iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Two weeks to the next edition of #LineBreaks on Loose.fm 6pm Tuesday 28th July. Line up to follow! @galiamelon.bsky.social #poetry #booksky #loosefm

A flyer for Line Breaks on Loose FM. 6pm, Tuesday 28th July. Poets talking poetry Live on Loose.fm
At the bottom of the screen is the email address linebreaks.loosefm@gmail.com
The background photo is a stone rhino statue nestled among greenery. In the foreground a sign reads Please do not climb on the rhinoceros.

032

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Fabulous evening at the book launch for @galiamelon.bsky.social Someone should have pressed record - out now from #strangeregionpress

A man & 3 women stand in front of a deep blue wall beneath an exit sign. They are holding manuscripts & smiling in a pink glow.

Galia Admoni and Joe Vaughan sit behind a table with copies of the book Somebody should have pressed record stacked on it

021

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

2 weeks until the next edition of #LineBreaks on #LooseFM with #AnnaKibbey & @galiamelon.bsky.social. Amazing poetry coming up from Jack Underwood, @kymdeyn.bsky.social Boris Snider, Ada Limon plus this time some #classics too. Weds 24th 8pm, loose.fm listen in!

131

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

This morning for the first time pulling out a book of poetry on the tram caused a small child across the aisle to blurt out "oooh Mum, what's *she* reading". Excellent cover @kymdeyn.bsky.social @ninearchespress.bsky.social Excellent contents too 👏🙌

An almost neon bright, lime green book cover. Snaking across the cover is a black & white illustration of a scaly, hairy, monster worm. The title Folkish runs down the side of the snake. It's by Kym Deyn via Nine Arches Press.

3265

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Gearing up for this new poetry radio hour - tonight @8pm on #LooseFM www.loose.fm Lend us your ears 🙏💙📚

010

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Mostly very excited & only marginally terrified to host this new poetry radio show on #LooseFM with @galiamelon.bsky.social & #AnnaKibbey. Join us at #LineBreaks for some excellent readings from @karanchambers.bsky.social @oliverinthenorth.bsky.social @zosiasamosia.bsky.social 🎙️📻💙📚 #booksky #poetry

052

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

So my final stack for #TheSealeyChallenge I got to 23 rather than 31 but given the number of collections & a few languages scattered through I'm more than happy. Some excellent writers discovered & the realisation there are loads of pockets of time in my day for #MorePoems #SealeyChallenge #Booksky

A stack of poetry book spines sit against a grey background. From top down :
An Arbitrary Light Bulb Ian Duhig, Chaotic Good Isabelle Baafi, Aunty Uncle Poems Gboyega Odubanjo, Shoulder Tap Maurice Riordan, Cane Corn & Gully Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa, Stone Girl Mary Noonan, The Terrible Daniel Sluman, Panic Response John McCullough, The Butterfly House Kathryn Bevis, On Balance Sinéad Morrissey, Almost with Tenderness Maya Caspari, The Map of the World Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, When the flies come Fahad Al-Amoudi, The Coin Caleb Parkin, Selected Poems T.S.Eliot, Brother Poem Will Harris, The Spirit Level Seamus Heaney, And I Will make of you a vowel sound Morag Anderson, Mes forêts Hélène Dorion, fil/Uh Gemma Jackson, To read and dream Christina Rossetti, En l'absence du capitaine Cécile Coulon

131

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

One last collection... book 23 for the #Sealeychallenge. Not 31 but definitely more than I would have thought possible in one month!

The cover of An Arbitrary Light Bulb by Ian Duhig

000

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

Book 22 of the #SealeyChallenge was a random selection that caught my eye in the library yesterday. Really excellent, absorbing poetry, I need to read more of her work! 💙📚

On Balance by Sinead Morrissey from Carcanet Press. The cover shows a range of prizes - Poetry Book Society choice, Costa shortlist & Winner of the 2017 Forward Prize

121

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

Book 21 of the #SealeyChallenge & I'm very ready for some fiction next week! So thank god for this burst of kinetic poetic electricity. A wonderful book and it has left me eager to see her perform her work to better understand the live-ness of it

Cane Corn & Gully by Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa. The black cover has swirled sections of purple labanotation

121

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Book 20 for the #SealeyChallenge and I'm clearly getting quicker reading French! This collection didn't hold me as much as some of her earlier work unfortunately but I do love the physical size/shape of these poche editions 💙📚

The blue & red cover of En l'absence du capitaine by Cécile Coulon from Le Castor Astral

111

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Book 19 of the #SealeyChallenge is this snack-size pamphlet from Salo press. One of the more experimental works I've read and one I will need to digest & re-read next month

The cover of fil/Uh by Gemma Jackson has a black abstract line drawing on a white cover

111

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Another pamphlet for book 18 of the #SealeyChallenge and this one is a lovely exploration of the role of matriarchs in a family without getting overly sentimental

The cover of The Coin by Caleb Parkin from Broken Sleep Books

100

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

Book 17 of the #SealeyChallenge and this one though short is like a rich deep drink of language. Really original use of imagery that you must read slowly to absorb 💙📚

The 2024 Ayamati Pamphlet winner - And I will make of you a vowel sound by Morag Anderson. The cover is a deep inky blue with an image of a young woman in a short white dress sinking under water, head thrown back over her shoulder

110

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

Book 16 of the #SealeyChallenge holds a power and a sadness within some incredibly well crafted poems. Glad this was one I read at home when I could sit with it & not out & about

The Butterfly House by Kathryn Bevis. A pale woman looks sadly towards the butterfly landing on her outstretched finger as her hair melts into a kaleidoscopic image of more butterflies, a house and human organs

110

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

Book 15 of the #SealeyChallenge is this explosion of poetry. Sharp, energetic and unblinking this book dares you to look pain in the face and sit with it. Absolutely wonderful 💙📚

The bright blue & red book cover of The Terrible by Daniel Sluman from nine arches press.

121

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

Book 14 of the #SealeyChallenge is actually a journal because this appeared in the post. Excited to read @carolinebracken.bsky.social prize winning pamphlet now from the sample in this

The cover of The North poetry journal issue 71. A bride and groom approach each other on tightrope

241

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

Book 13 of the #SealeyChallenge and I would usually push away from this era of poetry or overly formal work. But something in here really grabbed me and there is a liveness & play within the language and form that I really enjoyed

The book cover of the Penguin Archive version of To read and Dream by Christina Rossetti. It is a white cover with a gorgeous read hand written title & red line drawing. Detracted from slighted by a big smudge of tomato leaf residue I have managed to thumbprint onto it.

110

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

I fell off the #SealeyChallenge wagon for a few days but today this one took my hand & brought me on a rollercoaster of thought & language & emotion. A brilliant book, beautifully moving

The deep blue book cover of Panic Response by John McCullough is held against a sunny garden backdrop of green and pink

100

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

Book 11 of the #SealeyChallenge This one took me a few days to read in small snippets. Her biog tells me Eiléan is an Aosdána Saoi and it shows, I feel like my brain has had an extra intense workout with these poems

The book The Map of the World by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin is held against a garden backdrop with greenery dotted with pink & yellow flowers

210

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

#SealeyChallenge Book 10 is Maya's pamphlet from OutSpoken. Some of these poems were familiar to me, some new, all gorgeous 💙📚

A hand holds the yellow book cover of Almost, With Tenderness by Maya Caspari from Outspoken Press. It is literally a well-thumbed book with a smudged black finger print on the front

130

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Book 9 of the #SealeyChallenge was another pamphlet. The last of Gboyega's work I had left to read and as always the formal dexterity, innovative language-play and sheer entertaining readability is at work.

The cover of Aunty Uncle Poems by Gboyega Odubanjo, a winner of the New Poets Prize

110

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Book 8 of the #SealeyChallenge was a wonderful window into an unfamiliar world. Excited to see if there's a full collection from Fahad in the near future 🤞

The cover of When the flies come by Fahad Al-Amoudi from ignition press

110

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

Book 7 of the #SealeyChallenge and I can confirm Nobel laureates are not idea subjects for reading at this speed! So much in here that needs a second, slower pass next month 💙📚

A hand holds the book The Spirit Level by Seamus Heaney

120

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

Me #SealeyChallenge book 6 is from Mary Noonan a former lecturer in my uni days. A gorgeously smooth & evocative lyric that cross-crosses Europe, placing the reader right into each new locale 💙📚

A hand holds the book Stone Girl by Mary Noonan. The image on the front is The painter with a Camellia Branch by the artist Paula Modersohn-Becker

131

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Falling slightly behind in my #SealeyChallenge by upping the ante to read en français! Book 4 was Mes forêts by Hélène Dorion. Well worth the time, this is a beautiful, blazing burst of eco poetry. I felt every word 📚💙

A hand holds the red book cover of Mes forêts by Hélène Dorion against a background of green grass. In the distance some trees sit against a lightly clouded blue sky above the Welsh Valleys

120

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 03/08/2025

Today was the last Faber in my stack. The clear standout for me was the long poem Seven Songs of Myself

The purple book cover of Shoulder Tap by Maurice Riordan is held by my hand against a wooden background

110

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

Day 2 of the #SealeyChallenge & sticking with Faber I didn't make it easy on myself! A gap in my reading I've been meaning to correct for a while now, so many intensely modern passages relevant to today

Sitting on a patio, I hold out the Selected Poems of T.S.Eliot in front of me, against a background of lush green garden.

100

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

In a fit of over enthusiasm I've decided to take on the #SealeyChallenge this month! One book in and what a heartbreakingly beautiful, crafted collection this is ❤️📚💙

The book Chaotic Good by Isabelle Baafi sits against a worn wooden tabletop

191

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

I was too engrossed in the readings to have any photos from tonight. But what a shortlist this is. So much richness of form & content in poetry right now #TSEliotPrize

Against the background of a concrete platform, a hand holds the programme for the T. S. Eliot Prize 2024 showing the photos of the 10 shortlisted poets. At the bottom is the Eliot quote "For the pattern is new in every moment/ And every moment is a new and shocking/ Valuation of all we have been"

020

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

I was lucky enough to hear Nikki Giovanni read earlier in the year and see the spark of her intelligence light up the room. Spent this morning leafing through her collected & remembering the tenderness she could capture in words without ever losing her fire

The Moon Shines Down
the moon shines down
on new york city
while i smile over
at you

the moon is still
against the night
and i am still
against you

surely you must sometimes wonder
won't i ever go home
surely you must sometimes say
poet please leave me alone

but my bad rhyme
and love of night
retain me here with you
and though it's so sad to admit
without you what would i do

of course you are no panacea
for my lack of friends
but if i were a hallmark card
here's where we'd begin

the moon shines down
on new york city
while i smile over
at you

Luxury

i suppose living
in a materialistic society
luxury
to some would be having
more than what you need

living in an electronic age seeing
the whole world by pushing a button
the nth degree might perhaps be
adequately represented by having
someone there to push
the buttons for you

i have thought if only
i could become rich and famous i would
live luxuriously in new york knowing
famous people eating
in expensive restaurants calling
long distance anytime i want

but you held me
one evening and now i know
the ultimate luxury
of your love

020

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

I have been meandering my way through this book by @pollyrowena.bsky.social as energy and emotion allows. A beautiful window into chronic life if a little too accurate at times 💔

The cover of a book Some of us just fall : on nature and not getting better by Polly Atkin. Purple and yellow dried flowers sit against a textured cream backdrop.

041

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

And #bookpost from @salopress.bsky.social giving me a tough choice of where to start next. I love that their pamphlets are such gorgeous little objects alongside the excellent #poetry 📚💙

4 pamphlets sit on a wooden table.
Little machines by Laura Wetherington is a lemon cream background with a geometric multicoloured city plan in a central square.
fil/Uh by Gemma Jackson is a pale lavender with an abstract black line drawing on the front.
girlhoof by Flo Reynolds is a pale mustard book, a central green background has an oblong marbled image in pinks oranges & black.
Notes on different places by Kayleigh Campbell is a rich blue cover with geometric shapes in yellow, orange and navy.

182

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

My Saturday reading was Near Future by @suzannahevans.bsky.social from Nine Arches Press. A wonderful speculative gem of a book that seems all the more real for its otherworldliness 📚💙 #poetry

A hand holds the book Near Future by Suzannah Evans. A small grey woman stands on a gray surface at the bottom of the cover she looks up and a a black & purple shard of a space nebula shoots from her face across the book.
The back ground of the picture is an autumnal park with leaves strewn across the green and bare branches behind

A poetry book is held open at a page. It reads -
Reconstructing the Monument
after David Maljkovic
We settle in what was once its shade with our materials
pencils, paper, watercolours. Grass has grown
between paving where a girl from the art school
picks up crumbs of glass and metal to jam into clay.

We work silently, from memory; five years ago, officials
took it down at night. When it was here this was a park
now it's overgrown with ragwort and kids come after school
with bottles stolen from their parents' cupboards.

A man breaks the silence to ask about the fire escape.
Someone else has forgotten the stained-glass windows.
The sun starts to drop below the pines and a fox
steps out from scrub and stands watching.

Our versions differ greatly. One looks like a pineapple
another a robot fist punching the clouds.
Some show children playing hopscotch on the slabs.
Only I seem to have remembered it right.

141

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

Another sometime habit of mine is knitting 🧶 Here's my first attempt at Aran cables from the summer

A hand knit baby cardigan & hat sit against a grey sofa. The hat is a multicolour grey/yellow/orange/blue mix with a big pale yellow Pom Pom on top. The cardigan is majority yellow with the multicolour bands and collar. A mix of cable, twist & honeycomb stitches snake up the front to raglan sleeves in a moss stitch

0150

Sarah O'Connor @sarahocwrites.bsky.social · 10/11/2024

Last night's reading on the way to a girl's night out because obviously this book is the perfect companion for that @wendycaitlin.bsky.social

A copy of Portrait in Mustard by Wendy Allen - the purple & mustard shifting shapes of women on the cover sit against the background of a train seat

132