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Wes Viola

@wesviola.bsky.social
113 followers 48 following 192 posts

Library worker, Elder Bard, former demo-listener for Glasto. And stuff.

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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
While all racism is disgusting and indefensible, it seems to me that violent racists who claim to be defending "our culture" are among the very worst. A necessary element of any culture I think worth defending is an intolerance of racist violence.
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
open.substack.com/pub/wesviola...
Monarch

Last weekend our street was blessed
with a transcendent happening:
King Charles III had arrived,
out of the royal blue,
to shine his magnificent light on all of us.
He appeared like the sun, thirty feet tall, rising over the
old Regal cinema on a cloud pulled by doves
with golden beaks, all of them singing “Majesty,
majesty, glory to behold, for the greatest
of all Englishmen walks among his people”
But it was only a metaphor - he didn’t walk.
He floated above us, cushioned by his cloud, gliding
from Beckenham towards Penge,
and our fingers rose tingling to praise him,
and the tears were tugged up from our eyes,
and it rained backwards as all our humble waters flew
to mingle with his vap’rous throne.
By God, you should have seen and heard it:
a chorus of squirrels and pigeons
belted the National Anthem out from the treetops,
and when a common rat couldn’t help but join in,
straining its little throat, inspired to squeak the words;
His Majesty looked right at it and smiled,
and as he did, the rat transformed
to the most beautiful squirrel you have ever seen
with a handsome copper coat and tail
and the squirrels turned into foxes
and the foxes became men and women
and women and men turned into angels
and angels became archangels
and archangels became powers and thrones
and none could match the grandeur
of our Mighty Noble King.
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Tomorrow evening (Saturday 6 June 2026), I'm presenting my Thirteen Names for the West poem cycle about the Wicked Witch of the West - with Annie Hayter, Christina Petrie, Jess Nyantakyi, Erica Viola and Annie Gardiner; plus exclusive recordings from @charlieromijn.bsky.social, Kate Potts and more.
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
'Monarch': what you won't see in the national press open.substack.com/pub/wesviola...
open.substack.com
Monarch
What you won't see in the national press...
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
Update: the theme of this year's Bardic contest in Glastonbury is 'Crucible'
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
At this moment the theme of this year's Bardic contest in Glastonbury is being announced at the Market Cross. As last year's Silver Pen winner, I believe I'll be judging this year's written entries - listen out for the theme, you might be inspired! /|\
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Did you know That Elon Musk Is an anagram Of Elon Skum
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
Read my poem 'Hedgehog' for the @thewingedmoon.bsky.social Biophilia season launch this afternoon (they'll be publishing it on their Substack a little later in the year). It was a charming event and there seem to be lots of little coincidences fizzing off it - Goa, hedgehogs, Leonora Carrington.
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
Haven't logged into BlueSky in ages and it still seems refreshingly nice. 🔵🦋🔵
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
Now with added clues! open.substack.com/pub/wesviola...
open.substack.com
Film Quotes Quiz of the Year - 2025
I do this every year except when I don't
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 25/12/2025
Merry Christmas, would you like to have a go at my occasional annual Film Quotes of the Year Quiz? Many quotes still unrecognised and unclaimed... open.substack.com/pub/wesviola...
open.substack.com
Film Quotes Quiz of the Year - 2025
I do this every year except when I don't
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
Latest and upcoming stuff by me: open.substack.com/pub/wesviola...
open.substack.com
New writing round-up
FRESH WORD-COMBINATIONS FROM THE INDOMITABLE MIND OF WES VIOLA
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
Read my poem 'Wild Man' up at @eunoiareview.bsky.social today. (It won't take you long) >> eunoiareview.wordpress.com/2025/07/22/w... <<
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 13/07/2025
A digital version of ‘Thirteen Names for the West’ - my *very green* poem cycle about the Wicked Witch of Oz fame - is now available to for download on a name-your-price basis. I hope you’ll get yourself one! wesviola.gumroad.com/l/13names 💚
wesviola.gumroad.com
Thirteen Names for the West
'Thirteen Names for the West' is a poem cycle inspired by the Wicked Witch of the West - and her many and varied guises in adaptations of the Oz story: from early film, through MGM's Judy Garland-star...
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 12/07/2025
At this stage, Iga Swiatek should actually open a literal bakery. #Wimbledon 🥯
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
"...but I heard that the heart of the galaxy smells like raspberries and rum..." My poem 'Song & Dance' appears in the music-themed Summer Solstice edition of Eternal Haunted Summer, free online now. eternalhauntedsummer.com/issues/summe...
eternalhauntedsummer.com
Summer Solstice 2025
~ Poetry ~Ars Poetica: A Mythic Triptych by Christopher Greiner The Banshee by Hayley Arrington A Choir in Gray by Dr. Sara Cleto and Dr. Brittany Warman Fool’s Song by Simon MacCulloch Hymn …
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Tom Scocca @tomscocca.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
Worth considering that one reason Bluesky doesn't always feel super fun is that current events are relentlessly horrifying and bad
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
'Thirteen Names for the West' is my poem cycle inspired by the many and various incarnations of the Wicked Witch of the West in popular culture over the last century and more. Now available in a numbered first edition of 100 - follow the link for more details. wesviola.substack.com/p/thirteen-n...
wesviola.substack.com
Thirteen Names for the West
A poem cycle inspired by the many and various incarnations of The Wicked Witch of the West
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Violet Fox 🦊 @violetbfox.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
There are still many zine distros that are thriving.
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Are zine distros still a thing, or did they wither and die in the early 21st Century?
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 01/06/2025
Uh... let's *not* let this be what we take from this. A lot of things could do with disrupting.
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
I think it's really clever how they used 'The Chain' in the trailer for that new Formula 1 film so it seems like all the UK TV coverage of races throughout the years until now has just been building up to it.
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
Just in case anyone's missed this shitshow, DO NOT BUY ANYTHING DIRECT FROM UNBOUND OR BOUNDLESS. *Do* check on authors' own pages how best to get hold of their work. DO NOT SUBMIT WORK TO UNBOUND OR BOUNDLESS.
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Brette O'Connell @csiwriter.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
Indie bookstores are awesome! 👍❤️📚
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
I don't think it's a spoiler to say about #DoctorWho , though, that a lot of people in both cast and crew are at times making miraculous work of *really* ropey material... and at other times, not even their talents are able to plaster over the cracks.
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
#DoctorWho oh I'm so pleased.
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
Broken Sleep Books (@brokensleepbooks.bsky.social) have a FLASH SALE on now until midnight tomorrow (Friday 31 May) offering 25% off many books on their website, including two anthologies I'm in, 'Masculinity' and 'Devastation Songs' www.brokensleepbooks.com/books
brokensleepbooks.com
Broken Sleep Books | Current Releases
Broken Sleep Books are dedicated to works that transcend the page, and are more than just poets writing poetry. We believe the greatest pieces of writing exist outside of expectation, and are written ...
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MatGost @matgost.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
Nick Clegg says asking homeowners to willingly hand over their belongings would 'kill' the burglary industry.
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Dave Hutchinson @hutchinsondave.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
You say this as if it was a bad thing.
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Chris McCabe @mccabio.bsky.social · 19/01/2025
Love Song to Alexa #alexa #love #poetry
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
My poem 'Horizon', which won the Silver Pen at the Bardic contest in Glastonbury last night. More details: open.substack.com/pub/wesviola...
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
That rabbits, both male and female, have marsupial-style pouches. I only realised my error when wondering aloud why the Easter bunny was always depicted carrying a basket when he could simply carry the eggs in his pouch.
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
Today is St Dunstan's Day and that means the finals of the Bardic contest in Glastonbury. Local storytellers, poets and (not enough) songwriters compete to be this year's Bard of Ynys Witrin. I try to be there almost every year since I joined the Gorsedh, even now I've moved away from town.
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Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Another remarkable piece of writing by the brilliant Andrew Hankinson. More wounded, stunted, stumpy men, shouting angrily at the North Eastern sky, to file alongside his unforgettable book-length study of Raoul Moat. observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
observer.co.uk
‘It was as if someone had been murdered’: the felling of the Sycamore gap tree | The Observer
I set out to answer the question a whole nation has been asking: what made two men cut down the Sycamore Gap tree?
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Anonymous @youranoncentral.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
Massive anti-genocide protest in London today, hundreds of thousands demand justice and an end to Israel’s ongoing genocide of Gaza. #3E #EndImpunity #freepalestine
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
Welcome to a bunch of new followers overnight! I think you all came from @lozzawriting.bsky.social's writing community list (thank you Laura) - I'll try to honour that and post some useful things at least occasionally. If you want to know more about me as a writer, linktr.ee/wesviola is the place.
linktr.ee
wesviola | Instagram, Facebook | Linktree
10th Bard of Ynys Witrin
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
#RejectionErasure
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
Back in the days of the Industrial Revolution, we should have implemented a law whereby companies that replace workers with machines have to go on paying those employees a high proportion of their wages. We should still do it now.
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
What I'm doing on my birthday in case any friends fancy joining us for it... www.jacksonslane.org.uk/events/sing-...
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Biggest fucking downer I've seen on Bluesky all week.
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Bret Taylor @bretinvancouver.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 13/04/2025
Tried to take a nap earlier and got 10 minutes of sleep paralysis instead. On the bright side, the skittery tunes my brain was playing me were banging.
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
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Natalie Haynes @nataliehaynes.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
Cool competition alert! Spotted this on Instagram. Tell your nearest 11-18 year old 🏛️📝 Details here: clasoutreach.web.ox.ac.uk/creativewrit...
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Matt Green @mattgreencomedy.com · 03/04/2025
But not in a good way
Climate crisis on track to destroy capitalism, warns top insurer
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
When I saw that the theme of the King's English Society's poetry competition was 'Furniture', I had but one poem I could send them. A poem written in a coin laundry in Omaha in 2014. Lo and behold! Runner up! The plastic chair has its day at last! kingsenglishsociety.org/prizes/resul...
kingsenglishsociety.org
Results of March Poetry Competition - King's English Society
JUDGE’S REPORT Of the 159 poems submitted to this competition themed FURNITURE most were about beds and chairs in great variety and mostly in terms of yearning or remembering.  The clear winner is Gre...
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
I have a very little cameo in this book!
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John Chen @johnchen.com.au · 29/03/2025
hear hear
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Wes Viola @wesviola.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Mondegreen / misheard lyrics Having learned the title of 'Canned Heat' by Jamiroquai, I now realise that he wasn't singing about having 'candy in our heels tonight baby' after all.
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