(he/him) Belfast/Coleraine poet. Black Eyed Peace, is available as free eBook from Wordpress, inc. the Pushcart nominated Hunting for the Aurora. MA student at MMU - davidatkinsonpoet.wordpress.com
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Last day of summer and reflecting on the grim weather, this came to mind. The worst that could happen me today is that I got a little bit wet. This is weather on a different scale. 'Katrina' by Patricia Smith, from Blood Dazzler #poetry #poemoftheday
'God made everything out of nothing. But the nothingness shows through.' - Paul Valéry #poetry #quoteoftheday
It's from Seamus Heaney's collection Stations (1975)
On this day, the anniversary of Seamus Heaney's passing, it is this poem that sits with me. 'I have seen halls in flames, hearts in cinder, benches filled and emptied, the circles of companions called and broken' #poetry #poemoftheday #SeamusHeaney
It is. Although from what I understand Merton was not a typical monk.
'The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them'. – Thomas Merton #love #poetry #quoteoftheday
What a night at Pub Poetry. The room was packed, full of love and admiration, for old hands & first timers alike, who gave us the gift of their words. Words that soared as the sun set over Donegal and the sounds of the North Atlantic waves came through the windows #poetry #portrush #pubpoetry
Just spent a lovely few days with Jasmine Cooray's -'Inheritance'. I will leave you with this multi-layered treasure 'Ice Cream Box of Frozen Curry' youtu.be/3-62kAiibco #poetry #poemoftheday
Excited to receive these in the post today by @drandrewsneddon.bsky.social & @martinadevlinbooks.bsky.social Both adding texture to my ongoing project - a poetic response to The Islandmagee Witch Trials #poetry #amwriting #AmReading #witchcraft
It does. I think it's the gentleness and ordinariness of the love that makes the loss more profound 💔
This thread has taken a rather strange turn... Hopefully not resulting in either of us having our accounts suspended! The joke is an old one but a good one. Poem is from his collection 'The Berlin Wall Cafe' the best of his, and possibly my favourite collection. Poem is below ❤️
I didn't know his poetry until recently, loved his music for a long time. Have you read his book 'The Flame'?
Sometimes you don't pay enough attention to the title of a poem. Then you get to the last few lines and then they catch you like this one by Jasmine Cooray The restraint in the 1st 2 stanzas and then it opens up #poetry #poemoftheday
I agree, although I prefer 'A Man With Fives Penises' (Paul Durcan) 😉
Jaime, hadn't read that poem in a while. Just read it again. It's very good. Perhaps even more relevant now than 40 years ago when she wrote it!
So true. In a world where so much rests in the hands of 'children' and bankers
I know. What an ending and so much between the lines too ❤️
Rite of Passage - by Sharon Olds ‘A room of small bankers...' #poetry #poemoftheday
What is, on first reading, a beautifully simple love poem - is also a little metaphysical W.S Graham - 'To My Wife at Midnight #poetry #poemoftheday
'I am a hardware shop of rope and paint and hinges' - by Elaine Feeney #poetry #poemoftheday
Those poems that fall straight onto the page, almost complete, are a joy.
I can't remember where I left my car keys but have a meticulous mental inventory of everything in the shed 😂
We all know someone like this. Some of us might even be a little like this ourselves... 'A Man's Household' - by Wislawa Szyborska #poetry #poemoftheday
What is poetry without music... You must forget those sudden songs. They will end. True singing is another kind of breath. A breath of nothing. A sigh in a god. A wind' - Don Paterson #poetry #music
Wisdom was one of his many talents ❤️
The quote from Paul Valéry ‘Poems aren’t finished , they are abandoned’ is familiar. Today I read the full quote. It is much more poetic. It is filled with energy and passion Reminding us that sometimes over editing can be unnecessarily reductive #poetry #editing #amwriting
“Enjoy the little things in life because one day you`ll look back and realize they were the big things.” - Kurt Vonnegut
So grateful for his insomnia... #poetry #poemoftheday
'A writer cannot put himself today in the service of those who make history; he is at the service of those who suffer it' - Albert Camus
Nancy, I'm sure you probably have read this, but in case you you haven't this is great
There is a lovely Irish proverb that expresses the benefits of catharsis when it comes to sorrow and grief - 'An rud a ghoilleas ar an gcroí caithfidh an t-súil é a shileas' - 'What pains the heart must be washed away with tears.'
In both the writer and the reader ❤️
I have no idea but I hope she was. That is and amazing story. Didn't know about it. Thank you ❤️
I love the turn in this poem by Caroline Bird and the images that follow #poetry #poemoftheday
every year I hear summer ask how autumn can endure winter's undoing - Jay Bernard #poetry
I agree. I think it also says something about the power of the words we write, when they go out into the world & find an audience, can touch readers in ways the author might never imagine Just discovered The Verb recently, it's a great show Frank Skinner Poetry Podcast & Poetry Unbound are good too
'When people ask me where I’m from, what they want is to hear me speak of land, what they want is to know where I go once I leave here' - Terisa Siagatonu #poetry #poemoftheday www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazi...
That's OK, I cried too. My wife, who doesn't like poetry, cried beside me. It is a beautiful show catching a little of the character of a remarkable poet and human being. I was fortunate to see him read in the Great Hall at Queens University at the launch of Ash Keys not long before he passed ❤️
Writing through, rather than about...
This poem by Michael Longley is perfect, but the story that follows will make you never doubt the power of words. Hear Michael talking about it on the link below 38:00 – 42:00 #poetry #poemoftheday youtu.be/syjNjq0Hsto
💯plenty of parking and no crowds in the line up ❤️ 🏄♂️
Good to connect. Bluesky defo seems like a kinder space than twitter/X. Poetry has more chance of changing the world than politics Let's put the art back in artillery ❤️☮️
He is. It like when fearlessness, poetry, and jazz collide
If you can't get a print version you should be able to get the eBook. Just to make it better... Achill Island is one of the most beautiful magical places on earth.
Whether you do it to cry or not to cry... It is the best therapy
I am fortunate to have that on my doorstep 8 months of the year. Love an out of season beach in the rain ❤️
I want a beach party, but I will probably die in January 😂
There's many layers to what initially appears as very straightforward poem ❤️
On Not Wanting to Become a Priest I would have enjoyed the hours, but would have struggled with the management #haiku #poem #poetry
It gets better with a re-reading. Where have all the Aristotles gone...
"Poetry is something more philosophical and more worthy of serious attention than history" - Aristotle #poetry #Philosophy
Poetry Unbound & The Frank Skinner Poetry Podcast
😂
Perhaps they had a chart with varying degrees of dirt for sake of comparison 😂 Imagine, though, if you were refused admission because your face was too dirty 😳
Because of Us - By Em Berry #poetry #poemoftheday #Gaza
It might seem like a sad book but it is truly uplifting and enlightening. The sad bit for me is how after time many of the old traditions are being forgotten ❤️
It's power is in what it says by saying something different. A masterclass in metaphor ❤️
'When poems stop talking about the moon and begin to mention poverty, trade unions, color, color lines and colonies, somebody tells the police.' - Langston Hughes #poetry #truth
I think the librarian was objecting to business men using the library as means of promoting their business?
Working with the public is always interesting Little to argue about the necessity in the above 😊
I liked it a lot. As one who has been edited and been an editor, it made me smile. How many workshops have I been in where someone said 'I'm not sure if you need the final line / stanza'?
A thought provoking and beautifully written insight into how we have "forgotten how to die well"
Like they almost forgot to mention it! Would love to have been at that committee meeting 😂
That's the trouble with libraries today...
I agree. Things are changing slowly. The conversation about men's mental health is improving. We need to keep talking, asking questions, listening. #Itsoknottobeok ❤️
Crying can be a good thing. Maybe men would feel better if they cried more ❤️
😂
you beat me to it There was a young man from Verdun Who'd start many tasks — finish none. "Like a limerick," he'd whine, "Should have just five lines — fine!" So he stopped once the last line was done.
Or maths teacher who said 'there are three types of people... Those who can count and those who can't '
'I paint in order not to cry' - Paul Klee The same could be said for writing
There was a young man from Peru whose limericks stopped at line two There was a young man from Verdun
So lovely to finally be joining Bluesky with the happy news that my debut poetry collection Nettles is out now! 🌿 To celebrate its launch, signed copies are available here nazaretranea.com/item/nettles/
#poetry #poemoftheday
Oh, Eve, thank you for taking the time to look for and read my poem. Glad you liked it. It is part found poem - a real letter smuggled out of the Maze Prison at the time of the Hunger Strike. It is also an ekphrastic piece inspire by the photo below. I love the interplay between science and poetry
Those last few lines, building up to that final line... Brilliant. And what rhythms and sounds through the whole thing. Love it #poetry #poem #poemoftheday
Delighted to have a poem in the latest edition of @thebelfastreview.bsky.social . Huge thank you to Hanna and the team for including me along with so many fab writers and artists. Click on the link below to see issue 4 in all its glory thebelfastreview.wixsite.com/home/copy-of... #poetry #belfast
This poem was inspired by Arthur Robert’s diaries which were found in the attic of a house in Glasgow in 2006, 24 years after he died in a care home. Arthur was one of thousands of black soldiers who fought for Britain in WW1 whose bravery was unacknowledged and unappreciated #poetry #poemoftheday
Very excited to see this tomorrow
#poetry #poemoftheday
#poetry #poemoftheday
Came across this today - beautiful Ulster Scots word 'katirams' - small, swift-flying clouds.(literally "a cat's paw")
Maths and science are full of love and poetry ❤️
Today we said goodbye to a giant of rock and roll. The words of Jack London come to mind #RIPOzzy #crazytrain
They are. I struggle to read more than a few at a time, but I keep coming back to her work
there is such poetry in mathematics. But which set of lines would you rather be?
#Belfast graffiti is the best graffiti #Coldplay #kisscam
By Andrea Cohen
Poetry Ireland 'Introductions' - applications closing on 22nd July. Please share poetryireland.submittable.com/submit/bdc82...
Love them all. No. 8 is my favourite. The amount of thought put into it to be that bad. It's 3 metaphors deep!
I don't share much personal info on here but caught in a nightmare I didn't create, I'm now facing the loss of my home after years of fighting for justice. Your support can help me reclaim my life and move on. Please share and donate if you can. gofund.me/29937d78
It's a great collection but a very tough read
Naming the Slaves - by Jenny Mitchell, from Map of a Plantation
