Jean Bleakney

Who Do You Think You Are? There is no better diversion, teens to oldies, than turning detective. This THREAD will list sources (for the island of Ireland). All FREE. Get in there.

@MayaCPopa Ahhh❤️

Robert Bly:

funeraltimes.com/saraheisel-ble… Our dearly-loved daughter -in-law, Sarah.

Jim McElroy - Irish Book Awards Great to be reminded what an absolute corker this poem is. On so many levels. irishbookawards.ie/nominee/jim-mc…

Thoughts tonight with Myra Vennard (1929-2022) and those who loved her. @DonaldsonMoyra @ACNIWriting @Backmuir Her deeply affecting poems still shimmering.

"That brief formal statement at 12.34pm today is a mighty blow. Intellectually we realised this day would arrive. But emotionally we are not remotely prepared for it at all. Facing into the darkest of winters, it seems deeply symbolic of a world gone awry" belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/column…

The bomb detonated at 3.10pm on 15th August 1998, in the centre of Omagh - 24 years ago. My phone went crazy and then the network jammed. We visited the scene 2 days later. To the youngsters who think it was all a big heroic fairytale, I wish you could see what I saw that week.

@JimBMcElroy @MunLitCentre @frankfarrelly @endawyley @MartinaEvans @JuliaCopus Thanks Jim. I’m honoured. Was thinking about you last week, when out west looking my roots in rough terrain. “Walk on the rushes, Jean”, said a wise family member. Repeatedly.

First, diseased and defoliated ash trees. Now this chestnut leaf miner. 😢

Thrilled for Sheila and the utterly haunting Winter in Tabriz.

@SusannahDickey I'd forgotten how good he is. Thanks! He read from New Addresses that night in the Elmwood Hall.

@SusannahDickey 'The iris is a flower that is past meridian, a ghost come bearing you a villanelle' p540. He did Belfast Festival. Came to the workshop. Said there was no such thing as a prose poem. Didn't speak between gigs to save his voice. It was the '90s. Things were different back then.

Here is a picture, faded but happy, of a murdered man who matters. He matters to his family of course, but he should also matter to those who vote for the one mainstream party in western Europe that still believe terrorism is justified. He is Douglas Deering. 1/

Congratulations to Sheila Llewellyn, shortlisted for her marvellous Winter in Tabriz

@silverlawn @RuthgMoore @ParrConnal We left Newry in early 1973 for Lisburn. Mum is still there. We sometimes have an upstairs cuppa in Smyth Patterson, always hoping for a window seat. That would have been a fascinating and lively childhood. The Market Sq chemist is much missed by Mum.

@jbleakney @RuthgMoore @ParrConnal The Square in Crossmaglen would also have appealed to my Mum who grew up above her father’s chemist’s shop in Market Square, Lisburn, in the 30s and 40s. A very public life and she saw a lot of life from the front windows , especially on Saturday nights.

@ParrConnal @RuthgMoore Thank you so much for introducing me to the work of @jbleakney! I am absolutely loving these. They seem very much in the tradition of John Hewitt to me. #CulturalConversations

@silverlawn @RuthgMoore @ParrConnal Having the approval of gardeners is a particular thrill. Especially pleasing to know you found your Mum in the poems. Thanks so much.

@RuthgMoore @ParrConnal @jbleakney My late mother was a knowledgable gardener and I can hear her voice in many of the references to the beauty of fading petals, the enjoyment of Latin names for flowers and the vocabulary of garden centres … she would have loved the poems too.

@RuthgMoore @silverlawn @ParrConnal Thanks Ruth. Your support means a lot. Hope to reconnect before the year is out. Fermanagh beckons.

@silverlawn @ParrConnal @jbleakney Delighted you are making new connections @silverlawn Much to celebrate with Jean’s work: her word craft is sharp, intelligent, often delightful, always engaging and an invaluable part of the northern Irish/ British/Irish and English language poetry canon.

@silverlawn @ParrConnal @RuthgMoore Thank you Clare @silverlawn (and Connal @ParrConnal and Ruth @RuthgMoore ). I really appreciate the feedback and good vibes from afar.

@JimBMcElroy @MunLitCentre @giftforhope3 @poetryireland Very deserving it is. Thank you Jim xx

@the_rivermill @maria_mcmanus Out and about at the moment. Will get back later. Alice Oswald, Gillian Clarke, Sarah Maguire for starters. NB a lot of plant poems are not necessarily garden poems

Alfie’s Feet #ShirleyHughes 💔