Paul Brookes (@thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social)

@thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social Aug 4, 2026, 7:57 AM Pinned

From my new collection "Hedgerow of Voices", JCStudio Press for #PromptCombo #Stand
and @jenthorne.bsky.social my second and final contribution:

Great Crested Newt

Returning to the Under where I was born.
Through this Dark tunnel follow a scent trail,
feast on softness and crunch. Once Long Warm
is here I emerge from beneath the soil.

He swims, nudges me flashes silver striped tail,
stands on his front legs in front of me
arches his back waving his tail, invites.
He smells good. Leaves his jelly cone for me

to pick up with my lips where my tail starts.
I carry our children to the Under
where I will leaf wrap each as I was wrapped.
They will breathe and feed in this wet Under

body changes urge up to the Over where
lungs will fill with fresh scents of ground and air.

@thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social Oct 10, 2026, 8:04 AM

Thank you, Paul

@thepaulconnolly.bsky.social Oct 10, 2026, 7:52 AMReposted by @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social

Congratulations Paul!

@thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social Oct 10, 2026, 7:50 AM

In delerium that two linked sonnets from my forthcoming collection "But We've Always Been Here" (JCStudio Press) are published in the International Times. Thank you, Rupert.
internationaltimes.it/from-but-wev...

@internetofwords.com Oct 10, 2026, 6:52 AMReposted by @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social

Good Morning and welcome to #WorldMentalHealthDay where I am going to admit properly to the room a few things that I should have admitted a while ago.

My upcoming pamphlet is, in essence, a mental health sequence. It is #poetry where I admit that parts of me have never worked properly.

A colour variant of my pamphlet cover, in shades of green, with a stag on the cover with a tree growing out of it, surrounded by razor wire and daisies.

@thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 4:57 PM

You're more than welcome.

@metaphorqu.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 4:56 PMReposted by @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social

Thanks for posting this. 🙏🙏

@thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 4:54 PM

For #vss365 on the theme of #sirens. A sonnet from my forthcoming collection "But It's Always Been Like This" (JCStudio Press)

Brutally Outmanoeuvred

is critical. Rich folk must finance smart. Look how much you've changed emotionally Now could be your perfect moment. Take part has seriously never happily

happened before. You're body is starving inside. A tree grows out of your head. Crowned You work your way through forests of moving treeheads. Topmost branches bound/unbound.

"I don't want you to." she says as I reach to rescue both her red and green teddy squashed tight into the wire fence at the beach.

"You look after them for next time, Daddy."

Rising costs as the sirens go off. Blasts. 'This was not on my bingo card." he gasps.

@thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 4:49 PM

@thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 4:06 PM

Thank you, C.

@owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 3:55 PMReposted by @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social

Love the couplets!

@thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 1:19 PM

Thank you, John.

@johnchmura.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 11:41 AMReposted by @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social

I’m glad you gave us the title of the collection because I think it adds depth to the poem at hand, Paul.

@merrildsmith.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 12:05 PMReposted by @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social

Good morning! My poem for #PoemsAbout #Bites is a revision of a poem I wrote for Paul Brookes @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social ekphrastic challenge with art by @karenpgonzalez.bsky.social Thank you as always to @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @thebrokenspine.co.uk I'll be back later!

Poem:
Choices: Divergence, Convergence

In the woods, you choose a road,
this one, or the other,

perhaps they are the same—or not—

perhaps you meet a snake with jeweled
lapis scales,

perhaps he offers
you this or that,
his tongue flicking words
you catch poison-sweet
on your tongue--

perhaps instead
you see a wave of wildflowers,
nodding their heads,
scenting the path

just before the strike, the bite.

Art work by Karen Pierce Gonzalez, a snake in spring green, aqua, yellow, and orange, studded with round blue jewels or buttons. Black background.

@thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 11:02 AM

Thank you, Patricia.

@patriciajvs.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 10:58 AMReposted by @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social

Wow - love the couplets, they take you on the journey and then hit in the face!

@imcmillan.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 10:15 AMReposted by @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social

Big fan of Tartarus Press!

@thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 8:45 AM

Thank you, Jude.

@jude-brucemoll.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 8:42 AMReposted by @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social

Gosh!

@anne-marie-fyfe.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 8:28 AMReposted by @thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social

Delighted that Anne Carson, whose genius I've long admired (pic: Poetry Society Lecture) has been awarded the Nobel Prize : her mercurial shape-shifting hybridity really suits my current 'Cloudwatching' course theme & this Sunday's wk#6 module features 'Tuesday I became clouds...' from 'Wrong Norma'

@thewombwellrainbow.bsky.social Oct 9, 2026, 7:44 AM

Thank you, Jen.