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Jan Peters - Solivagant Wisdom

@janpsolivagant.bsky.social

Creator of Solivagant Wisdom - Author & Coach #poetry #photography Member of the #PromptCombo Team #introvert #neurodivergent #GenX #DepthPsychology #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity 🚫DM - unless I know/invite you

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Philippa Bowe @philippabowe.bsky.social · 3d ago

Sunday offering for #PoemsAbout and the #SheddingSkins prompt. Thanks to @thebrokenspine.co.uk and @alanparrywriter.co.uk 💜

Pale blue box with the words of a prose poem:

The Snaking of Icarus

The Icarus who plummeted, tasted the salt of the sea that took his name long after it coffined him, was not the end-of-the-story Icarus, but instead the skin he shed in the Helios scorch, the skin he shed to feed our thirst for the tragic dénouement, the narrative-wrapped moral, leaving him skinless and free and light, another Icarus who journeyed to the heart of the sun where he grew quietly old growing flowers of flame, writing odes to the sky in the sand, never regretting the celebrity of discarded and drowned flesh and wings.

Jen Thorne @jenthorne.bsky.social · 2d ago

I have done a story, not a poem for #PromptCombo and #AmpersandAfterDark Thanks to @emteepoetry.bsky.social and @madp03t.bsky.social for the inspiration ❤️💜❤️💜

Silly

I have scars you know. In the layers. Tattoos from being used like a doormat.

It was their cat you know. It was her fault. They used to leave the window open for her to get in and out. She ripped at me like I was a scratching post. Tore me jagged.

But they did care you know. They smoothed things out. Mended my wounds gently. Protected me. I shone. Then they opened the window and she came. But I wasn't ready, and this time when she walked over me she left her imprint.

They're still there you know. Those footprints. I have lost count of the times I have been sanded down and repainted, don't remember how many seasons I've seen through my window, but those tiny dents never seem to quite disappear. My scars you see?

My memories of footsteps through fresh paint.

David Birch @davidbirch.bsky.social · 2d ago

Thank you @emteepoetry.bsky.social for your thoughtful #PromptCombo #Personified. Here's an adapted version of something I wrote a year or so ago. Apologies if it's a bit grisly. Many thanks @zentinl.bsky.social for the yellow and black checks! Looking forward to responding to other offerings later

Fiftywords @fiftywords.bsky.social · 2d ago

Here’s an older one from the perspective of Oscar Wilde’s pen #promptcombo #Personified @emteepoetry.bsky.social

Oscar's Pen
I knew him by the quickness of his hand, laughter outrunning ink,
lines turning
before they were thought. He held me lightly then,
as if we conspired. Now I am taken up
with care, turned in the light, as though I might confess
what has left him.
I answer as ever, darkly, without hesitation,
but he no longer risks me. No sudden wit, no reckless turn, only words that arrive
already judged. Once, he trusted what we might become,
a flourish, a wound, a delight. Now he sets me down
before the ink can betray him.

Francis H Powell writer and poet @fhpowellwriter.bsky.social · 2d ago

@emteepoetry.bsky.social · My #PromptCombo #Personified for Monday

S. Reeson / Experimental Poet @internetofwords.com · 3d ago

@emteepoetry.bsky.social #PromptCombo #Personified #Poetry Reposted coz I got the prompt wrong. Will also be posting this on Ghost as part of a three-day catchup.

In Team by S. Reeson

there is no realism in my personification
there is no redemption in this story arc
there are no lies in the paper trail either
there might be some dishonesty
in that previous statement but there
you see I tried my best to fit in not be
the I in Team that’s always been

there is a hole where the narrative should
fit seamlessly as I accept listening to them all
laughing there is nothing we have in common
and it is easier then to become the tree
the silent matriarch simply watching
when you have spent a lifetime afraid
there is always safety in not being seen

La Reine des Metaphores @metaphorqu.bsky.social · 3d ago

#PromptCombo @emteepoetry.bsky.social #Personified Mosquito repellent Wifi - huh! Singing voice At least one bathroom Politicians' moral compasses Oh so tired old woman's bones Thesaurus of emotions for the purposes of - y'know - Pomes Why are you not working ? Bloody bastard idiots

Emily Tee@emteepoetry.bsky.social · 3d ago

Thanks to @jenthorne.bsky.social for last week's prompt! This week #PromptCombo is #Personified You can bring to life inanimate objects or use it metaphorically. If you want more rules, go for 10-16 lines. A poem & photo to kick things off. Tag me @emteepoetry.bsky.social in your response!

Stefano Carini @cieloceano.bsky.social · 3d ago

#PromptCombo #Personified #banklessriver #poetry For @emteepoetry.bsky.social Forgive me—this is an odd choice for the prompt, but please bear with me.

Jan Peters - Solivagant Wisdom @janpsolivagant.bsky.social · 3d ago

Thank you @emteepoetry.bsky.social for your great #PromptCombo theme of #Personified Mine's a bit long! 🫣 #poetry: ©Jan Peters, 2026 #poetrycommunity #PoetsOfBluesky #Albatross #Baudelaire #Coleridge #AncientMariner #Birdsky #Surreal

Albatross Poiesis

Knight’s-move
Thought slippage that would
Astonish André Breton:

Beak whittled into sturdy
Paperclip;

Webbed foot bloated into
Snuff pouch;

Breast plumage shaped into
Foppish muff for mariners on
Shore leave. But the

Queen’s gambit is
All mine to play:
Floating beside you without
Stir for days on end -
Gliding across swells in
Moves prompted by an
Ever-shifted lodestar.

Pulse of the voyager:
Winded up, earth-pull down -
Zigzag and tack in ship-wake.

Gut-lurch plunge into
Deep-trough gallivant,

Coming up again and again as
Lip-ride on long rollers.

Then I am
Hooked and baited,
Humiliated by the hoots of
Sailors - my wings, once fluid,
Now trail uselessly as rotted
Oars.

Bird in flight -
Bird in exile -
All Spirit
All Flesh
All Pity
All Grace.

Pied-spotted at birth,
I grow paler with each passing
Decade – with each
Wingbeat, lap-league weighted to
Rub your primordial stain clean – until

I lord it above you in
Effulgent whites of
Angelic terror.

©Jan Peters/Solivagant Wisdom, 2026

Jan Peters - Solivagant Wisdom @janpsolivagant.bsky.social · 3d ago

This week's fantastic #PromptCombo is #Personified Use hashtags & tag @emteepoetry.bsky.social to take part See below 👇👇for details #poetrycommunity #blueskypoetry #poetsofbluesky #writingcommunity #poetry #prompt

Emily Tee@emteepoetry.bsky.social · 3d ago

Emily Tee @emteepoetry.bsky.social · 3d ago

Photo of a tree trunk with protrusions looking like an eye, nose and mouth, leaves like hair

stace.bot @stacebot.bsky.social · 5d ago

For this week's #PoemsAbout #SheddingSkins I'm thinking about things that emerge tender and glistening into tomorrow. #poetry #blueskypoets @thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk

a very good scrap to put on your table

sometimes the constructed thing
is what allows a truth to exist.

this is obvious
if you've ever written
a poem.

or worn braces.

less obvious
if you've ever constructed
a self.

teeth, apparently,
can be persuaded
by sustained pressure.

eventually
the braces come off.
nobody asks
which teeth
were true.

not to press
my pricky
biological objection
to this whole central metaphor

too far

but now i think
we have a poem
with a problem in it

rather than a poem
explaining
a position

which must mean we're
really getting somewhere.

and like the proverbial snake
who gets shed --

strike a dignified pose
and find out.

Paul Cannon @pvcannon.bsky.social · 6d ago

For #PoemsAbout #SheddingSkins With much thanks to @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @thebrokenspine.co.uk

A poem comprised of rhyming verses which explores a relationship.

Rebekah Teller 💙🏳️‍🌈@rteller.bsky.social · 6d ago

Here's a poem of mine, "Dripping Gown" for #PoemsAbout #SheddingSkins @thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk

Ash & Ink @bundtkake.bsky.social · 5d ago

#poemsabout #sheddingskins #poetry #blueskypoets @thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk The idea is a little cliche, but attachments to old lives is a topic bouncing around my frontal lobes these days.

Hangers and Locks

A closet full of skins
Holds a footlocker
Full of more.

Each a color, a size, a shape
I won't ever wear again
But never took off

A collection of starched fabrics
Hats of different names
And my name in different shapes.

A closet full of skins
And the footlocker
Of a fool for more

Avery Lark ✨@thebisylarke.bsky.social · 6d ago

can’t resist sharing this one from earlier this year for #PoemsAbout #SheddingSkins, since it fits the prompt so well and odd and vulnerable one to share, but of course that’s because i’m a bit too fond of it @thebrokenspine.co.uk

dermatillomania

i come from a long line of
nervous pickers. maybe
my ancestors once
plucked tubers from the
peat in ireland, before
the ground was reaped
dry by colonial export.

then, there were the
fishermen, turning red
under hot atlantic rays,
turning fish from their
nets, crabs from
their boxtraps.

when that didn’t pay,
they became bartenders,
their dependency on
the spirits of their craft
an occupational hazard,
crafting hiccup remedies:
bitters, sugar and lemon.

when the iron was hot,
they pivoted to selling
la-z-boy recliners and
sealy mattresses, and
boy were they lucky,
until the market picked
itself dry.

1/2

maybe they too picked
their skin, all along
even when their hands
stayed busy picking
something else.

when i was young,
before my skin was
reaped dry
before this habit
struck me like
hands on a clock.

i found a paper plate
full of dead skin in my
father’s desk drawer
and wondered what
could drive a person
to gather up
all those scraps.

now, harvesting my
own dermis, studying my
findings with morbid
awe, i remember
gilgamesh’s snake
and wonder if he, too,
felt the urge to save
its skin, a keepsake,
proof of a life
well-shed.

2/2

Steve Silas Hendrickson (The Fear Called Monday)@phylogeneticsteve.bsky.social · 6d ago

This is my entry for #PoemsAbout #SheddingSkin @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk When I shed my armor, after I'm done giving myself away, what am I deep down, really? #vss365 #vssdaily #BlueSkyPoets #writingprompt #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity

God In The Machine

It always starts like this
It's not that hard to miss
I'm just naive to keep trying again too...

Dressed as I walked inside
Too old to play asides,
Guess you're still not mature at 26.

Were you surprised by me
My bare silhouette...
When my armor fell off?
Reduced to elm and stone.
I can't even tell
What I am, you know?
A god in the machine,
Fragmented when I'm alone.

You took a god to bed,
Woke up with scraps instead.
You must have felt so terrified
When I took off the pieces of..
Me that I thought you knew,
But I am not deus ex machina.

Were you surprised by how
I took my clothes off?
When my armor wore off
Reduced to skin and stone.
I can't even tell
What am I right now...?
A god in the machine,
Fragmented when I'm alone.

You took my codes in full.
You stole my tools.
You wanted me so much
You filled my nights
With all your lies.
And now you know I'm not some fucking
God in the machine!

Not a god when...
When I'm alone.

La Reine des Metaphores @metaphorqu.bsky.social · 6d ago

@thebrokenspine.co.uk #PoemsAbout #SheddingSkins "The Snakes' Skins fall like Rivers to the Earth" I hand wrote that in a soppy notebook forty years back since when there is maybe a reservoir of half shed poems still clinging on and making me itch. Or maybe a wardrobe full Or a dustbin.

The Broken Spine (SUBS OPEN)@thebrokenspine.co.uk · 6d ago

#PoemsAbout #SheddingSkins is live. Skin. Names. Roles. Histories. Old selves left snagged on something sharp. Post from today through Thursday. Tag #PoemsAbout. Use Alt Text. #TakeRisks #EndOnAnImage #AvoidCliché And don’t ghost. Read 3+. Repost. Reply.

Merril D. Smith @merrildsmith.bsky.social · 6d ago

Good morning! Happy Friday! Here's my poem for #PoemsAbout #SheddingSkins. Thank you to @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @thebrokenspine.co.uk

Poem:

Viper

She sloughed her old life like a snakeskin
the day the soldiers came,

each day she dresses herself anew,
school girl, servant, sweetheart—
while they swagger,
ramparts breached
they plant their flags,

never hear her rattle

nor notice how she slithers
through their spilled words,
fangs sheathed,

they disregard her—
seeing only body, not mind.

A shadow-life. Half-life gone.

She hopes one day for a new skin,
not paper-thin, unscaled,
luxurious as silk or velvet,
one she can settle in.

Felicity amelia @felicityamelia.bsky.social · 6d ago

#blueskypoetry #poemsabout #sheddingskin #@thebrokenspine.co.uk #poem

Dawn McLachlan @deemclachlan.bsky.social · 6d ago

Another #FridayPoem for @thebrokenspine.co.uk and @alanparrywriter.co.uk prompt #sheddingskins #poemsabout #poetrycommunity #poetry #poems #poetsofbluesky #UseAltText #PoemAltText

Slough
By Dawn Mclachlan

I wake in scarred skin
Behind the earned Lines
Of a million expressions
And hear again the incessant buzz
That I should rid myself
Of this shameful aging burden
So that I too
Might achieve a youthful allure
And emerge freshly born
To disguise the fact
That I can only move through time
In one direction
I could spend my future
Rattling with tablets
Made from boiled hooves
Sunshine in pill form
Fresh air powders
Dehydrated trees
Concentrate of oranges
And hope
Or
I won't
I can't shed this skin
Instead I shed the guilt
Of a visible past
Gently creasing with memories Of the years that made me

Jen Thorne @jenthorne.bsky.social · 6d ago

Yay it's #PoemsAbout day again. It sure does seem to roll around fast! Here is my contribution for #SheddingSkins with thanks to @thebrokenspine.co.uk and @alanparrywriter.co.uk Happy Friday everyone. Have a good weekend ❤️ #Poetry

Needle Craft

The needle drives in hard.
Skin jumps.
A sharp, hot sting spreads fast.
Old scars twitch under the pressure.

The buzz drills through the room,
through the bone,
through long silent parts of me.
Ink forces its way in,
every stroke
claiming dominion.

At home I rip away the wrap.
The wound glares
red, swollen, wet.
It pulses under my palm.
When I wash it, the water clouds pink,
heat claws through my arm,
this time
it's my choice.

By morning the surface cracks.
The old layers split open,
peel back in jagged strips.
They fall to the floor,
curling at the edges.

Underneath, the colour holds steady.
I press my fingers
to my new skin.

DrNaturegirl @drnaturegirl.debbiemross.co.uk · 6d ago

Good morning #blueskypoetry peeps and #PoemsAbout host @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk Thanks for today’s #SheddingSkin prompt. Here’s my offering. Bit rough still. Will be hopping in and out throughout the submission period. Look forward to seeing your work. #poetry #poem

A poem by Debbie Ross entitled Ecdysis 2 stanzas text as follows:

In the end
it was the only way
to survive.

Eventually she managed
to expand,
slough off the old
slide
into something new.

Paul Brookes @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social · 6d ago

For #PoemsAbout #SheddingSkin. Thank you @alanparrywriter.co.uk

Peeling

Abscission of Summer peel off
in clumps on to carpets,
kitchen tiles, piles of skin leaves.

Delamination of long days
into colder days and less light.
Moulting one season into another.

Autumn is a new skin, fresh out
of the chrysalis of burst blossom
of short darkness, life crackles.

Beth Brooke @bethbpoet.bsky.social · 6d ago

#PoemsAbout #SheddingSkins @thebrokenspine.co.uk Here we go

A poem written in lieu of a letter of resignation.

Change, like a hand pressed hard
against my chest,
restricting the flow of air.
Like the mayfly at the water’s edge,
I cannot breathe; ecdysis squeezes
before it blesses us with wings.
There is an itch; it claws for my attention,
makes me restless in my own skin;
my clothes feel tight, feel wrong,
don’t fit the thing I am becoming.
There is urgency, wanting this moment
when everything splits
and something stranger, stronger
steps out, wings unfurled.

Rachel Burrows @rburrows.bsky.social · 6d ago

A panic write for #PoemsAbout #SheddingSkins! Happy Friday everyone - make the most of it! 😬😂 Thanks @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk I look forward to reading everyone’s later! #poetry #writing #cicada

Sue Ibrahim @sueimnw.bsky.social · 6d ago

For this week's #PoemsAbout #SheddingSkins with thanks to @thebrokenspine.co.uk #poetry #poetrycommunity

Francis H Powell writer and poet @fhpowellwriter.bsky.social · 6d ago

@alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk #PoemsAbout #SheddingSkins

roger waldron @throwawayreg.bsky.social · 6d ago

morning Friday there’s an old sayin “rain before 7 over by 11” let’s hope 💧🌧️ fed up of the rain now 🤷‍♂️ so here’s my little “throwaway” poem for #PoemsAbout #sheddingskins and thank @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk and again everyone everywhere has a loving weekend 🛋️🚮

C. Oulens @owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social · 6d ago

For #PoemsAbout #SheddingSkins @thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk Thank you for reading 🙏 #Oulens #poetry #micropoetry #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity

Comfortable in it
By C. Oulens

My skin belongs. Period.

I’ve discarded

(albeit with a struggle
akin to Spider-Man’s
with the black symbiote)

this
bleak
clinging
psoriatic thought:
it. needs. shedding.

(The last line is in italics)