Greatest satirist since Jonathan Swift… …a phrase bandied about this week… Swift wrote astonishing prose laced with complex irony. He kicked up not down… That’s not the same as spewing alternately vaporous & feculent drivel, seasoned with some vicious dreams, at society’s most vulnerable people…

The great Russian painter Issac Levitan died on this day in 1900. His 1892 painting Vladimirka depicts the old road from Moscow to Vladimir, notorious as the first stage of the march of prisoners condemned to Siberian exile #dotd

It is of course very hard to resist the temptation to record Shelley’s most famous poem, though the parodies are as common as those of Downfall - the best is by @regretteruane.bsky.social So here’s my attempt. Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley #BOTD in 1792 #poemsaloud #Ozymandias #poetrycommunity

Paul Connolly@thepaulconnolly.bsky.social · yesterday

Percy Bysshe Shelley. #BOTD in 1792. Here’s my recording of his brilliant short meditation, Time #poemsaloud

It is of course very hard to resist the temptation to record Shelley’s most famous poem, though the parodies are as common as those of Downfall - the best is by @regretteruane.bsky.social So here’s my attempt. Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley #BOTD in 1792 #poemsaloud #Ozymandias #poetrycommunity

Paul Connolly@thepaulconnolly.bsky.social · yesterday

Percy Bysshe Shelley. #BOTD in 1792. Here’s my recording of his brilliant short meditation, Time #poemsaloud

Percy Bysshe Shelley. #BOTD in 1792. Here’s my recording of his brilliant short meditation, Time #poemsaloud

❤️

Paul Connolly@thepaulconnolly.bsky.social · 4d ago

I am absolutely delighted that my poem Doorstep, both as text and a #poemsaloud recording, is in the wonderful online poetry magazine Full House Literary @fullhouselitmag.bsky.social My eternal thanks to the wonderful editors Leia Butler @leiabutler.bsky.social & Lowena Olver. #poetrycommunity

Be sure to check out this amazing piece ⬇️

Paul Connolly@thepaulconnolly.bsky.social · 4d ago

I am absolutely delighted that my poem Doorstep, both as text and a #poemsaloud recording, is in the wonderful online poetry magazine Full House Literary @fullhouselitmag.bsky.social My eternal thanks to the wonderful editors Leia Butler @leiabutler.bsky.social & Lowena Olver. #poetrycommunity

Such such such a great piece ⬇️

Paul Connolly@thepaulconnolly.bsky.social · 4d ago

I am absolutely delighted that my poem Doorstep, both as text and a #poemsaloud recording, is in the wonderful online poetry magazine Full House Literary @fullhouselitmag.bsky.social My eternal thanks to the wonderful editors Leia Butler @leiabutler.bsky.social & Lowena Olver. #poetrycommunity

I am absolutely delighted that my poem Doorstep, both as text and a #poemsaloud recording, is in the wonderful online poetry magazine Full House Literary @fullhouselitmag.bsky.social My eternal thanks to the wonderful editors Leia Butler @leiabutler.bsky.social & Lowena Olver. #poetrycommunity

Doorstep by Paul Connolly — Full House Literary

fullhouseliterary.com

Yay, it's issue day! What a pleasure this one was to put together. The amazing image featured on the cover is by Gordon Massman. Go to the issue by clicking the link in the bio or copy and paste this link: www.fullhouseliterary.com/issue-2-2026

I’ve been thinking about this thread in relation to poetry. Underlying music & words here, essential to rhythm, to expression, is breath - fluent, urgent, hesitant, of lung-filled abundance & gulped desperation. Breath, without which no life. To write & speak poetry on breath, at its edge. Fine goal

Paul Connolly@thepaulconnolly.bsky.social · 5d ago

Watching ageing Louis Armstrong sing Blueberry Hill in a live BBC set from the archives. His commitment to each instant, breath, each facial flicker, the moment to moment rubato beat of emotion: object lesson for any performer - singer, actor, reciter of verse - on being utterly present & compelling

The Book Bag: Poetic Voices – August 2026 Welcome to August's Poetic Voice, a poet who I have had the pleasure of meeting in Wales, once upon a time in Neath. They are somebody whose work is always full of soul and energy, often associated with deep time, and I have been lucky to write a small…

The Book Bag: Poetic Voices – August 2026

Welcome to August's Poetic Voice, a poet who I have had the pleasure of meeting in Wales, once upon a time in Neath. They are somebody whose work is always full of soul and energy, often associated with deep time, and I have been lucky to write a small blurb for their recently released book with Black Bough Poetry. They are an exceptional writer and an even more exceptional person.

paulwritespoems.com

I’ve been thinking about this thread in relation to poetry. Underlying music & words here, essential to rhythm, to expression, is breath - fluent, urgent, hesitant, of lung-filled abundance & gulped desperation. Breath, without which no life. To write & speak poetry on breath, at its edge. Fine goal

Paul Connolly@thepaulconnolly.bsky.social · 5d ago

Watching ageing Louis Armstrong sing Blueberry Hill in a live BBC set from the archives. His commitment to each instant, breath, each facial flicker, the moment to moment rubato beat of emotion: object lesson for any performer - singer, actor, reciter of verse - on being utterly present & compelling

Watching ageing Louis Armstrong sing Blueberry Hill in a live BBC set from the archives. His commitment to each instant, breath, each facial flicker, the moment to moment rubato beat of emotion: object lesson for any performer - singer, actor, reciter of verse - on being utterly present & compelling

Thankye to awesome Editor Raddy for publishing my poem The Black Witch on the fantastic The Gorko Gazette thegorkogazette.com/2026/07/31/b...

New content every morning!

some talking dirty in my ear while you ride at full throttle

thegorkogazette.com

With a brand new issue coming out tomorrow, now is the perfect chance to shout out all the amazing Featured Creators we last published earlier this year! Names and tags linked in the thread below! You can find the Featured Creator section here: www.fullhouseliterary.com/featured-cre...

Featured Creators — Full House Literary

fullhouseliterary.com

Beethoven Piano Concerto 3. Great work from the end of his early phase, before the Eroica’s eruption changed his life & all music forever. Perhaps a response to Mozart 20, which Beethoven revered, it’s packed with Sturm und Drang & strange, brooding magic, especially after the first movement cadenza

Beethoven, Piano Concerto n 3 in C minor opus 37, Yefim Bronfman

YouTube video by Audiobooks and Music - Audiolibri e Musica

m.youtube.com

Pre-orders now open for my novel PARCH MARKS 💚💛 In a future Britain, archeologist Eva Sinclair investigates the mysterious fern-like patterns left by drought around the long-dry riverbed of an ancient massacre site. Release due September 1st www.gold.ac.uk/goldsmiths-p...

Parch Marks

gold.ac.uk

This 👇 Fill yer boots…

Broken Sleep Books@brokensleepbooks.bsky.social · 5d ago

FLASH SALE: 20% off until Sunday night. If there's a book you've been circling, or you fancy taking a punt on something new, now's a good time. Every order goes straight back into publishing writers the bigger presses overlook. That's the whole point of us. www.brokensleepbooks.com/books

www.brokensleepbooks.com/product-page...

Daniel Hinds - New Famous Phrases | Broken Sleep Books

New Famous Phrases is a poetic tour de force that traverses ancient mythologies, aquatic fables, and the evolving art of poetry itself. Drawing inspiration from canonical poets like John Keats, Ted Hu...

brokensleepbooks.com

Satyr created by Mary Lorraine, c.1967, in the art therapy studio at Netherne Hospital, where she was compelled to live. One of several surviving works her paintings often depict scenes of ballet, art making & society occasions & it seems, pre-hospitalisation, she may have been a professional dancer

This 👇 Fill yer boots…

Broken Sleep Books@brokensleepbooks.bsky.social · 5d ago

FLASH SALE: 20% off until Sunday night. If there's a book you've been circling, or you fancy taking a punt on something new, now's a good time. Every order goes straight back into publishing writers the bigger presses overlook. That's the whole point of us. www.brokensleepbooks.com/books

FLASH SALE: 20% off until Sunday night. If there's a book you've been circling, or you fancy taking a punt on something new, now's a good time. Every order goes straight back into publishing writers the bigger presses overlook. That's the whole point of us. www.brokensleepbooks.com/books

open.substack.com/pub/thewinge... Lovely to be published in @anteroompoetry.bsky.social today. Thank you.

NEW POETRY 26 (2)

Martin Baxter Sara O'Grady

open.substack.com

It's not avant garde it's playful. It's not difficult it's possibility. On Monday at R2W Balby is my introduction to the playfulness of J H Prynne through the playfulness of Steve Spence.

David Atkinson shared Michael Longley’s tremendous poem The Butchers (👇). I felt impelled to record it #poemsaloud #TheOdyssey #poetrycommunity #triggerwarning #graphicviolence @davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social

David Atkinson@davidatkinsonpoet.bsky.social · 7d ago

More #Odyssey Homer’s version of 'killing of the suitors' represents Odysseus's need for justice & the restoration of order Longley's poem differs, shifting focus from heroic avengers to blood thirsty killers The poem is an allegory for atrocities of the Shankill Butchers #poetry #poemoftheday

Today's post on my Crafty Green Poet Substack is all about animal migrations, you can read it here: craftygreenpoet.substack.com/p/animal-mig...

Animal Migrations

As I do every summer, I’ve been enjoying watching our local Swifts as they fly around over our street.

craftygreenpoet.substack.com

The Bridport Prize 2026 Shortlists are here! The Short Story, Poetry and Flash Fiction shortlists are now live. Congratulations to every writer whose work has been shortlisted – an incredible achievement. 📖 View the shortlisted titles: buff.ly/w2x0BDV

A month ago, my new essay Who Are The Fire Tamers? about the secret world of traditional French healers, Sontag, Bachelard, bodies and medical care, was published in @aeon.co. Since, I've been contacted by readers from around the world. Today, this beautiful comment was left. aeon.co/essays/who-a...