Blank verse is defined as unrhymed iambic pentameter. That is, each line typically contains ten syllables, alternating unstressed and stressed syllables (da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM), but the lines do not rhyme.

Blank verse originated in English poetry in the 16th century and is closely associated with Elizabethan…

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Hi everyone!

I hope you’re all having a great week.

I’m looking forward to seeing you at our next Poet’s Community Circle on Thursday (14th) evening! We’ll be feeding back on some of our poems, so don’t forget to send me some (by 5pm on Wednesday) if you haven’t already.

The session will run from 7-9pm.

I look forwar…

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A few people have said they are struggling to navigate Substack, and keep track of the posts. You should be getting emails with every new post (if not, check your settings to see if you’ve enabled email notifications).

There is a really simple way to go through what we’ve posted so far… a listed archive fro…

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Hi everyone!

I hope you’re having a lovely weekend…

I’ve tweaked the schedule as we had two writing hours down for next week and none the following week. Now we have one a week for the rest of the month!

Wednesday 13th May at 11am-12pm

Monday 18th May at 7pm-8pm

Thursday 28th May at 8pm-9pm

Zoom link for all Writing Hours…

ht…

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This month we’ll be looking at metre and blank verse (which is not to be confused with free verse—essentially, blank verse has a set metre but doesn’t rhyme and free verse abandons any regular patter of rhyme, rhythm or metre).

Today we start with metre…

We’re familiar with the idea of a beat in a piece of music, we understand the concept of clapping along in time. In poetry, that rhythm is called metre. Metre is the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of verse. It’s the heartbeat of a poem, giving it energy, flow and musicality.

Some people believe that paying attention to metre is old-fashioned, outdated, restrictive, but understanding meter doesn’t make a poem limited or mechanical—it gives you tools to shape how it feels to read, hear and perform. Harnessing the metre of a poem can help us to give the writing character and breathe life into it.

Think of metre like the rhythm of walking. Some people walk slowly, with long, soft steps, others march quickly with strong, deliberate ones. Poems can do the same. Metre sets the pace, the mood and the movement of words across the page.

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When we write, I feel like we often start a dialogue with our most authentic self. Things come up that might be difficult to say out loud, we look at things from a slightly different viewpoint. This can be inspirational, nurturing and wildly creative. It was also leave us feeling vulnerable, and at times exposed.

However, we do have complete autonomy over our writing. We can stop when we need to. We can choose what we write about. We can put our writing aside for another day. We can choose who we share it with.

It’s important that we all have tools to hand that can help us to feel grounded and relaxed, prepared for what may emerge. You may also find that by starting your writing sessions with a slow, deep breathing exercise, that you actually write more creatively, more intuitively, less self-consciously.

This month, we’re seeing the world through the theme of embodiment. Here are a few exercises in keeping with this theme.

Body Awareness Releasing Breath

• Keeping your breathing deep and steady, slowly scan your body from head to toe. As you go simply notice how each area feels, without trying to adjust anything, just notice. Keep working slowly and steadily down your body.

• Now return your attention to your head and face muscles once more, before slowly scanning down your body again. Be sure to reach through to your fingers and down to your toes. Include your back and your front. This time, if an area feels tight or tense, imagine bringing warmth to the area with your inhale, then imagine the area softening and releasing with an exhale. For each area of discomfort, feel free to repeat this breathing cycle of warmth and release as many times as you’d like.

• Now, repeat the first step once more. Slowly scanning your body from head to toe, noticing how it feels.

  If you start this month’s writing sessions with this exercise, you’ll already be in a more embodied space to write. You may also choose to dip back into it if your writing takes you somewhere difficult or unexpected.

If you want to reflect more on grounding and breathwork, you can read the introduction here:

This month, I invite you to bring your attention fully into your body — to write not just from your mind, but from your senses, your movements and the subtle wisdom your body holds. Embodiment is about noticing how you feel, how you move and how your body experiences the world, and then letting those sensations inform your writing.

As ever, only go as far as feels comfortable for you. I believe that our bodies can act as containers of memory, holding stories from what went before. When we write from an embodied place, these stories may come and join us sometimes. Embodied writing is about inviting your body to join you in your writing practice.

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In our sessions we’ll do our best to respect...

Ourselves

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In all of this exploration, there will be prompts and resources that work for you and others that you can leave to one side. You might revisit them in a few weeks or months, you might just let them go. This is your writing practice and it’s important that you take ownership of it.

In this week’s prompts we’re going to reflect back on what we’ve learnt and understood about mood, haiku, haibun, burning haibun and tanka… and use it to deepen our other work.

On a side note, I studied Japanese through my teens and into my first stint at university, so I tend to use the Japanese plural of haiku and tanka without really thinking. However, in the West it’s perfectly acceptable to say haikus and tankas. (I don’t Westernise most other languages, for instance you’re unlikely to hear me ordering 2 cappuccini outside Italy or use the French pronunciation of comic sans…)

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What a lovely session we had, talking about the therapeutic and artistic value of editing our work, reflecting on where we want to take our writing… and looking at some of the things we can think about when editing and refining our work. We played around with our ‘sacrificial poem’ creating a beautiful…

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Hi everyone!

I hope you’ve had a lovely, restorative weekend.

Just a reminder, that our next Writing Hour will take place tomorrow evening (Monday 27th) 7-8pm.

Here is the Zoom link (for all Writing Hours):

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89226599170?pwd=iLcAdX0Q5URvK7Qf6RiZ2b9ClQaZwn.1

Meeting ID: 892 2659 9170

Passcode:…

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Hi everyone!

I hope you’re all having a great week.

I’m looking forward to seeing you at our very first Poet’s Community Circle on Thursday (23rd) evening! We’ll be feeding back on some of our poems, so don’t forget to send me some (by 5pm on Wednesday) if you haven’t already.

The session will run from 7-9pm.

I loo…

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Hi everyone!

I hope you’re having a lovely week.

Just a reminder, that our next Writing Hour will take place on Wednesday (22nd) at 11am-12pm.

Here is the Zoom link (for all Writing Hours):

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89226599170?pwd=iLcAdX0Q5URvK7Qf6RiZ2b9ClQaZwn.1

Meeting ID: 892 2659 9170

Passcode: 343595

Hope to see you there,

Holly

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I’m looking forward to seeing you all on Thursday evening for our first Community Circle for the Poets’ Pathway (7-9pm over Zoom - the Zoom details are in the intro post, but I’ll be sending you all a reminder on Wednesday regardless).

If you have any poems that you’d like us to look at as a group, please send them to me…

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Introduction to Tanka

Tanka is a quiet, intimate form of poetry that invites us to slow down and notice. It comes from Japan and has been written for over a thousand years, yet it remains wonderfully accessible—especially for moments when we want to put feelings into words without needing to explain everything.

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I thought it might be nice to share any writing you have. Feel free to comment below with any haiku or haibun!

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Haiku, haibun, and burning haibun all grow from the same root: an attentive, unhurried way of noticing the world. They ask the writer to look closely, feel honestly and then say just enough—no more—to let the moment breathe on the page.

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Hi everyone!

I hope you’re having a lovely weekend.

Just a reminder, that our very first Writing Hour will take place on Monday (13th) at 11am-12pm.

Here is the Zoom link (for all Writing Hours):

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89226599170?pwd=iLcAdX0Q5URvK7Qf6RiZ2b9ClQaZwn.1

Meeting ID: 892 2659 9170

Passcode: 343595

Hope t…

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Writing can be a deeply powerful way to explore thoughts, emotions, and experiences — but it can also bring up intensity, tension or overwhelm. That’s where grounding and breathwork come in. These simple, intentional practices help you settle your body, focus your mind, and create a safe, supportive space for writing, reflection, and emotional processing.

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This month, we invite you to slow down and lean into the art of noticing — to become curious about the ordinary, the fleeting, the quietly profound moments that are often overlooked. Noticing isn’t about doing more; it’s about paying attention in ways that feel nourishing, playful and grounding.

Across all pathways, noticing becomes a practice of presence. In the Personal Pathway, it might show up as awareness of your own thoughts, feelings or small shifts in your body. In the Poet’s Pathway, it might mean pausing to observe the rhythm of rain on the window, the texture of a word or the light across a page. In the Resilience Pathway, noticing can be a tool to check in with yourself, recognize what you need and anchor your wellbeing in small but meaningful ways.

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