Alice Stainer

From Graeme Richardson's article on his new collection Dirt Rich, which is published this month!🏦
Read in full here:
open.substack.com/pub/carcanet...

Candlesnuff fungus, rising up like a ghostly apparition from the rainforest floor and waving its limbs.

A saprotrophic species, it helps break down deadwood. It's also bioluminescent, emitting a faint green light by night.

So delighted to have this little poem appear in @ampoetryreview.bsky.social, alongside a handful of others! Much gratitude to the editors!

✨COVER REVEAL✨ Here it is, the cover for Dear World, Issue 15! Featuring this stunning work by printmaker, Molly Lemon

“They tried to bury us but they didn’t know we were seeds” feels so apt for this issue and we can’t wait to share its 30 new poems with you on Saturday! 🧡✨🌱

📣 NEW BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT📣 We are delighted to announce the acquisition of THE WAY THE WATER HELD ME by @catherineredford.bsky.social, a heart-wrenching debut about young widowhood

THE WAY THE WATER HELD ME is available to pre-order now

Publishing March 2026 ~ Pre-order here: buff.ly/i1HAi3Y

Harsh Light Gentle light should enter these open eyes, slow. Sat on slagheap blue sky midday see flit white clouds pass shadows over pit, ply and flow girded redbrick coal washery over bright puddles, empty slurry tanks cross concrete bunkers of unused sand, lime, gravel. Recall days ago nightshift rank veins freeze blood heat, ice encrusted hands rimed, ground concrete hurt all when I fell one snowed winter day heavy weight hauls postal bag down, I slip on an iced drift to unload post bottom of door number eight. I rag, open sprung letterbox, sharp fringed brush put letter pull out quick metal lid slams shut. Paul Brookes

Hear me read the following poem plus two others at the launch of this wonderful Crooked Spire Press anthology in the Unitarian Church, Doncaster, this Saturday from 13.00pm onwards:

Yes, wasn't it lovely?

The building in which I teach recently had to change all the lights to LED ones, which are too bright for my eyes, so I've been teaching in semi-gloom. Today an uplighter was installed, so now everyone is super-jealous of my cosily lit tutorial space 😅💡🤩

This was such a lovely evening. Great company, varied and accomplished poetry and just the right length. Do support @paulwritespoems.bsky.social if/when he holds another session.

A Christmas tree made of soft, out-of-focus lights glows against a dark blue background. The blurred bulbs form a tapering triangle of reds, greens, yellows, and oranges. White text on the left reads: “#POEMSABOUT VIRTUAL CHRISTMAS PARTY & OPEN MIC 20.12.25 @ 20.00 — Hosted by Alan Parry.” The Broken Spine logo, shaped like a black fountain pen nib, appears at the top right.

Mark it down: Dec 20th @ 20.00 — #PoemsAbout #OpenMic + #ChristmasParty returns! Poets, readers, friends — one final night to lift your words before the year ends. 🎤✨

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1967176915...

This was such a lovely surprise!Thank you to @catherineredford.bsky.social & @tarawheeler.bsky.social for this vote of confidence 🤩

😍Yes, it's lovely!

😍

Well, this is fun! Fine company to keep @pdevonald.bsky.social @thepaulconnolly.bsky.social @eleanorholmes.bsky.social @sarahraybould.bsky.social Well done all!

Please review my collection on Amazon or Goodreads if you have been lovely enough to buy it. It really helps. www.goodreads.com/book/show/21... In the Shadow of Gods amzn.eu/d/gRaCt0j

Nakba We are already deep into that night where the unspeakable creeps out; we sense the tapping of its spindle fingers as it feels it way along the walls, crawls to meet the rhythm of our hurrying feet; we are anxious to reach the safety of home where the lamps are lit and there are, we think, no shadows to disquiet us. We walk, try to keep ourselves from running, but the monsters of our unfinished business wait just ahead. Wraithlike, they slip in behind us as we open the front door, sit in our favourite chairs; their rictus smiles greet us when we enter the sanctuary of our living room and turn on the light.

So the UN agrees it’s genocide. Time to give this another airing. We are all complicit I fear.

Ah, Paul, how nice of you. I've been absent of late because of intensive summer school teaching, but I should be around a bit more now. In fact I'm just enjoying your @inksweatandtears.co.uk poem! More on that shortly 🤩

After a year and a half of trying, I finally got an acceptance from a poetry journal I’ve been aiming for — and on my twentieth submission, they took not one, not two, but three poems! Never give up! #persistence #poetry

Wonderful! It's true that plugging away with these things can pay dividends in the most satisfactory of ways. Well done!

On the lighter end of my poetic output today, but I have a soft spot for this poem & am so gratified that @clairewalkerpoetry.bsky.social & @hollyannepoet.bsky.social saw something in it. Have a read & let me know what you think 🥰 #poetsofbluesky

We're delighted that @niallpoetry.bsky.social and Vidyan Ravinthiran have been shortlisted for the @forwardprizes.bsky.social Prize for Best Collection for their third collections The Island in the Sound and #Avidyā. Many congratulations both! #ForwardPrizes
www.bloodaxebooks.com/news?article...

It's a pretty weird assumption that an academic environment precludes encountering non-poetic stimuli or points of reference. I mean, few academics ACTUALLY live in an ivory tower - they have families & participate variously in life, while meeting a lot of interesting (sometimes eccentric) people.

I can see their point!

Sounds like a good idea to me, Mark. I know a couple of (more elderly than you!) people who have healed long-term leg ulcers using honey. Good luck! x

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I don't know whether to laugh or cry at that! 💜

I so enjoyed @cheltpoetfest.bsky.social reading tonight with guests the luminous @johnglenday.bsky.social & deceptively light @jonathandavidson.bsky.social. A wonderfully resonant pairing, supported by fine mic maestros. Heartfelt thanks as ever @annasaund.bsky.social & @zoebrooks.bsky.social 😍

Can’t make it this time I’m afraid.

JOIN US and book your free ticket NOW for Louise Machen's online launch of 'I Am Not Light' on Saturday 12th July, 6pm, with special guests. Unmissable! @louloumach.bsky.social

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/louise-mac...

Sounds great!