Tessera

Peter J. King

@rock-rex.bsky.social

Poet, painter, translator (mainly from modern Greek & German). Originally from Boston, Lincolnshire, I now live in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds. https://wisdomsbottompress.wordpress.com/peter-j-king

7776 Posts2432 Follower 1868 Folgt

Hunt Saboteurs Association @huntsabs.org.uk · 13h ago

Hunts all over the country will be gearing up to head out and kill foxes for the cub hunting season. Please be vigilant and if you have any information regarding a hunt near you, please contact your local hunt saboteur group www.huntsabs.org.uk/local-groups/

Peter J. King @rock-rex.bsky.social · 11h ago

"Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)" From "Last Words", a sequence of poems each starting with the last words (sometimes apocryphal) of a well-known person. #poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetsofbluesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #lastwords #vangogh #augustanarchy

Dave Ashley@daveashleypoet.bsky.social · 13h ago

#AugustAnarchy Write whatever you feel Your prompt

Peter J. King @rock-rex.bsky.social · 23h ago

Steven Johnston - "Aisling Gheal" (slow air)/"O'Farrell's Welcome to Limerick" (slip jig) #irishmusic #irishtraditionalmusic #slowair #slipjig #uilleannpipes

AISLING GHEAL (Slow Air) and O'FARRELL'S WELCOME TO LIMERICK (Slip Jig) Trad. Arr. STEVEN JOHNSTON.

YouTube video by ALEHOUSE ACOUSTIC

youtu.be

Peter J. King @rock-rex.bsky.social · 23h ago

Shel Silverstein - "Folk Singer's Blues". #song #comicsong

Folk Singer's Blues

YouTube video by Shel Silverstein - Topic

youtu.be

Peter J. King @rock-rex.bsky.social · 24h ago

"La belle dame sans souci". #poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetsofbluesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #oddchallenge @zoomburst.substack.com

The year is nearly over,
and even at midday the sun
slinks surreptitiously around us,
hugging the horizon,
hardly managing to melt the morning frost.
The shadows stretch
like fairground mirrors,
making us a pair
of stilted giants striding
over empty fields.

As night falls, though,
and finally the sun retreats
to skulk around the edges
further west,
the moon (who rose some time ago,
and has been palely loitering until her time to shine)
heads for the highest point,
until we’re falling backwards
as we crane to see her,
full and silver-gilt.

Peter J. King @rock-rex.bsky.social · 24h ago

"Smoke Dove" (acrylics on black paper). #painting #art #acrylics

Peter J. King @rock-rex.bsky.social · 24h ago

i. Blackbird, who spends hours siting in the larch or on the wall below, gazing out at the village green. ii.-iii. Begonia in the conservatory. iv. The figs are beginning to be harvested; a great year for them - they taste like figgy honey. #photo #photography #churchill #oxfordshire #garden

Peter J. King @rock-rex.bsky.social · yesterday

"After Hokusai". (written after seeing a version of the Great Wave made from office stationery - but I now can't find it again) #poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetsofbluesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #hokusai #augustanarchy

The great wave is stationery,
motionless, a froth
of post-it notes and prussian
blue and tippex, threatening
to swamp the rafts of paper-clips,
the fishing boats of intricately
folded photocopy paper.

Dave Ashley@daveashleypoet.bsky.social · 2d ago

#AugustAnarchy time to write any old stuff Your prompt is

paulusthewoodgnome @paulusthewoodgnome.bsky.social · 2d ago

Seeking to identify. '11.30am Mon 29 June, a woman was asked to stop vaping on the Elizabeth Line platform at Whitechapel by a member of staff. The woman punched them in the face twice, causing a fractured eye socket, and also kicked the staff member in the chest.' www.btp.police.uk/news/btp/new...

CCTV of person of interest regarding assault.

B Beshoar @bbeshoar.bsky.social · 2d ago

Another Trump deal is no deal. Israeli genocide continues.

Al Jazeera English@aljazeera.com · 2d ago

Israel defies Trump’s peace plan as it escalates deadly attacks on Gaza https://aje.news/7gl7wi

Peter J. King @rock-rex.bsky.social · 2d ago

"Aviary IV" & "Aviary V". #poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetsofbluesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity

i.
The grebes are dancing on the pond;
they stretch their bodies
sinuously skyward
in El Greco grace,
and wag their crested heads —
green gifts hang dripping
from stiletto beaks.
The bond between them
is pulled tight,
a knot
that even hungry chicks
cannot unpick.

ii.
The jackdaws here are oddly voiceless,
acting out their normal lives,
their wheeling flight,
their sudden darts for food or mischief,
and their bold, inquisitive incursions
into human habitations
like a flock of Keystone Kops.

iii.
Two blackbirds, newly fledged,
their stumpy wings incapable of flight,
unable yet to forage for themselves,
but parentless.

In desperation
one dares to approach a monstrous
looming pigeon —
flirts its downy plumage, gapes for food,
but is rebuffed.

They lie now,
on the paving by the pond,
little more than huddled knots
of feathers, speckled brown.

i.
two gulls mob a lone red kite
whose bosun’s whistle
rouses them to mocking laughter
(as does everything)

the early-morning sky is pale,
but promises a greater depth,
unseasonably hot, unscarred
by cloud

the world is trembling minutely,
on the verge of change,
of something long awaited,
without precedent, unfathomable

gulls and kite are unaware
of anything except
their languid,
spiteful squabble

and when the great event has taken place,
the birds and you and I
will still be unaware
will sidle through a new reality
without astonishment

ii.
The pouter pigeon puffs itself
and spreads its tail,
but I decline to fall,
turn down the transient,
the only pleasure left to me.

Then later,
turning off the ring road,
driving back through twisting streets —
but it’s too late,
and I’m too late
to change my mind.

Peter J. King @rock-rex.bsky.social · 2d ago

Acylics on paper. #painting #art #acrylics

Peter J. King @rock-rex.bsky.social · 2d ago

Blue-green lichen, Churchill, Oxfordshire. I've no idea what species - any experts out there? #photo #photography #mycology #lichenology #lichen #churchill #oxfordshire

Peter J. King @rock-rex.bsky.social · 2d ago

"...pro aliorum utilitate mori" #poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetsofbluesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #warpoetry #warpoem #oddchallenge @zoomburst.substack.com

The politicians, parsons, and the owners
of the press, they danced the measure
given them by makers of munitions.
They sprayed the language of the grave
from spittle-shining lechers’ lips:
the love of country.

We didn’t give our lives, nor lay them down;
our leaders wrapped them up in khaki,
navy blue, or grey, and tossed them in the grave
to serve political ambition.

We made no gallant sacrifice;
our leaders laid us on their altars —
ripping out our hearts, they dipped
their paper poppies in our blood
and pinned them on the swelling chests
of politicians, parsons, and the owners
of the press.

They pinned them onto children
while they murmured their seductive lies
of honour, pride, and glory.

The politicians, parsons, and the owners
of the press, they danced the measure
given them by makers of munitions.
They sprayed the language of the grave
from spittle-shining lechers’ lips:
the love of country.

earlier version published in "Adding Colours to the Chameleon"
(2016, Wisdom’s Bottom Press)

Peter J. King @rock-rex.bsky.social · 3d ago

Beat It! I rocked DISCOVR: 2/36

discovr.uk - The daily album art quiz!

Daily album cover quiz - guess the iconic album art!

discovr.uk

Lev Parikian @levparikian.bsky.social · 3d ago

til that herb butter was named after its inventor, Sir Herbert Butter-Knife in 1851. That it coincidentally contains both herbs and butter is just one of those wonderful happy accidents.

Raimo Kangasniemi @rk70534.bsky.social · 3d ago

"6 Palestinian civilians, incl. a child, were killed & several others were injured on Sunday evening in 2 #Israeli airstrikes west of #Gaza City, bringing the total death toll from attacks across the Strip since the early morning hours to 18." english.palinfo.com/news/2026/08... #GazaNews #Israel

Hamas: Deadly Gaza strikes aimed at sabotaging ceasefire arrangements

The Hamas Movement has condemned a series of deadly Israeli strikes across Gaza on Sunday that left at least 18 Palestinians dead and wiped out entire families.

english.palinfo.com

Raimo Kangasniemi @rk70534.bsky.social · 3d ago

"5 Palestinians, including three children, were injured on Sunday afternoon in an #Israeli drone strike west of Khan Younis in the southern #Gaza Strip. ... #Israeli drone targeted a mobile phone charging point W. of Khan Younis." english.wafa.ps/Pages/Detail... #GazaNews #Israel #News #WorldNews

Five Palestinians, including three children, injured in Israeli drone strike west of Khan Younis

english.wafa.ps

Peter J. King @rock-rex.bsky.social · 3d ago

"The Gaze through Gauze". From a series of poems on which I'm working; each starts & ends with the first & last lines of another poet's poem. #poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetsofbluesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #topped&tailed @omarsakr.bsky.social l @the87press.bsky.social

First and last lines from Omar Sakr’s “Genocide in the Genocide”,
in "The Nightmare Sequence" (2025, the87press)

I walk in the fields of genocide
upon the sticky ground;
every step’s an effort
as I pull my boots up
from the blood-soaked sand
and dust
that pulls me down.
As I stagger past
the hills of bodies
(small heaps of men,
large piles of women,
and great mounds of children)
little demon on my shoulder
drones into my ear.

Grey suit and wire-
rimmed glasses,
bearing a clipboard like a shield,
it gestures at a set of figures
and an endless screed of tiny print:

“It isn’t clear that this is genocide
according to the legal definition...”
And as it picks at nits,
back firmly turned
to all the pain and death,
I reach up to my shoulder — and:
“What are you doing with your hands?”

Peter J. King @rock-rex.bsky.social · 3d ago

Acrylics on paper. #painting #art #acrylics

Peter J. King @rock-rex.bsky.social · 3d ago

Around & above the garden, Churchill, Oxfordshire. #photo #photography #garden #botany #flower #cloudscape #churchill #oxfordshire

Peter J. King @rock-rex.bsky.social · 3d ago

antiestablishment desanctify event horizon meritocracy open source

Merriam-Webster@merriam-webster.com · 5d ago

Find the 5 words from your birth year that perfectly describe YOUR vibe ⬇️ www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/

I recently discovered Merriam-Webster's Time Traveler feature which tells you which words are the same age as you.
I'm convinced there are 5 words from your birth year that perfectly describe your vibe.
Mine (1987):
·
-adhd
• brain fart
-dad joke
-potty-mouthed
-thirtysomething

Raimo Kangasniemi @rk70534.bsky.social · 4d ago

"1.8.2026 An #Israeli airstrike targeted a warehouse for medical supplies & medicines at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in... Deir al-Balah, central #Gaza Strip, destroying the warehouse & nearby tents housing displaced Palestinians." m.youtube.com/watch?v=LIp-... #GazaNews #Israel #News #WorldNews

قصف إسرائيلي يستهدف مستودع مستلزمات طبية وأدوية بمستشفى الأقصى في دير البلح وسط قطاع غزة

YouTube video by Wafa Agency

m.youtube.com

Peter J. King @rock-rex.bsky.social · 4d ago

"Hypercaust". (first draft, written yesterday morning) #poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetsofbluesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity

in the harsh sunlight
fields and meadows glimmer
golden brown
even the leaves of old
deep-rooted trees
droop curl
and little moves not wind nor creature
even the swifts’ shrieks seem subdued
even the midges
lack the energy to dance
in sunlit clearings
of the drooping woods
sweat dries
the instant it appears
and we can feel
the little hairs on arms and legs
begin to curl and shrivel
peppering our peeling skin
with ashen smudges
like a myriad
Ash Wednesdays

Peter J. King @rock-rex.bsky.social · 4d ago

Acrylics on paper. #painting #art #acrylics

Peter J. King @rock-rex.bsky.social · 4d ago

Conisbrough Castle, S. Yorkshire. #photo #photography #castle #normanarchitecture #conisbrough #yorkshire

Longbarrow Press @longbarrowpress.bsky.social · 5d ago

Often on trance-walks I can’t quite retrace my twists and turns going back: my thread could be left or right; everywhere could be The Way. Special one-day offer for #YorkshireDay: 35% off Matthew Clegg's excellent debut collection 'West North East' westnortheast.wordpress.com

The cover of West North East by Matthew Clegg: pale green with a semi-abstract map motif

Peter J. King @rock-rex.bsky.social · 5d ago

"Isle". (first draft, written this morning) #poem #poetry #skypoets #blueskypoets #poetsofbluesky #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity

we from heavy sunlight
roob | door
drift up to the shadowed ceiling
with the scents of
myrrh and frankincense
and dragon’s blood

bobbing here
we don’t know whether
we are congregation
or a tour group
squinting down
at ikons faces peering through
the gaps in beaten silver
no expressions
or else preternaturally calm
paint darkened by the years
and candle soot
and last-chance desperation

Peter J. King @rock-rex.bsky.social · 5d ago

Acrylics on paper. #painting #art #acrylics

Peter J. King @rock-rex.bsky.social · 5d ago

Around Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire (earlier in the year). (I'd inadvertently set the camera to take photos in sequences of six, meaning that the quality was lower.) #photo #photography #chippingnorton #oxfordshire