Category: Poetry

• ‘I am a thing-told story’ and ‘In Guernica’ in The Sheffield Review

  I am once again tentatively putting my work out in the world, after a relatively quiet period in the writing space (but not in the rest of life space!). I was really pleased to have two pieces accepted into The Sheffield Review this time, one poem and one piece of creative non-fiction.

  Prose: Harley E. Ryley – Sheffield Review (wordpress.com)

  Poetry: I am a Thing Told Story

  What’s been interesting to see is how my writing has evolved over recent years. My poetry dominated the first year of my MA in 2021-22, and my creative non-fiction emerged in my second year in 2022-23. The themes are similar – selfhood, trauma, loss, memory – but the execution is very different!

• Scraps #06

  there is a palpable ache

  a gap in our hearts

  sorrow whistles in each rattling breath

  you told me once

  you were content with imperfect

  showed me what it was

  to rise up

  to keep going

  your laughter

  called us out on bullshit

  we’d thank you for it

  you were the best of us

  we’ll miss you

  blank spaces where your reply

  would have been

  seats at a table

  smile for the times you lit our lives

  be grateful

  we were part of yours

• ‘Thirst’ and ‘Life-liquid’ in Project Gaia

  Last year, during my epic summer of submitting my work, I recorded an online open-mic video for Project Gaia, a collaboration with an ocean awareness programme that sought to consider the impact of water, or lack thereof, on our lives.

  There have been a few delays, but I’m pleased that the videos have now launched, and my reading of my two poems ‘Thirst’ and ‘Life-liquid’ is now live: [Project Gaia] Harley Jones-Ryley – “Thirst” and “Life-liquid” – YouTube

• ‘Memory’ in Tentacular Magazine

  Published in February 2023, Tentacular Magazine Issue 10 explores what happens when you remove the hierarchical parent figure of the editor and allow a literary magazine to be curated by algorithm.

  Read the full poem here: Harley J. Ryley — Tentacular (tentacularmag.com)

  

• ‘wasteland-me’ in Book of Matches

  I am very proud that my poem ‘wasteland-me’ has been published in this beautifully put together literary journal, Issue 6 of Book of Matches.

  

  Cover art by Jennifer M. Griggs.

  This was a particularly difficult poem to write, and it existed in a number of iterations before I sent it to find its home with Book of Matches.

  

• ‘white light’, ‘stain’ and ‘bloom’ in The Sleeve Magazine

  I am delighted to share that I have had 3 poems published in the latest issue of The Sleeve Magazine. This set of poems comes from my work in progress collection ‘fable’, which explores the accumulated ‘things’ we gather and share in our lives and the feelings we assign to them.

  poetry: harley j. ryley – The Sleeve Magazine (wordpress.com)

  

• ‘Bolehills’ in For the Love of…

  

  This summer, I discovered a brilliant Instagram account ‘For the Love Of’ (@_ftlvo), which is a project dedicated to photography, writing and place, celebrating the places we love. Their digital publication, ‘for the love of’, is a collection of photographs and writing which focus in on the details of the places we go to for comfort and joy, remembrance, freedom and the feelings evoked when we arrive.

  

  I am delighted that my poem, ‘Bolehills’, is featured in this publication. It’s a poem about Bolehills park, which is at the end of the road I live on. It is a space I associate with beginnings (the place I made the offer on the the first house I bought), with peace and of course with stunning views.

  To check out my poem, and the other brilliant writing and photographs, visit the digital publication here.

  

• Extract from ‘fable’ in Cut Collective Selection

  An extract from my current work-in-progress poetry collection ‘fable’ was selected as part of the Cut Collective New Writer’s Selection 2022. The first section is below and you can read the full extract here.

  

  

• ‘A brad-paisley afternoon’ on The Writer’s Workshop blog

  In 2022, the Writer’s Workshop, a brilliant collective of writers and creatives in Sheffield who deliver an amazing programme of workshops and events for Sheffield writers, ran a ‘Summer of Submissions’. I should note the ‘s’ at the end of Submissions is very important to ensure the integrity of your search engine results… Anyway, the aim was to encourage people to use the summer to share their writing, putting it out for the world to see and, hopefully, enjoy.

  The Writer’s Workshop were kind enough to feature my poem ‘A brad-paisley afternoon’, inspired by their weekly writing prompt ‘that summer’, on their blog this week. You can read it here: A Brad-Paisley Afternoon — The Writers Workshop and a little snippet below.

  

• ‘again’ in Route 57

  I’m pleased to share that a poetry sequence from my current collection, ‘fable’, has been published in the University of Sheffield’s creative writing magazine, Route 57. Issue 18 is titled ‘The Book of Water’ and my sequence, ‘again’, explores water as cleansing and renewing in relation to trauma. A very short extract is below, but you can read my work, and works by other brilliant writers, here: ROUTE 57 – Route 57 (wordpress.com)

  

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