Last words. Love letters that outlived the love. Things written for people who will never read them. New theme begins Friday. Don’t post early. Use Alt Text. Tag #PoemsAbout. Read. Repost. Reply.

0148

Reposted by Rother Writes

Beth Brooke @bethbpoet.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

It’s Friday again so…#PoemsAbout. #Faultlines. Thanks @thebrokenspine.co.uk and Alan Parry

On the beach

They have drawn a line in the sand;
a deep incision wide as the stick one
of them used to make it. It is a line of
principles of stances taken.
You may approach to consider
its certainties: thus far
no further they will not countenance
any stepping beyond it is after all
a line in the sand.
Ask a question while they stand there
resplendent in an angry black
stand there backs to the
ocean indifferent to the fact of
an incoming tide

4184

Reposted by Rother Writes

Karen Pierce Gonzalez @karenpgonzalez.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Some #Prompts are like stage curtains. In this case, when pulled back, they can reveal #poetic plots worthy (I hope) of applause! #PoemsAbout #EndOfSummer #Poetry #PoetsOfBlueSky @thebrokenspine.co.uk #StayCreative

Season’s End

Someone left a rowboat
tied to the dry dock
of late summer

Was that you?

Did you row with driftwood oars
to the sleepy shore of me
sandy
sun-warmed

waiting
always waiting
for the promise of you

to ripen on my tongue?

And why did you
surf the salt waves of my want
then dissolve
without even swimming

the sea in my heart?

Karen Pierce Gonzalez

123212

Reposted by Rother Writes

The Broken Spine (SUBS OPEN) @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 01/09/2026

If you like our #PoemsAbout prompts, you should be reading the poets we publish. AFTER HOURS: BEAT CULTURE MADE NEW is full of the territory we keep returning to: outsiders, restless lives, rebellion, memory and the world beyond respectable hours. shorturl.at/ETO6h

11610

Reposted by Rother Writes

The Broken Spine (SUBS OPEN) @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 31/08/2026

Last week’s poets brought it. Next up: #SheddingSkins. Leave something behind. An old name. An old life. The version of yourself that no longer fits. Growth isn’t always pretty. New theme begins Friday. Don’t post early. Use Alt Text. Tag #PoemsAbout so we can find you. Read. Repost. Reply.

0117

Reposted by Rother Writes

The Broken Spine (SUBS OPEN) @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 31/08/2026

This isn't Gatsby fan fiction. It isn't a centenary tribute with champagne coupes and tasteful Art Deco borders. BEAUTIFUL LITTLE FOOLS treats The Great Gatsby as a cultural artefact worth interrogating. Edited by @alanparrywriter.co.uk & @karenpgonzalez.bsky.social shorturl.at/126Ks

2198

Reposted by Rother Writes

Lin Hart @poetry-with-hart.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Reminiscing about a singer friend from years ago, a dark time for me. He guided me out of it, though I'm not sure he ever consciously meant to. Now I've started to become a bit disillusioned to who I thought he was, and what it all meant. Regardless, enjoy 🤗 #poemsabout #deepcuts #poetry #tanka

Deep timbre, safety
his voice lifting me, broken
creature from a cave,
cavern of my own making
the recesses of my mind.

I was seventeen
he was a decade older,
the first time he sang
for me, garage band wonder
his voice carried me aloft.

When pain came later
I tethered thoughts to his sound,
he held me, shattered
I wouldn't have made it out
alive if it weren't for him.

As time has passed since
I find myself with questions,
was it grooming if…
did he really save me, and
did he ever love me back?

4203

Rother Writes @rotherwrites.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

This week I'm reading...The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, published two months before her death. This version is from 1989, where it has waited patiently in our home library to be tackled.

151

Reposted by Rother Writes

John Chmura @johnchmura.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

We can learn a lot from @stacebot.bsky.social in the formatting of this poem for #PoemsAbout #ThriftStore. Those of us who write a lot of short form poetry and even those who don’t, might have been inclined to use all two line stanzas once it looked like a pattern had been established,

3132

Reposted by Rother Writes

Paul Connolly @thepaulconnolly.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

I posted a #poemsaloud thread yesterday👇trying to illustrate a few changes in English verse orthography &, where relevant, implied pronunciation across time & geography. I realised that I’d never recorded one of my favourite Shakespeare sonnets, 143. So here it is #ShakespeareSunday #poetrycommunity

3224

Reposted by Rother Writes

DrNaturegirl @drnaturegirl.debbiemross.co.uk · 13/07/2026

For today’s #LiftToTheSky check out Mike O Brien of Sixty Odd Poets fame. He shares his own work on Substack as well as this fabulous showcase and a selection of poets he’s published too. substack.com/@mike0brien?... #blueskypoetry #poets #poems

substack.com

Mike O’Brien | Substack

2113

Reposted by Rother Writes

Jenevieve Carlyn @coastalpoet.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

#PoemsAbout #PowerCut The recent earthquake reminded me of a poem I wrote after a 2023 quake. It actually highlights two events (7 weeks apart) in Feb & April that year. From my journalism-in-verse era, it was in River Heron's 2023 'Poems For Now' issue. CW: suffering (but also hope) #PoemsAloud

youtu.be

"Dust and Ashes"

YouTube video by Jenevieve Carlyn

61810

Reposted by Rother Writes

The Broken Spine (SUBS OPEN) @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 12/07/2026

Last week's poets brought it. This week: #PoemsAbout #ExitWounds. Every departure leaves evidence. Theme opens Friday. Use Alt Text.

Dark interior facing glass exit doors, with bare trees visible outside and a glowing EXIT sign above. Overlay text reads: “#PoemsAbout #ExitWounds”.

1169

Rother Writes @rotherwrites.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

For this week's #PromptCombo on the theme of #monument, I have dug out an old one from last July. Welcome host @jenthorne.bsky.social 💚

4133

Reposted by Rother Writes

Jane Dougherty @janedougherty47.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Not so much #ThatLook as 'the look (your eyes had once). A #PoemsAbout for @thebrokenspine.co.uk

6238

Rother Writes @rotherwrites.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

A rare contribution from me for #PoemsAbout #TheLook. I'm still not feeling it.

Night-Scented Stock

But what are you saying
what are you trying to tell me
what do you want me to believe
what are you asking me to accept.

Is it really you the real you or
an impression from your paintbox
and dressing up trunk, a disguise
hiding your new-found edges.

Your blaze of midnight glamour
is only a brittle exoskeleton
hiding an impulse that bleeds
every time it reaches your tongue.

You want to tell me something
about passing through the sticky veil
of your tender moral maze
to emerge transformed and true.

Are you mining a deeper truth
from your night-scented stock
a heady perfume of persuasion
saying this is really who you are.

© Glenn Barker June 2026

3204

Reposted by Rother Writes

𝒊𝒂𝒎𝒃 ~ 𝒑𝒐𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 @iamb.uk · 01/06/2026

Congrats to the 15 poets of wave twenty-six: Alex Smith, Anna Maughan, Caroline Stancer, Clare Best, Deborah Gaudin, Elizabeth Osmond, Frances Klein, Francesca Leader, Jonathon Medeiros, Kate Vanhinsbergh, Lauren Parker, Rachel Burrows, Robin Ince, Victoria Moul and Zain Rishi.

Promotional poster for wave twenty-six of online poetry journal iamb. It shows black and white author photos of all 15 poets who feature, and announces the publication date as June 15th 2026.

42510

Reposted by Rother Writes

John North @johnnorthwrites.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

A new poem. I wanted to try it out aloud #PoemsAloud

164

Reposted by Rother Writes

Gary Holpin Photography @garyholpinphoto.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Morning :-) Back to some more ICM today (Yay I hear you say!) - with my favourite tree in a bluebell field high above Okehampton on a cloudy day. I had hoped that it would be covered in blossom as it was last year when the bluebells were out, but it wasn't to be.... #icm

2104

Reposted by Rother Writes

The Broken Spine (SUBS OPEN) @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 17/05/2026

To witness is to carry. #PoemsAbout #BearingWitness — write what you cannot unsee.

172

Rother Writes @rotherwrites.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Mixing reportage, quotes and poetic rendering, an article from The Times by Marc Bennetts; a first-hand account from Druzhkivka, Ukraine for this week's #PoemsAbout. Sharing it here, with his permission, for both #NamesNotNumbers and #WhatRemains. @thebrokenspine.co.uk @poetsonbluesky.bsky.social

Will I Wake Up Tomorrow?
Druzhkivka, Ukraine

Marc Bennetts, The Times, 9th May 2026

“A man I knew went out yesterday to get cigarettes
and a drone tore off his leg at the knee”

A rain of blunt eyeless executioners,
drone and missile, punches the blood
and last air out of a town once 60,000
in a brutal amputation and evisceration,
its people a mortuary slab of shards,
Druzkivka’s pulse expendable,
left to rot road-kill, house-kill.

The registry office is a stark ruin,
the blessing of union pulverised, the ruin
of hope on a bloody and burning pyre.

The population, now 6,000 and mostly elderly
scrape an existence, too old to leave,
a numb and shattered remnant
of a community, where you can count
the children on one hand, if you have fingers.

© Glenn Barker May 2026

7189

Reposted by Rother Writes

The Broken Spine (SUBS OPEN) @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 08/05/2026

#PoemsAbout #NamesNotNumbers is live. Post from today through Thursday. #TakeRisks #EndOnAnImage #AvoidCliché Engage—don’t ghost. Read 3+, repost, reply.

066

Reposted by Rother Writes

The Broken Spine (SUBS OPEN) @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 14/05/2026

Tomorrow: #PoemsAbout #WhatRemains. Strip it back. No spectacle. Just what’s left.

1146

Reposted by Rother Writes

Paul Brookes @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Here's a poem from my new collection "Hedgerow of Voices" publizhed by JCStudio Press For #PoemsAbout #SignalLoss :

5 Old Moor

In hush of Old Moor, once steel now reed,
iron veined reception sidings now riverbeds,
Welcome wagons are cattle on floodplain,
deposited by engines, heavy weight of journey.

In hush of sorting sidings,
A dance begins—Lapwing shadows shunters
each wagon, each bird, searches place,
pushed gently over the Hump,
A rise no steeper than a banked field
where Redshank pick through pools.

Points switch startled Snipe,
guide iron beasts, wetland whispers
paths preset by signal, by instinct,
by Control Towers or clouded sky.

Men ran, caught and hauled wagon brakes hiss
now graze Konik hooves
in soaked earth, slow descent
a mower's hum in autumn dusk—
tames wild growth wintering souls.

And still, beneath surface
Wires and roots hum:
Electronic nerves know each name,
Each wagon once tagged and tallied,
cattle watch on winter pasture,
ditches spun in long rotation,
hold breath of Water Voles,
memory of steam.

Classification tracks stretch flooded isles,
breeding grounds are drawn,
Once for trains, now for waders—
both made by unseen,
ruled by rhythm and restraint,
precision and pulse,
in wet breath of lowland,
in quieted clank of steel.

73810

Rother Writes @rotherwrites.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

After a month of more or less nothing poetic (the meme in the comments explains what happened), I have something for this week's #PoemsAbout #SignalLoss theme. Some signals are only meant to be heard by you, and they don't announce their arrival. @thebrokenspine.co.uk #PoetsOnBluesky

Tuning In

You turn a dial, real or imagined,
and she’s there; a clear outline
projected on your inner eye.

Coulour’s not an easy touch for you;
she remains more a detailed sketch
than a Kodachrome print,
more toned, less tonal.

Does it matter, if you can call her up,
make her move, animate her eyes,
give her a voice you remember,
real or not.

But its an image, a creation moulded
in your psyche, no more real
than any other thought, passing pain
or pleasure pixels.

Just that moving image, spotlit
for a moment, before something
seizes the dial from you, flicks it,
and she’s gone.

© Glenn Barker April 2026

9257

Reposted by Rother Writes

Fidel Walsh @dragonslayerma.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

#PromptCombo It's #NatureHasWeapons I want Nature's drama this week, wordsmiths Tag me & use my hastags. Otherwise, I won't see you! You have till Friday lunchtime to get involved. 💚🌬 @rfsmith.bsky.social @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social @victoriaspires.bsky.social @janpsolivagant.bsky.social

5179

Reposted by Rother Writes

The Broken Spine (SUBS OPEN) @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 12/04/2026

Major announcement: #Wave3 of #TheWhiskeyTree is complete. Built on the work of #Wave1 + #Wave2 — writers like @karenpgonzalez.bsky.social @markantonyowen.com @eatthestorms.com et al — who laid the foundations and built this project into what it is. This is the final wave. #TheWhiskeyTree #Wave3

A vintage typewriter with “News” typed on the page, signalling a major announcement and the release of a new wave of poets.

4197

Reposted by Rother Writes

The Broken Spine (SUBS OPEN) @thebrokenspine.co.uk · 19/04/2026

The message cuts out. What’s left? #PoemsAbout #SignalLoss — write what survives the silence.

0104

Rother Writes @rotherwrites.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Hello Evie @coastalpoet.bsky.social. Here's one I recorded last summer. A sunny day reading for your new #poemsaloud initiative. Here is 'The Gift of Forgetfulness', which delves into the years that etch themselves into our palms, a record of who we have been and are today.

250

Reposted by Rother Writes

Jenevieve Carlyn @coastalpoet.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

Calling all troubadours! An idea. Post your audio poems. Tag them #PoemsAloud so they're easy to find & share. That's the idea. 🥳 Why? #PoemsAloud syncs perfectly w/ #PoemsAbout or can stand on its own. Some poems live beyond the page. I recorded a bunch & don't know what else to do w/ them 🤷‍♀️

At the top, the words: "A Bardic Experiment"

In the middle, an illustration of a medieval goat playing a lute.

Underneath the medieval goat are the words:

POEMS ALOUD
Use the hashtag #PoemsAloud
Share your own audio or video poems!

115425

Reposted by Rother Writes

Matthew M C Smith @matthewmcsmith.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

What is this (Uk)?

222

Reposted by Rother Writes

Elizabeth Osmond @bethosmond.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

For #poemsabout #melt I offer a poem about my nostalgia for my teenage self in French supermarkets @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk

A strange little poem about the French supermarkets I enjoyed visiting as a child, wanting to revive my French language again and wishing our country was more connected to mainland Europe

Desire poem
After Kim Addonizio
I want to melt you with my glue gun.
I want to purr in tune with your laminator.
O LeClerc! O Carrefour!
You make me weak at the knees.
Even though we broke up,
I want to climb your pencil case-laden barricades right to the peak.
I want to walk for hours through your isles, fritter my francs until l am spent.
That's how devoted I am to you.
I want to stroke your moleskin notebook, lift the lids of your brush tip pens, trace them over sheets, trawling streaks of blue.
I always coloured inside the lines but now I want to break free.
To fill this blank page with vers d'amour for you.

4298

Reposted by Rother Writes

𝒊𝒂𝒎𝒃 ~ 𝒑𝒐𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 @iamb.uk · 15/03/2026

Despite the rain, the chill, winter's reluctance to cede his throne, spring arrives with daffodils, birdsong, the lengthening of days. Welcoming it are the 15 poets of wave twenty-five of @iamb.uk. Expect 45 poems, written and read – fresh as the incoming season. iamb.uk/index/wave/25

iamb.uk

wave twenty-five | spring 2026 | iamb ~ poetry seen and heard

Hear the poets of wave 25 of literary poetry journal iamb read their poems for spring 2026 .

33721

Reposted by Rother Writes

Sue Ibrahim @sueimnw.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

For this week's #PoemsAbout #Consent @thebrokenspine.co.uk ... Look forward to reading others later.

8187

Rother Writes @rotherwrites.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Recalling 'Duck and Cover (1951)' and MADness. Light up my nightmares only please. Welcome to #FragmentsFriday 🔥 @blackboughpoetry.bsky.social @matthewmcsmith.bsky.social #PoetsOnBluesky

042

Reposted by Rother Writes

Jen Thorne @jenthorne.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

I am very proud to have a poem in this. There are some mightily talented poets in it. Thank you @paulwritespoems.bsky.social

9207

Reposted by Rother Writes

Vikki C. @vikkicwrites.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

"Who to dial, what to ask for? How to mend my fists and weather?" 'Again, Ithaca' – the 2nd of my poems that has landed at The Book Bag: Poetic Voices – March 2026🔥 Thank you @paulwritespoems.bsky.social for publishing this poem as part of my feature 🙏 paulwritespoems.com/2026/03/01/t...

Again, Ithaca

A bright field, hauled in by those
who failed to plant manna.
They hand it to me to revive
as my own body, which we both ghost.
I’ve been preoccupied with your
back and forth, that is never trade,
just loss. Now, I’m in debt to myself,
too laden for a common emergency.
Who to dial, what to ask for?
How to mend my fists and weather?
I name the endangered aloud,
salvage one more species and kingdom.
Remember the dead heron, risen in briny air,
circling the fresh cargo of our troubles.
Each hour, the bird unfurls its wings.
Becomes a reflex mast. Readies to sail.
Each hour, I risk depth, and more depth.
Grasp at plastic buoys and kin.
Hear the new gods sound their old sirens.
Capsize the sodden haven.

2199