A new poem, with thanks to The Sonneteer (a truly excellent use of Substack) & Jackson Browne. Once upon a time I wrote a whole set of south London sonnets. I think this is the first to see the light of day. It's also the first in that series.
thesonneteer.substack.com/p/these-days
how write book
what words good
how make good write
how good write, surely
I've certainly learnt a lot from poems. Poetry is an active pleasure - which means a bit of work for the reader is part of the deal and indeed a large part of the point. Which said, I am a lazy and impatient reader, so I try not to judge...
Absolutely. Uncharitably, the poetry world doesn't have enough respect for other kinds of knowledge. More charitably, poetry has always had a license/need to synthesise, but knowledge is now so specialised that writing any poetry of this kind is incredibly hard. Partly explains confessional verse.
We were, among other names, the Voluntary Fire Department. Which felt like an affectation at the time but in retrospect was a timely warning about impending public service austerity.
I was very glad to do this one, and to spend some time walking London with Hill's poems. Such a loss.
Back to my old tricks (bothering publicity teams for review copies of books I can barely afford the time to read, let alone write about)
Welcome to my new show about the history of commercial fishing, or the Cod Past podcast.
Ah well.
The only way out is through!
Proofs! Very exciting.
@victoriamoul.bsky.social
Pre-order the real thing: www.headlesspoet.com/shop/p/poems...
Back to my old tricks (putting £1 on Labour to win in G&D at 4/1)
Paul Gauguin's Armchair - 1888
https://botfrens.com/collections/46/contents/14353
"There is a difference between paying attention to an ending and a poem which is genuinely attentive to its own end—which has been, from the first line, a thing in time, moving through it. "
Some thoughts for the blog on endings in poetry, via Muloon, Allnutt & Kunial. substack.com/home/post/p-...
Introductions are the way poetry survives. They are also, I think, an endangered art.
Which is why I'm starting a poetry press.
Here's a little more about what that all means (and how you can help): jwikeley.substack.com/p/why-im-sta...
🏠
The daffs are coming out, and so are the @badlilies.bsky.social. Delighted to have two new poems in this early spring posy.
Why I'm starting a poetry press. And how you can help 👇
Introducing, Headless Poet...
jwikeley.substack.com/p/why-im-sta...
I posted elsewhere about a lady in one of my Leeds Irish Health and Homes workshops who wrote 'I've had dementia / for as long as I can remember'. It came back to me reading @ravoon.bsky.social's tremendous debut 'Dirt Rich', full of technically brilliant, emotionally-devastating work like this:
Thanks for the reminder. I will read anything JM writes!
Well, I read that wrong.
This is one of the few positions in the book world which is both deeply unpopular, genuinely brave and completely correct.
Bad Lilies is cooking up a BEAST of an issue for next month. Subscribe to our email list and get early access to our submission windows! www.badlilies.uk/subscribe
This week in the poetry blogs with @victoriamoul.bsky.social @emmalee1.bsky.social @jwikeley.bsky.social @pearlpoet.bsky.social @billymills.bsky.social @kent-nj.bsky.social @salenagodden.bsky.social @robin-gow-poet.bsky.social @linarvitvideopoet.bsky.social
1/3 www.vianegativa.us/2026/01/poet...
Here's a thing I wrote for Carcanet about my forthcoming book: featuring toast, marmite, Tom Baker, and taphophobia
I am interested all these things too now, especially the last one. I am always saying things I don't mean!
