Ian Duhig

"Table for 26 please!"
"But there are only 13 of you."
"We all like to sit on one side, earthling."

YouTube video by TheLoveHD Bronte Sisters Power Dolls - jest super

'Wuthering Heights' the film has apparently launched a new round of Brontemania, which reminds me of this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAHR...

Thanks to Brian Groom for alerting me to the fact that today is the anniversary of John Wesley's death.

These extracts from his journal are remarkably like one of my book tours apart from the afternoon of June 2nd

Well, y'know, it's expected that poets should get all enthused about this season. Stuff grows, whoop-de-f***ing-doo.

The "Bookish Beck" blog likes "Dirt Rich" - you might like it too...

Blodeuwedd always made the coffee on St David's Day . . .

I need a bull's eye line for my new poem.

This is how my search for it is going.

The Repair Shop, Ireland

If two Irish people meet and they don't establish someone they both know and/or are related to within 45 seconds, this is what happens

'And now I'd like to share a poem by Arthur Rimbaud, who famously said "Je est un otter" . . .'

This is the level of commitment artists need to show in their own game if they are to be successful. I bow to the (partially) sober 1982 Offaly team and their manager Eugene for this heartfelt celebration of their (limited) sacrifice.

St Margaret of Antioch protected herself from the dragon in her cell by telling it ghost stories. It found these so frightening that she had to lend it a security blanket to fend off panic attacks.

🙏💙🤍

"I told you not to mention that there was going to be a poetry reading tonight!"

I was at the Brudenell Social Club often when he was a regular so possible. He will have been able to live a pretty quiet life in Leeds if that was important to him: artists can disappear here, like Joash Woodrow and John Riley. I'm such an old fart I knew nothing of Mr Doom till you posted. Thanks!

MF DOOM: Long Island to Leeds - 5. MF DOOM in Leeds - BBC Sounds AFRODEUTSCHE and Adam Batty examine the surprising final years of MF DOOM.

Thanks to @jntod.bsky.social for putting me on to this fascinating podcast series: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

MF DOOM: Long Island to Leeds - 4. DOOM in Exile - BBC Sounds Why was the iconic MF DOOM barred from the place he called home?

Enjoying this podcast. I was not expecting to hear MF Doom chatting to Clive Anderson, but it’s here c.12 mins www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

from Tit-Bits magazine (1892)

"Yes. I remember Adlestrop."

"I love this little guy (hic). So what if our bosses have fallen out -- must we slavishly follow their lead? Give peace a chance I say (hic)."

If you’d like to hear Maria Stepanova and me talk about The Disappearing Act you could sign up for this online conversation: 21 March 12pm EST / 5pm GMT brooklinebooksmith.com/event/2026-0...

The Morrígan, Irish war goddess, was particularly irritated by mansplaining on the battlefield.

My handwriting was never good but now when I write things on my calendar they quickly become enigmatic koans commenting obliquely on my existence.

This one for example on my calendar: Fish battery? Sisha bubbling?

Too late, I realise it says 'Irish Embassy' . . .

In today’s post

Pic David Tapley

I should perhaps mention that 'frost heaves' are caused by cold weather causing upward swelling of soil as frozen water expands from below. Why walls in this part of the world need regular mending . . .

This is an old story, but as someone who worked with homeless people for fifteen years I frequently ended up drunk in an organ pipe playing with remote-controlled toys. Let's have a bit less judgemental snark guys -- and a bit more empathy!

Professor Rory Waterman’s Inaugural Lecture Byard’s Quantum Leaps: the origins and mutations of a folk tale

'Few tickets left' for my inaugural lecture on 4 March (next week) in Nottingham. I'm not sure what 'few' means, but if you'd like to come, this is a good time to reserve a spot.

I won't be talking about poetry, though. I'll be talking about...a magical horse.

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/professor-...

Secrets and Lies - Double Exposure - BBC Sounds Documentary drama about civil rights photographer Ernest Withers, by Sol B River.

Ernest Withers was a key photographer in the Civil Rights movement. He took pictures from the Emmet Till trial to the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike and beyond. Sol B River’s docudrama explores the man, the motivations and key images in the history of the movement.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

For the 250th anniversary of Keats' death, from 'The Speed of Dark' poems updating the Fauvel cycle, which included the first written charivari in European music. The opening etymology isn't serious and, of course, Keats was a great, great poet, but, y'know. sometimes the stuff he said . . .

Sessions with my editors have sometimes been like this