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Jo Bratten

@jobratten

Poet person. London. CLIMACTERIC (2022). PhD St Andrews. Work in lots of places and in progress. NB: I tend to only follow UK-based poets and publishers here. jobratten.co.uk

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Latest posts by Jo Bratten @jobratten

Thanks Gareth - your poem is brilliant also!

06.07.2025 15:16 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

πŸ™

05.07.2025 07:20 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Thank you so much Mark – this is a poem that got rejected a lot, so I’m especially pleased it’s got such a good home, and kind readers 🩷

05.07.2025 07:02 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Issue twenty-one β€” Bad Lilies

OUT NOW. Issue Twenty-One: Long-limbed Darlings badlilies.uk/issue-twenty-1

04.07.2025 11:00 πŸ‘ 32 πŸ” 18 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 3
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Jo Bratten β€” Bad Lilies Two poems by Jo Bratten

There is a new bunch of Bad Lilies out and two of them are mine www.badlilies.uk/jo-bratten-1. It’s a corker of an issue

05.07.2025 06:19 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

I concur. This is a superb poem. The last word in mower poems.

05.07.2025 06:17 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Thank you - your Magma poem is gorgeous πŸ’›

30.03.2025 09:25 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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And these by @jsaphra.bsky.social and @jesstraynor.bsky.social πŸ”₯

30.03.2025 08:10 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
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Some favourites - this spread with @lucyrebeccaholme.bsky.social and @katewakeling.bsky.social

30.03.2025 08:08 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0
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Spring has finally sprung and with it spring issues of @poetrylondon.bsky.social and @magmapoetry.bsky.social – I’m lucky to have a poem in each, alongside all manner of brilliance πŸ’›

30.03.2025 08:04 πŸ‘ 36 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0

πŸ’―

14.03.2025 19:13 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Happy birthday for tomorrow dear Kathryn ❀️❀️

03.03.2025 19:59 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Loved all of these

01.03.2025 11:12 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
The Bubble
after Jean Gautier, loosely breathe out the bubble appears
an explosion
about to burst an idea
β€” please anything but an idea! β€” wafting on its own propulsion transparent star glass globe
or opal pendant from an earlobe ovum a perfection on the verge of error
a simulacra of a screen-saver's mazy shine
looping its loops of colour even before log-in the whole damn world in its taut circumference window-streaked spherical a tear shed for its own
brief existence
one click one scroll one nudge a tick of tinnitus in your ear one burp and it's gone

The Bubble after Jean Gautier, loosely breathe out the bubble appears an explosion about to burst an idea β€” please anything but an idea! β€” wafting on its own propulsion transparent star glass globe or opal pendant from an earlobe ovum a perfection on the verge of error a simulacra of a screen-saver's mazy shine looping its loops of colour even before log-in the whole damn world in its taut circumference window-streaked spherical a tear shed for its own brief existence one click one scroll one nudge a tick of tinnitus in your ear one burp and it's gone

Time to spotlight the poets of issue twenty. First up, we have four poems by Matthew Caley badlilies.uk/matthew-caley-1

01.03.2025 11:08 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Beautiful poem @corinnaboard.bsky.social ❀️

01.03.2025 08:40 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Rose Apple and the Desiccated Lake by Naush Sabah PN Review 259, May - June 2021

This week from the archive: read Rose Apple and the Desiccated Lake by Naush Sabah, published in PN Review 259, May - June 2021.

open.substack.com/pub/pnreview/p/rose-app...

27.02.2025 14:15 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

The bearded dancers made me think this was a parody but it seems no…

26.02.2025 07:44 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Listen, Broligarchy is not some cute synonym for oligarchy. It's genuinely different & WAY more dangerous.

I'm a sociologist who's been studying the ultra-rich globally for 17 yrs, entering their world as an offshore wealth mgr. Published 2 books abt them.

🧡Broligarchs are distinct in 3 ways:

15.11.2024 21:01 πŸ‘ 4175 πŸ” 2018 πŸ’¬ 160 πŸ“Œ 396

Thank you Elizabeth: that’s high praise! Chekhov is universal, of course: we all get him… ❀️

06.02.2025 14:37 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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I mean

06.02.2025 14:09 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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As democracy collapses around our ears I’m not advocating a retreat into illusion, in spite of what this poem might suggest. Hugely grateful to @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social for publishing the first of my Chekhov poems in their Feb/March edition

thelondonmagazine.org/product/curr...

06.02.2025 14:09 πŸ‘ 17 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
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Latest @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social landing on doormats – have gone straight to the crossword where I’m stuck on 29 across

03.02.2025 17:28 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Bad Lilies returns, with much joy, to a screen near you next month. We’ve some beautiful poems in store for you. Follow us on @badlilies.bsky.social if you don’t already. 🌸

26.01.2025 19:53 πŸ‘ 43 πŸ” 14 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Such a delicate, gorgeous poem Zoë ❀️❀️

26.01.2025 18:04 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Latest Poetry Society post…

26.01.2025 15:06 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

You know that poetry Bluesky has found its feet when there’s beef #poetrydiscourse

26.01.2025 14:50 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
Poem text reads:

The Rainmaker
BY NIALL CAMPBELL

We needed itβ€”and he stood there, 
feet on the dry porch, saying β€˜rain’, 
cloud and skyful, the sound of drumming;

the bath trough in the garden listened, white and bone dry, as he described 
a bright wash across the dust fields,

the surest downpour, the flushed skin, 
my soaked shirt, heavy as a bell.
Then off he went to the scorched fields,

humming, and weighing what we paid.
What did he say: β€˜prayer is moisture; 
hope is a well’—I didn't care,

I wanted just the words from himβ€” 
what I couldn't dare sayβ€”not there beneath that sun, that blur of fire-sky.

My thoughts all thoughts of water, I 
spun my head roundβ€”to hear the spill 
of the word rain across the boards,

and nothing grew dark, nothing fell-
but something fell, and the ground took, and something wild as garlic grew.

Poem text reads: The Rainmaker BY NIALL CAMPBELL We needed itβ€”and he stood there, feet on the dry porch, saying β€˜rain’, cloud and skyful, the sound of drumming; the bath trough in the garden listened, white and bone dry, as he described a bright wash across the dust fields, the surest downpour, the flushed skin, my soaked shirt, heavy as a bell. Then off he went to the scorched fields, humming, and weighing what we paid. What did he say: β€˜prayer is moisture; hope is a well’—I didn't care, I wanted just the words from himβ€” what I couldn't dare sayβ€”not there beneath that sun, that blur of fire-sky. My thoughts all thoughts of water, I spun my head roundβ€”to hear the spill of the word rain across the boards, and nothing grew dark, nothing fell- but something fell, and the ground took, and something wild as garlic grew.

I know we don’t really need rain here in the UK at the moment, but I’d still like to share this truly beautiful poem by @niallpoetry.bsky.social which I re-discovered thanks to @marjorielotfi.bsky.social’s January writing reset sessions.
#poetry

26.01.2025 14:16 πŸ‘ 21 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Pages 36-37 of the new @rialtopoetry.bsky.social are especially pleasing - poems by Matthew Caley and @drlauravarnam.bsky.social

25.01.2025 13:30 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

πŸ˜…

25.01.2025 12:08 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Am honoured (and unworthy) to follow Elizabeth Bishop in @mconley.bsky.social’s alphabetical journey through poems - really appreciative of the time he gave my little not-a-moon-poem poem πŸ™

25.01.2025 11:43 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0