My poem from the stunning @blackboughpoems Christmas & Winter 2024 Anthology. Get your physical copy here:

❄️ TONIGHT ❄️ Join us online for the launch of @blackboughpoems Christmas & Winter Anthology Volume 5 ♥️ I’m over the moon to have a poem featured in the book 🌙 which I’ll be reading tonight as part of the open mic. Get tickets here: https://t.co/kHtbXNQ4Mk

✨ It’s here! ✨ I’m over the moon to have a poem in this beautiful anthology 🌙 alongside breathtaking works from the likes of Matthew Hollis. Edited by @ElCurwen and @MatthewMCSmith for @blackboughpoems – with artwork from @EmmaBissonnet – get it on Amazon now.

Well @TopTweetTuesday I’m about to sign off from hosting duty. The quality and calibre of the work today has been startling in the most wonderful way! Thank you to all who contributed, thank you @MatthewMCSmith for inviting me to host. I’m off to bed with a head full of poems!

I’m so glad! Gorgeous work

You’re so welcome Anna

High praise indeed Glenn! Thank you 🖤

I love this Anthony – the shortened version is particularly vivid, and I think really benefits from keeping that lunar image at the centre, glowing in the dark. Stellar work 🌙

This feels so expertly done Paul. A razor-sharp reduction which amplifies the beauty, grief, longing and loss of the original. Where the original is so sensory, stripping it back I think it gives it even more power in its brevity. I can almost feel the hands disconnecting.

This condensed poem is so lovely. How much meaning there is in such an everyday object, how the mug holds the very heart of the family – I think condensing this really boils it down to the very sweetest part. Lovely!

Fabulous reduction here Anish. I think the abridged version has such power, like a lightning flash, it illuminates this moment you’ve captured and its beautiful, fleeting nature – then like the rumbling storm, it moves on. Lush. ⛈️

Ooh Jai, the new life breathed into this is stunning. I love your use of spacing and line breaks in both pieces. The shorter is much more abstract, but I think the heart of it remains. I really love ‘blue happened’ as the opening line too! 💙

I love your condensed version Robert, it’s so punchy and vivid. It feels very considered and curated, but still full of your unique voice. Wonderful work 💜

I love the humour and wit in this Margaret! The condensed version certainly has a sting in its tail, there’s so much sass in such a small package! 🐝

The stripped back version of this has such heat and rhythm, that heartbeat is so present in every line. There’s such a sense of connection. It’s very different from the fuller version, but deftly done. ♥️

Here you go @RegineEbner 👆

The sounds in this are wonderful Merril. So immersive! I feel like I can hear those galloping ghost horses breathing all around me. Gorgeous reduction with all the impact of the original.

Good morning! Here's my original and my condensed version of This Fog. Enjoy your day @chloevwrites and thank you as always @TopTweetTuesday @MatthewMCSmith ! #poetrycommunity

I so enjoyed these Rhona. The words in your condensed version sparkle like starlight in the vast expanse of space, shining with the light of all that came before them. Lovely poems 🌟💫

Powerful words Daniel. These feel like two tellings of the same story, but so starkly different in the approach. There’s such unique imagery and metaphor in the longer that I wish the shorter had retained some of in the whittling down to a knifepoint, but still packs a punch.