Polly Atkin

I'll post a few of my poems this year. As @carcanet.bsky.social published my 1st collection 45 years ago - in spring! - time for some old friends. (I do have MANY new poems, but I'm finishing those after 5 years on my prose book, 'Village'!) Here's 'Lapwings' from 'Gallop', my Carcanet 'Selected!

We're delighted to share two special recordings by poets Jessica Mookherjee and Kayo Chingonyi of our primary and secondary calendar poems for March - 'The Door' by Miroslav Holub and 'Humming-Bird' by D. H. Lawrence 🗓️❤️

poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/hummin...
poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/the-do...

Disability Day of Mourning, Disability Day of Rage, Disability Day of Hoping for a Better World ♥️

Israel has closed all the crossings into Gaza and reimposed total siege.

نظرا للأوضاع الراهنة تهديد صاروخي محتمل، يرجى الاحتماء فورا في مبنى آمن بعيدا عن النوافذ والأبواب والمناطق المفتوحة وانتظر التعليمات الرسمية ( وزارة الداخلية ) Due to current situation, a potential missile threats, Seek immediate shelter in the closest secure building, and to steer away from windows, doors, and open areas. Await for further instructions. ( MOI)

Friend in Dubai got a text from the gov to “seek immediate shelter” due to “potential missile threats”

“It’s Rare Disease Day!” with the Rare Disease Day hand logo and the website” The background is a blue and purple gradient.

🌍 It’s #RareDiseaseDay 2026! 💜

Today we stand with the 300 million people living with a rare disease. Together, we’re showing our colours, raising awareness, and inspiring change by talking about what equity means to us.

👉 Read more: https://go.rarediseaseday.org/NEWS

Disabled woman put in nursing home against her will says she feels 'betrayed' Lucinda Ritchie, who has full mental capacity, was transferred from a hospital bed despite her refusal.

This is appalling in many ways. She has full legal capacity but was moved to a care home against her will. A shocking example of overbearing medical power.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

sex matters trustee charlotte cadden

gorton and denton by-election result: she gets 706 votes, 1.9% of the total

underappreciated but very funny gorton and denton sideplot: the conservatives nominating literal sex matters (uk terf group) trustee charlotte cadden, only for her to get the worst result for the conservatives in by-election history and lose her deposit

www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Mine is that all the bad stuff that’s happened since 2019 is because a great and ancient evil was released when a huge slab of slate was lifted at the back of the Wordsworth Museum in renovations. It was stuck for a reason. Insisting on raising it not only broke the museum, but the timeline.

Screenshot of an article headline in Bloomberg: How Covid Quietly Rewires the Brain Researchers keep discovering more about the long-term neurological effects of SARS-CoV-2.

“If Covid is quietly accelerating cognitive aging… in working-age adults, the consequences will ripple through workplaces & health systems for years.”

“The incidence & prevalence of Alzheimer’s is going to just escalate,” he says. “It’s a huge public-health problem.” #LongCovid

Writing a novel like this?: “The text is built from two or more narratives, alternating or just one after the other.”
Novels like these can be so powerful, but they’re harder to get right, and ask more of the reader. Have you stress-tested how yours is working? Help here:
buff.ly/g18cb8S

Emergency Dream by @pollyrowena.bsky.social is so, so good. The book I needed to read, the book that held me ❤️

❤️‍🩹💗 it means so much to know these poems could do that x

U.S. COVID-19 heat map titled “COVID-19 Heat Map, Based on CDC Wastewater Data and Levels (U.S.)” dated Feb 23, 2026, by the Pandemic Mitigation Collaborative. States are color-coded by transmission level: very high (dark maroon), high (red), moderate (orange), low (yellow), very low (light yellow), and limited data (hatched). Very high levels dominate much of the Midwest (e.g., ND, SD, NE, MN, IL, IN, MI) and parts of the South (e.g., AL, MS, WV). High levels appear in states like WI, IA, OH, KY, and parts of the Northeast. Moderate levels are widespread across the South and central regions (e.g., TX, MO, KS, OK) and parts of the Northeast (e.g., NY, PA). The West (e.g., CA, NV, OR, WA) and parts of the Southeast (e.g., FL) show low to very low levels. Some states (e.g., OK, AR, MS) have limited data indicated by diagonal hatching. Accompanying text states transmission had been subsiding but increased by approximately 16% in the most recent week, driven by the South. Levels remain very high in the Midwest, moderate in the Northeast, and low in much of the West.

Graphic titled “National COVID-19 Estimates (U.S.)” dated Feb 23, 2026 (Pandemic Mitigation Collaborative). Infections: 1 in 58 people (1.7%) actively infectious; 851,000 new daily infections; 6,120,000 infections in the past week; 47,000,000 infections in 2026; cumulative infections per person 5.08. Long COVID: 43,000 to 170,000 cases from new daily infections; 306,000 to 1,220,000 from new weekly infections. Excess deaths: 240 to 400 from new daily infections; 1,700 to 2,900 from new weekly infections. Summary text notes ~850,000 daily infections with moderate transmission levels and weekly excess deaths near 2,000.

Table titled “COVID-19 State Prevalence Estimates” (U.S.), dated Feb 23, 2026 (Pandemic Mitigation Collaborative). Lists states with CDC level, estimated active infections (e.g., Alabama 1 in 27, Illinois 1 in 25, Maine 1 in 24), and chances someone is infectious in groups of 10, 25, 50, and 100 people. Many Midwest and some Southern states (e.g., IL, IN, MI, MN, MS, AL) are marked “Very High,” with infection rates around 1 in 24–29 and up to ~98–99% chance in a group of 100. Some Northeastern states (e.g., CT, DE, MA) are “High.” Western states (e.g., CA, AZ, HI) are “Low” or “Very Low,” with much lower prevalence (e.g., ~1 in 99 to 1 in 222). Note indicates limited data for some states and that Minnesota declined from earlier higher levels but remains in the “Very High” range.

Alt text: Table titled “COVID-19 State Prevalence Estimates” (U.S.), dated Feb 23, 2026 (Pandemic Mitigation Collaborative). Lists states from Missouri to Wyoming with CDC level, estimated active infections, and probability someone is infectious in groups of 10, 25, 50, and 100. Very high levels include Nebraska (1 in 18), North Dakota (1 in 27), South Dakota (1 in 20), and West Virginia (1 in 15), with probabilities up to >99% in a group of 100. High levels include Ohio (1 in 35) and Wisconsin (1 in 41). Most other states are moderate (e.g., Missouri 1 in 64, Texas 1 in 53, New York 1 in 44) or low/very low (e.g., Oregon 1 in 215, Virginia 1 in 222, Washington 1 in 114). Note indicates limited data for some states and highlights volatility in West Virginia, where wastewater suggests higher infection levels (possibly ~1 in 7) but estimates are capped at 1 in 15.

US Weekly COVID update: Feb 23, 2026

🔸1 in 58 Actively Infectious
🔸851,000 Daily Infections
🔸6,120,000 Infections In The Past Week
🔸47,000,000 Infections in 2026
🔸306,000 to 1,220,000 Weekly Long COVID Cases
🔸1,700 to 2,900 Weekly Excess Deaths

Source: pmc19.com/data/

Thank you! They have restored my heart a great deal!

Thank you! Hope you enjoy it when it gets to it!

Click on ‘reviews’ on the Seren to see the endorsements (not reviews as none yet 😝) - with massive thanks to Mary Jean, @clareshawpoet.bsky.social, Daniel Sluman, Bethany Handley, Sarah Howe, @alycia.bsky.social and @maxwallis.bsky.social for reading at short notice. You’re all amazing.

AHHHHHHHHHHHH 🌿🪶
(This is telephoto lens + harsh crop to maintain a respectful distance!)

Ditto Plaid Cymru in Wales.

Academia.edu - Find Research Papers, Topics, Researchers Academia.edu is the platform to share, find, and explore 50 Million research papers. Join us to accelerate your research needs & academic interests.

FYI, Academia.edu has changed its terms of service to give an irrevocable worldwide license for anything uploaded to its site to be used for generative AI. I do not consent to this and have pulled all my papers.

Emergency Dream - Seren Pre-order now – Publishing 16 March 2026 “[in these poems] survival is not abstraction but practice itself: animal, embodied, ongoing.” – Max Wallis  Emergency Dream grows out of the entangled emergen...

Having a bit of an emotional week saying goodbye to a phase of my family’s life, and this latest endorsement from the wonderful Mary Jean Chan that came in this morning tipped me over into tears I’d been holding in. I’m so so grateful to all these early readers and their reception of these poems.

@likewinterblue.bsky.social would be right on this if only it were hybrid. Don’t suppose it’s being recorded in any way?

Still some tickets available for this fascinating talk...

Hi, if you’re asking AI to write your book you’re not actually writing. You’re poking a Frankenparrot fashioned from rotting flesh on stolen bones covered in the feathers of a million other birds. You’re condoning theft. You’re trashing our planet. You’re robbing yourself of the chance to grow

Hackers Expose Age-Verification Software Powering Surveillance Web Three hacktivists tried to find a workaround to Discord’s age-verification software. Instead, they found its frontend exposed to the open internet.

Oops. Turns out Persona, Discord’s age-verification service, was secretly screening selfies against government watchlists AND accessible by the feds. It's backed by Peter Thiel.

“The state wants to see everything. The corporations want to see everything. And they've learned to work together.”

Why Boundaries That Protect Energy Aren’t a Personality Trait When You Have a Chronic Illness Boundaries that protect energy aren’t about personality—they’re a practical part of managing chronic illness and protecting limited capacity.

"When u live with #ChronicIllness, the margin [for error] is narrow. The cost of overextension is measurable in #FlareUps .. #BrainFog & #recovery days. #Boundaries that protect energy are necessary cos the stakes r higher, not because u lack willpower.": buff.ly/jk2ffrw

by @thethrivingspoonie.com

These young people should be suing their govts for telling them there was no risk to getting repeatedly reinfected, not universities, which did the bare minimum to protect them and staff.

The Wuthering discourse is reaffirming for me people in general have a v poor grasp of late C18th British rural demographics. In 1800 there are Black people and Romani people living in rural Cumbria, and many nations passing through, but people still argue Heathcliff had to be white b/c Yorkshire. 🫠

‘Don’t go to the US – not with Trump in charge’: the UK tourist with a valid visa detained by ICE for six weeks Karen Newton was in America on the trip of a lifetime when she was shackled, transported and held for weeks on end. With tourism to the US under increasing strain, she says, ‘If it can happen to me, i...

This sort of thing is why people are understandably not coming to the US. I would be really surprised if the expected international crowds arrive for the World Cup, at least at the US venues. Maybe some diehard fans will come. But the risk is just too great.