Ben Blench

Is there a word for the curious mixture of pride, hope, and dread I'm feeling, having submitted five poems of unbridled filth that I would love to see published, but would literally die if my parents ever read?

The brilliant @brokensleepbooks.bsky.social is looking for your help to publish more poetry next year. If you can donate, that's more wonderful words out in the world: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-broke...

“Tante Miele” looks like she’s about to drop this year’s most hotly anticipated analogue rhythms

Love, cast all thought aside. I cast aside all thought. Wendell Berry

The world's most notorious custard-pie thrower is dead. What an obituary. He got Bernard-Henri Lévy seven times.

Deadline moved to 7 September!

New #micropoem by me inspired by... something.

Instant impulse buy!

Oh my...

Still buzzing from last night’s extraordinary, transcendent gig by Sunn O))) at @paradisoadam.bsky.social Many thanks to the EHBO lady who tweezed the earplug from my left ear afterwards LOL

Idea for a sitcom called "Aloo Aloo", set in a Balti House in Birmingham. Owner Mudit deals with problems from a dishonest Reform UK councillor, local foodies, a stolen Instagram account and a pair of trapped asylum seekers, all while concealing the affairs he's having with his waitresses...

Director Michael Cumming's Brass Eye Hidden Secrets Ep. 1, featuring Chris Morris in the guise of a variety of different Davids: David Sanction, David Voffov, David Unesco, David Waving, David Enthusiap, David Compression, David Bovvinge, David Qunt, and David Jatt. youtu.be/ml6AJARRVno?...

Fun :) Now do Sometimes, by Sheenagh Pugh LOL

Here's Willie Thorne (RIP to a real one) having his lunch with a budgie on his shoulder. Plate of selected biscuits. Bottle of salad cream. Massive bowl of sugar. And what's going on with that tiny, glass fronted cabinet on the wall above the kettle?

“I had never seen poets before, one poet yes but not poets.” From The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein

Some reflections on frequently unasked questions about stochastic parrots (the phrase and the paper): medium.com/@emilymenonb...

I like this poem a lot!

Correction! My zombie binge poem is in the Featured Creator section, not the issue itself. Anyway: I got published BOOYAH! www.fullhouseliterary.com/poetry/how-t...

I visited the British Library the other day. Of all the books and all the pages in the place, this one presented itself to me.

Incredible sequel. Edge of my seat!

Rules of nomenclature – Alexandra Citron atriumpoetry.com/2026/04/07/r...

the grief the grief the grief the grief

Now playing: Johnny Cash - Man in Black open.spotify.com/track/7wL9EV...

Having a great time getting stomped into a pulp by the monsters in DEVASTATION SONGS, the @brokensleepbooks.bsky.social anthology of Kaiju writing. Too many good ones to highlight so here's an especially stomach-turning monstrosity by @poetbex.bsky.social

Now playing: Baltimora - Tarzan Boy, because oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh! open.spotify.com/track/6FwMGM...

Great interview with the creator of Andor, Tony Gilroy.

Interested in poetry in games / games in poetry - including in historical games? Check out the call for papers for our annual conference (Multiplatform) below, which will take place in Manchester in mid-June. manchestergamecentre.org/events/2026/...

Rewatching Maarva’s “Fight the Empire” speech. All of #Andor is great, but this bit is especially powerful. youtu.be/TaKrm5txGCQ?...

I have just been made aware of the Swan Car: louwmanmuseum.nl/en/car/brook... It's got electric bulbs in the swan’s eyes that glow eerily in the dark! It has an eight-tone, keyboard-operated Gabriel horn! You can shoot steam out of the swan’s beak!

Last summer, on behalf of Granta, Sheila Heti underwent ketamine, DMT, and LSD/MDMA treatments. Her essay about these drug therapies is free to read online until Monday, along with the rest of Granta 174: Therapy.

In case you missed it earlier in the week — maybe other things are occupying your attention these days? — anyway, I had a sweet little poem published by the lovely people @atriumpoetry.bsky.social. It's about the terrible love and fear of being a dad. atriumpoetry.com/2026/02/03/b...

Now playing: Gnonnas Pedro et ses Dadjes - Dadje Von O Von Non open.spotify.com/track/4bkIej...

I don’t get published much, so it’s extra exciting when I do. Thanks very much to Atrium!

I, too, recommend this awesome anthology featuring incredible work by some astonishingly talented poets, hem hem

Downsizing – Lisa Kelly @lisadmkelly.bsky.social atriumpoetry.com/2026/01/27/d...

I'm super stoked that the next issue will feature my poem, inspired by watching far too many episodes of Fear the Walking Dead after my daughter and her friend made me sign up for Amazon Prime so they could watch White Chicks, which they then gave up on half way through.

Celebrate Ivor Cutler’s birthday by watching one of the most divine pieces of television ever made. Dave Allen *and* Ivor Cutler, how could you possibly resist? youtu.be/6RX1fMWkims?...

Found poem in an English language transcript of a Dutch voicemail

Thank you for reading and sharing today's poem - My Sister Went to Live on the Moon by @suefinch.bsky.social

Is there a more perfect last line than this? #books #writing #gatsby #fitzgerald #lastline

Now playing: Alienbaby Collective - Breakage open.spotify.com/track/0eLwro...

No reason, just LOL. Prints of this @daveyjones.bsky.social banger are available from philiplarkin.com/product/lark... #poetry #philiplarkin #viz #space #doom

"A hedgehog in a thicket" 🦔 Really lovely poem, this. From Jo Matthews' debut chapbook, Sunlight Later: www.cathexisnorthwestpress.com/product-page...