Tessera

Ink Sweat & Tears

@inksweatandtears.co.uk

Online poetry magazine posting daily. We publish & review poetry, prose, filmpoems, word & image and print publish as IS&T Press. Editing internships. Posts by Sabine Wilson-Patrick & Kate Birch.

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Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 2h ago

'i chose the cat' by @helenpletts.bsky.social and Romit Berger, translated by @mayongbo.bsky.social is a word&image piece for those of us who do not just love our cats but to whom they are their own little beings. inksweatandtears.co.uk/helen-pletts... #InkSweatandTears #Poetry #WordandImage

Image: a collage of women and cats in various states of repose

Text: i chose the cat

Helen Pletts and Romit Berger. translated byMa Yongbo

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 6h ago

Roz Doe reflects on landscapes and locales in this poem '28th April 2015'. Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/roz-doe/ #InkSweatandTears #Poetry

Image: seaside shot from above surrounded by a tan border

Text: 28th April 2015

In Brighton, sea stretches blue
expanding the space in my head,
you get that, don’t you?
I can breathe again, doze on pebbles.
Check into the Royal Albion,
safe. From my room
white cliffs shine bright calling me out.

Roz Doe

Iris Anne Lewis @irisannelewis.bsky.social · yesterday

Great to be published by Ink Sweat and Tears way Welsh themed poem during Eisteddfod week

Ink Sweat & Tears@inksweatandtears.co.uk · yesterday

'Blodeuwedd ensorcelled by Gwydion' by @irisannelewis.bsky.social imagines the body of an owl in a way that is beautiful and unfamiliar. Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/iris-anne-le... #Poetry #InkSweatandTears #Nature

Image: an owl in a tree surrounded by a light green border

text: Blodeuwedd ensorcelled by Gwydion

Eyes, green as moss,
darken to black. Oak tassels
spell-woven to feathers.
A blossom-soft body
wrath-scorches to brown.
Broom flowers harden to bone,
curve into beak, curl into talons.

Iris Anne Lewis

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · yesterday

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 2d ago

All we have to make art are our eyes, @nairnkennedy.bsky.social reminds us with 'Portrait' that all we need to do see. Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/nairn-kenned... #InkSweatandTears #Poetry #Portrait

Image: a woman holding a photo frame tinted blue surrounded by a light blue border.

Text: Portrait

You notice the nose: webbed veins spritzed
with little flicks of red, purple blotches
daubed with a palette-knife, broken ends
where blood-vessels gave up the ghost

Nairn Kennedy

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 3d ago

My inbox is open again and I'm excited to read more wonderful words that have a potential home here at IS&T. I'm accepting poetry, flash, word & image, film poems and reviews at interns@inksweatandtears.com. Sabine inksweatandtears.co.uk/submissions/ #LitMag #Submissions #InkSweatandTears

Image: a green landscape

Text: submissions are open

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 3d ago

Some of the best poems are short and to the point, like 'Still Life of Fish and Bird' by Jason Ryberg Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/jason-ryberg... #Poetry #InkSweatandTears #Nature

Image: a swarm of birds pursuing a fish surrounded by a grey background

Text: Still Life of Fish and Bird

One day a fish swam
away and the river ran
dry, and the lone bird,
sitting in a tree, flew off
and took the whole sky with it.

Jason Ryberg

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 4d ago

'First Funeral' by Mark McDonnell reflects upon a familiar experience we all turn over in our minds when we contemplate grief Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/mark-mcdonne... #Poetry #Grief #InkSweatandTears

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 5d ago

If you've ever been learning a new language to travel and you find that you do not have the words you need? If yes, you will relate to 'Beginners' Italian' by James Mason Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/james-mason/ #Poetry #Italiano #InkSweatandTears

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · last wk.

'Out' by James McDermott is a perfect example of found poetry and poets seeing something as art that others just see as information. Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/james-mcderm... #Poetry #InkSweatandTears #FoundPoetry

Image: laptop opened to Google with yellow border

Text: Out

a found poem from a Google search ‘define out’

no longer detained in prison

in the middle of nowhere

no longer involved in a competition

not at home or one’s place of work

James McDermott

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · last wk.

'Pigeon Politics' by Sylvia Banham reminds us that poetry is even in the birds if we seek it there. Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/sylvia-banham/ #Pigeon #Poetry #InkSweatandTears

Image: two pigeons on a garden wall surrounded by a dark blue border

Text: Pigeon Politics

Their droppings soil plant pots, the al fresco table and chairs
and the crumbling path I must tread to the washing line.

In mating they have no finesse. Coy, the female resists.
The male pecks her then mounts her and is done in a trice.

Sylvia Banham

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · last wk.

'Glory of the Blacker Berry' by Daniel Naawenkangua Abukuri / @poetraniel.bsky.social echoes a sentiment born out of hardship and echoed in art: 'the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice.' Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/daniel-naawe... #Poetry #InkSweatandTears #BlackerTheBerry

Image: a hand holding crushed berries surrounded by a dark border

Text: Glory of the Blacker Berry

What matters now is the feast of this survival.
The glory of our own light, black light.

Look at us: the deeper the root, the sweeter the juice.
Glory of the blacker berry, split wide open to the sun.

Daniel Naawenkangua Abukuri

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · last wk.

Robert Billinski's poem 'the sky and the water and the birds and the fish' inspired by 'Sky and Water I' (1938) by Maurits Cornelis Escher is a mind-bending poem you can dive into like a river. Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/robert-billi... #Poetry #InkSweatandTears #Ekphrasis

Image: a swirl of fish in the ocean

Text: the sky and the water and the birds and the fish

the sky met the water where the birds met the fish
the sky met the water where the fish met the birds
the sky met the birds where the water met the fish

Robert Billinski

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 2w ago

'Going Nowhere Fast' by Gordon Vells feels like a tiny poem of rebellion for everyone who relates to it. @xenonlobster.bsky.social Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/gordon-vells... #Poetry #InkSweatandTears

Image: tire marks in a car park surrounded by a black border

Text: Going Nowhere Fast

Impotent in family life and ineffectual at work
sometimes he would spend a full quarter-hour
just circulating the mini-roundabout on his moped
dizzy from the power of blocking everyone else

Gordon Vells

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 2w ago

'Endings' by Patrick Wright /@arainbowpoet.bsky.social is a dense, juicy, rich poem... not unlike the mushrooms of its subject matter. Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/patrick-wrig... #Poetry #InkSweatandTears #Mushrooms

Image: mushrooms tinted red with a red border

Text: Endings

i recoil at the abject the never-ending cycle of leaves under loam a seedbed for eggs
or spawn this going on & no space for heaven or things to pause or find reprieve
i protest say how when i’m gone i’d like to rest before the choice to return & go through

Patrick Wright

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 2w ago

L. Haiman confronts the realities and depth of motherhood in 'O is the Mother Letter'. Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/l-haiman/ #Poetry #Motherhood #InkSweatandTears

Image: a women breastfeeding in a field, tinted pink, surrounded by a pink border.

Text: O is the mother letter

Breast.

And mouths to feed: the need

to quench and satiate an Other at the great

Expense of self. Give comfort, forfeit

Feeling safe.

L Haiman

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 2w ago

Poets have written many odes to the city of London but rarely do they start with 'U useless city'. If you have complicated feelings for England's capital, 'Portrait' by Francis de Lima will be your new favourite poem. inksweatandtears.co.uk/francis-de-l... #Poetry #London #InkSweatandTears

Image: Tower Bridge from a medium distance, revealing some of the surrounding areas, surrounded by a blue border

Text: Portrait

Oh London. U useless city. Map to
nowhere land. Tight stretch
open eye. The underground metal.

Francis de Lima

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 2w ago

Miriam Swales' poem 'STEMs' will give "women in STEM" a whole new twist in your mind. Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/miriam-swale... #Poetry #InkSweatandTears #STEM

Image: mannequin heads tinted pink with a pink border.

Text: STEMs

When I was 12, I knew the weight of a human head.
8 Heads in a Duffel Bag (a bit of dark comedy).
It grew from there. The curiosity. The calculations.
But, perhaps, that’s not true.
Miriam Swales

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 2w ago

The nature poems continue with Alison Pritchard's question to an orange-spot daisy moth in her poem 'Broad-blotch Drill (a.k.a. Orange-spot Daisy Moth)' Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/alison-pritc... #Nature #Poetry #InkSweatandTears

Image: daisies with a moth on it and a yellow border

Text: Broad-blotch Drill (a.k.a. Orange-spot Daisy Moth)

By what rough science
were you given
this migraine of a name,
which starts as a spillage
on the workshop floor
and ends so gratingly?

Alison Pritchard

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 2w ago

We always ask our #PickoftheMonth writers to record their winning work. May and June 2026 saw two poets focusing very much on the mother/daughter relationship in different yet very poignant ways. These are wonderful poems and beautifully read! #InkSweatandTears #Poetry

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 2w ago

This week seems to have a secret theme of animals personified. Matt Gilbert / @richlyevocative.bsky.social looks closely at rats in 'A Rat Decides to Change its Place'. Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/matt-gilbert... #Poetry #Nature #InkSweatandTears

Image: a rodent perched on a tree branch surrounded by a grey border

Text: A Rat Decides to Change its Place
Sleek brown legs, pumping
from the stewed-tea shade
of rain damp oaks

scud towards a pool, below
a crumbled, redbrick efficiency
of Victorian engineering.
Matt Gilbert

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 3w ago

I am the dreaming herpetogaster chimera and/ I am part-and-parcel of the impossible animals project. Read the rest of Kathleen Bryson's word & image piece 'I Am the Dreaming Herpetogaster Chimera' here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/kathleen-bry... #Poetry #InkSweatandTears #WordandImage #Painting

Image: a painting of a mystical woman in greens, blues and pinks, surrounded by an orange border.

Text: I Am the Dreaming Herpetogaster Chimera/ Kathleen Bryson

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 3w ago

In poetry we can confront our multiple selves, hanging around the high street even. Scott Lilley's 'Doppelgänger' sees all. @poetrytalkingguy.bsky.social Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/scott-lilley/ #Poetry #InkSweatandTears

Image: a starry sky with a dark blue border
Text: Doppelgänger
It’s tiresome— keeping up with it, learning
your new names. The nights that crack open
like a Strongbow come cloying back; here,

you point, Orion’s belt, your face all teeth,
me not knowing for certain where your finger
points, you, buckled up, almost onto something.
Scott Lilley

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 3w ago

See birds given the bodies of people in Rich Yates' 'The Bird'. Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/rich-yates/ #Poetry #Birds #InkSweatandTears

Image: A bird in a tree, tinted green, with a moss green border.
Text: The Bird
The bird
crept up on him, threw its voice into an empty tree,

he started to notice the aliveness of things,
wondered how

he had slept through his adult life
without ever having inhabited a bush.
Rich Yates

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 3w ago

'Something wholesome and devastating about this poem' A phrase which reveals why 'On sunday morning you lay together laughing' by Gabrielle Meadows is the IS&T #PickoftheMonth for June 2026. To revisit the poem and for more more voters' comments go to inksweatandtears.co.uk/june-2026-pi...

Sunburst background shining through near transparent B&W image of 'Breakfast in Bed' by Mary Cassatt (1897) illustrating mother and small daughter.

Text:

Congratulations!

Gabrielle Meadows
On sunday morning you lay together laughing

IS&T June 2026 Pick of the Month

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 3w ago

'Girl Awaits the Psychic Investigator' by Annie Kissack is a narrative poem twisting with intrigue. Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/42456-2/ #Narrative #Poetry #InkSweatandTears

Image: a farm against a light green background

Text: Girl Awaits the Psychic Investigators

I’ve noticed that the land around this farm
is demarcated in his winter-yellow tail.
Like me he’s seasonal and loves new words,
and poetry and sometimes, privacy.
Our visitors must surely find him interesting.

Annie Kissack

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 3w ago

Sometimes the best poems are simple reflections on love, 'Love Is...' by Jim Murdoch is a perfect example. Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/jim-murdoch-6/ #Love #Poetry #InkSweatandTears

Image: a silhouetted couple against a pink sky with a pink border.

Text: Love Is...
We don’t decide who we love.
Who we hate, yes,
who we’re jealous of,
but never who we end up loving.

It’s not fate or anything—
that would be silly—
but it is out of our control
and often bloody inconvenient.

Jim Murdoch

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 3w ago

Have you been craving blackout poetry? Check out 'Whiteheads' by Alex Stolis. Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/alex-stolis/ #Poetry #InkSweatandTears #BlackoutPoetry

Image: black birds flying on a grey sky with a pale blue border.

Text: Whiteheads/
It’s 16 below zero. Actual temp. We’re the sole owners of the shore, windchill pushes it down to minus 36. Keeps the pikers away and the eagles don’t seem to mind. I count 22 whiteheads in one tree. Steve’s beard is Santa white. / Alex Stolis

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 3w ago

Ashia Mirza approaches the allegory of the cave for modern readers in her poem 'Heartburst: (Plato's Allegory of the Cave)' @ashprincewriter.bsky.social Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/ashia-mirza/ #InkSweatAndTears #Plato #Philosophy #Poetry

Image: A setting sun against a black background with a red border
Text: Heartburst: (Plato's Allegory of the Cave)/ The prodigal sun casts shadows in your cave
of
someone taking a photo
at a wedding
of their baby
at a celebration.

There’s a roar of a truck
the hiss of a missile
the boom of a dumb bomb –/
Ashia Mirza

Ink Sweat & Tears @inksweatandtears.co.uk · 4w ago

Phil Vernon takes us back to poetry's pastoral roots with a reflection around the Firle Beacon in 'Something (almost) Understood'. @philvernon.bsky.social Read it here: inksweatandtears.co.uk/phil-vernon-2/ #Firlebeacon #Poetry #Inksweatandtears #InkSweatAndTears

Image: hills in the distance surrounded by a green border. Text: Something (almost) understood/ These hills that look towards both weald and waves/ hold – in their homesteads, fenced and open land,/ trackways and contours – all that’s happened here,/ but hide their mysteries in riddles: how/ whole flints were wrapped – by nature’s sleight of hand –/
in chalk laid down as plankton long ago,/ Phil Vernon