Kate✨

Never Too Late 60+ award - Bridport Prize This £500 award is for the highest placed writer aged 60+ across poetry, short story, novel or flash fiction.

Don’t forget the Never Too Late Award from the Bridport Prize which recognises entries from writers over 60 across all categories of prizes.

Link below

Please share :)

I dig it! Needle and thread. Bits and bobs. Very similar vibe!

I'm not much of a gin person, but also haven't done a lot of exploring in that arena. I just spent the first part of my childhood in a neighborhood where that was playing on repeat every summer.

In all seriousness? My favorite pairing is "bits & bobs." I've always loved that phrase and use it frequently. I like the feeling of the words.

Really? No one has said Gin & Juice, yet? smh 😂

Yes!

Have you ever had the pleasure of making out with a pore-less woman as she runs her seven-fingered Slender Man hands through your hair?

Yeah, well... me neither. We don't know what we're missing.

Brandi Carlile - BE HUMAN: A CONCERT FOR MINNEAPOLIS - VEEPS A message from Brandi: "I am so heartbroken and angry for Minnesota. Over the past month, the community there has continued to set an incredible example for the rest of us, demonstrating the power...

Are you cold, sad, love music, maybe also women and wish you could do something to help Minnesotans tonight? Brandi Carlile is streaming her Minneapolis show tonight for a mere $29 and the proceeds go to The Advocates for Human Rights Minneapolis veeps.com/brandicarlil...

I can feel the big-mad energy off of this picture. 😂

Why do you silence him? What are you afraid of?!

so, it's ✨ Shameless Self Promotion Saturday ✨

can you spare $1 (one dollar) a month?

it would literally change our life.

literally. one.

What a fantastic story! Thank you for sharing that with us. I'm so glad that your play lives on and would love to read it.

Happy Pride!

Nice shot!

LOVE this!

I have totally done this in the past. Sometimes you just want *a* slice of cheese or turkey.

For turkey slice-related emergencies?

The skyline is everything - both what you post and those you see.

*fingers crossed*

imperious green frog fired from a kiln but given employment as the guard of the tip jar at the powell's hawthorne cafe, wearing a blue wizard's hat with gold star gifted tol froggo by the unicorn.

a rusty unicorn's halo has been set into a plank of wood to make a basketball hoop halfway up a tree. unicorn halos grow too large for the unicorn to keep rotating and glowing above their heads and eventually they shed them in cascades of light and such velocity that decapitations have occurred. a loud boom may accompany this act. in the aftermath, when herds of unicorns late at night on portland streets divest their halos at the same time, children in the morning will often collect them for luck, but this is only superstition.

a pavement stone circle with moss cracks, amid a wider pavement of longer stones. this is one of portland's seven subtle commemorative memorials to the seven unicorn herd halo catastrophe of 1965, which occurred at midnight on october 31 and was much misunderstood amid the general reverie, especially as the southeast had chosen a unicorn theme for costumes that year.

Portland's unicorn festival is in full swing this week and if you're lucky you'll find one in your neighborhoof. just to be clear, they are more like grumpy narwhals and will joust with you for a skewering if riled, so approach gently and with kind words. for a mane petting they will side eye you but also divulge the location of a local coffee and pastry soakeasy (so named because there is usually also an underground hot springs spa). pictured: paunchy gray unicorn on edge of field with woman crouched in backdrop. photo by louis "black moon" malle.

Around Portland... these may seem drab photos, but i have collected their unique history in the alt text.

FML.

There appears to be an issue with scam calls to the families of people kidnapped by ICE. The callers claim to be immigration lawyers, say that they’re going to help, and demand an up-front payment over WhatsApp or similar.

Real lawyers don’t do that!

Words by Funkit Toys from their thread https://bsky.app/profile/funkittoys.bsky.social/post/3mdtky5ug4s2r written Feb 1, 2026, art by Erika Moen. An illustration rendered to look prehistoric, as if it's on a stone tablet or stretched hide, shows an assortment of drawings depicting pieces of the following text. Narration: For anyone who may be losing faith in human progress, remember this: We invented the dildo 27,000 years before the gun. Image: A stone phallus with several cracks and intentionally carved penis-head at one end. Caption: Hohle Fels Phallus, 28,000 years ago

Text: We invented pornographic art tens of thousands of years before written language. Image: A simplified cave art painting depicting a couple having sex in doggy-style. Caption: Cave art, Tassili n'Ajjer, Algeria, 12,000 years ago.

Text: We invented the condom before steel. Image: An off-white, aged, sock-let with a long, ragged belt attached to it. Caption: Oil-soaked linen condom of King Tutankkamunn, 1332-1323 BCE

Text: Bread is older than war. Beer is older than borders. Image: A fancy loaf of bread, referenced from Pompeii, even though it's not the same time period as the caption, but it looks nice, ok?. Caption: Bread, 14,600-11,600 years ago. Text: We're better at making good things than bad. We've had more practice. Image: A barley field. Caption: Beer, 5,000 years ago. Text: Words by Funkit Toys, Art by Erika Moen, 2026

"We invented pornographic art tens of thousands of years before written language." - @funkittoys.bsky.social points out that history has always been ✨💕fucked💕✨, as illustrated by
@erikamoen.bsky.social

Public post with references: www.patreon.com/posts/150935...

If it's not a date and you vehemently do not want to run the risk of someone thinking that you are dating in some capacity, don't call your meetups "dates". 🌈📖

Exactly. The goal is equity. Accommodations offer us what we need to show up as best we can for ourselves and others, in addition to providing space for us to have and hold boundaries.

Oof! Yes. It really, really is and I'm so sorry if you're going through that. The whole process is just diabolical. That's a great word for it.

a man in a tuxedo and bow tie is clapping his hands and smiling . Alt: a man in a tuxedo and bow tie is smiling and clapping his hands.

Well done!

Seeing lots of folks talk about how much they love novellas, and while it is technically a novel, Woman of Sorrow and Blood IS short enough that you can read it in a night

Which is good, because once you start, you won't be able to put it down - just ask @kjharrowick.bsky.social

Two women in pale dresses standing in the middle of a field, a dark moon shining above them

We Tore The Moon Asunder

Alex P. Perkins' art is stylized and cartoon-y, using a bright color palette of pinks and oranges. They draw themself with long, straight orange hair, a soft pink skin tone, and an average sized build. Narration: In the sixth grade, my best friend said to me: "I don't get why boys aren't all over you!" Colleen, age 13, says to Alex in the hallway of their school. Colleen's long brown hair is styled elegantly, her eyes are lined with expertly applied mascara, and she wears a ruffled choker while her bra strap is exposed by her off-the-shoulder shirt. Alex, in contrast, wears a very baggy t-shirt and their long orange hair is just kind of 'there', not exactly scraggly but definitely not styled. Colleen continues, "You have basically -everything- a guy wants." Caption: fig. 1 "peaches" The diagram shows two upside down emoji peaches, pressed together like a bosom. Many arrows and one human hand point at them. Narration: She pointed to my boobs, for clarity. Narration: I was as socially awkward as anyone else, but there was still a lot to like about me. Alex, 13 years old, stands by the row of lockers in their school hallway. They look thoughtful and ill-at-ease as they cross their arms over their chest. Their long, baggy shirt comes past their butt and their flared jeans are decorated with flowers at the cuffs. Narration (each word is rendered with an artistic flourish to emphasis the meaning): I was creative, kind, fun! Narration: But from the moment I grew breasts, nothing else mattered. Two big round balls are supported inside a polka-dotted brassier, which is labeled, "fig.2 "big melons"" Scribbles of distress surround them. Narration: Girls started rumors. Boys were crude and cruel.

Narration: And then, in the tenth grade, my mom said to me: On an early cell phone which is oriented horizontally with a full keyboard attached, the mom's text reads, "We can schedule you a consultation for a breast reduction this year." Only Alex's thumb is visible on the keyboard, and their reaction of "!!!" Narration: I had waited YEARS for this moment! Alex clasps their hands to their heart, looking ecstatic. They wear a stripped long-sleeved shirt. Narration: All I wanted was to be smaller, for people to see ME - before they noticed the size of my chest. Alex stands in the exact same spot but now wears a dotted hospital gown with their arms down at their sides and looking shell-shocked. Narration: The consultation itself was less glamorous. Narration: After a routine physical, we ran through some questions. A doctor looks in profile down at the clipboard forms he is filling out. He has a stethoscope draped over his neck and sports an old-timey doctor light headband on his forehead. "Have your breasts finished growing?" The doctor asks. "yes." Replies Alex. "Is this negatively impacting your social life?" Continues the doctor. "Yes!" Agrees Alex. "Does it restrict your ability to exercise? The doctor says, without looking up. "YES!!" Alex responds heartily. Narration: We waited for our insurance to approve, and set a date.

Narration: The day of the surgery, my anesthesiologist was a nice woman with a smile full of braces. Narration: I was SO nervous. Alex's hand and forearm is shown resting on the hospital bedsheets with a medical tube taped down and inserted on the back of their hand. Narration: And then, she said to me: A woman with a surgical cap covering her hair and her medical mask pulled down to her chin says, "I find that the people who undergo this procedure are ALWAYS the most grateful with the results." Alex looks small and somewhat shellshocked at this news. Narration: It felt like an ounce of positivity that I was unused to. Not everyone felt the same way about the procedure as she did. Alex sits upright in their hospital bed, the tube attached to their hand, with a caption pointing at them declaring, "Me, 16. Very tired." They are surrounded by snippets of jumbled dialogue from speakers we can't see who are asking things along the lines of, "What if people notice? What will you say? How will you explain your scars to your partners? Are you sure about this? What if you worked on your posture? Can't you juts get a better bra? Want to trade boobs, haha, just kidding! Isn't this like getting rid of a gift? Seems like a waste."

Narration: After the surgery, I was ELATED. I couldn't stop catching myself in the mirror and smiling at how much LIGHTER I felt!* *Specifically, four pounds. Alex admires their reflection in an upright mirror as they try on a halter top with high-waisted pants. Floating dotted lines denoting the original distance their breasts used to extend past their body. Narration: I ordered a medium tshirt for the first time! An orange t-shirt is illustrated with excitement squiggles around it. Narration: My back pain didn't vanish; but it became easier to manage. An illustration of Alex's torso with the spine visible is accentuated with pain squiggles and lightning bolts. Narration: I found out I LIKED running! Alex's hairy leg and foot is shown in a running shoe, doing just that. Excitement squiggles surround it. Narration: And I could take a shower without looking down and feeling that sinking stone of DREAD. Alex takes a blissful shower, singing while they wash their hair with their eyes closed in total contentment.

@papyrjam.bsky.social gets a heavy subject off their chest in this story about their breast reduction surgery in this comic from our archive! 1/2 www.ohjoysextoy.com/my-breast-re...

Of course. It can be helpful to know that we're not alone.

I don't have anything to add that others have not already said, but want to add a voice to say that you're not alone in these feelings.

Just over TWO WEEKS until this virtual deep dive happening on March 7th!! So excited to hang out with these authors and learn some stuff - I hope you'll be there too!