J. R. Carpenter

@jrcarpenter

artist, writer, researcher, fossil hunter, PLA licensed mudlarker, and lecturer in the School of English at University of Leeds

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J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· 18d

this short story was written around the same time that Alan Turing and Christopher Strachey were working on the Love Letter generator, which, I’ve long argued, despite its absurd mode, may be inspired by a work of short fiction iperstoria.it/article/view...

Alan Turing and Christopher Strachey sitting in front of the Manchester University Computer in 1952

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· 18d

new research on a short story written by Alan Turing in the year after his arrest in Manchester for gross indecency reveals a man who loved literature, who was enjoying life, who was “playful, funny, cheeky, literary, and someone who really liked sex” www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

a page of the short story shows very difficult to read handwriting

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· 25d

come be my colleague! lecturer creative writing, University of Leeds, apply by 31 July, details here: jobs.leeds.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx...

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· 29d

a test pilot takes off from Liverpool and spends 20 minutes skywriting the phrase “I’m bored” - it was captured on flight-tracking website www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· Jul 11

bits of unburnt tobacco were preserved by the anaerobic London Clay for over 225 years in the bowl of this clay pipe. tobacco is indigenous to Great Turtle Island. it quickly became central to settler colonialism. it’s likely that this tobacco was grown and harvested by enslaved African people.

clay pipe and a small pile of burnt and unburnt pipe tobacco on a white background

too old tobacco pins, one with an illustration of Sir Walter Raley smoking a clay pipe

large green tobacco leaves drying on a wooden structure

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· Jul 7

the umbrella was invented in Mesopotamia over 4000 years ago. synonymous with rain in England, the world umbrella comes to English from Latin, umbra, shade. in French there are parasols and parapluies — protection from sun and rain. 32 in the shade today. bring back parasols.

illustration of early forms of umbrellas

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· Jul 6

found a dog’s paw print in a late medieval roof tile on the Thames foreshore and then found more, rather more recent, in the pavement on the walk home #mudlarking

dog’s paw print in a late medieval roof tile found, with the Thames foreshore in the background

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· Jul 4

extremely excited about this mesolithic flint flake core, found on the Thames foreshore this morning. the Mesolithic ( 'Middle-Stone Age') ran from about 9000-4300 years ago in Britain. #mudlarking #mesolithic #flintknapping #archaeology #riverthames

smiling person holding up piece of worked flint

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· Jun 27

found a modern penny. left it for the river. a few minutes later. found a George IV farthing, 1826. George IV led an extravagant lifestyle, was vile to his wife, had a gazillion affairs, wore high collars to hide his double chin, and abandoned the powdered wig in favour of natural hair. #mudlarking

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· Jun 27

growing a sedum in a hole in my garden wall that was formerly occupied by a Victorian cast iron fence post, since 2024

sedum with clusters of small white flowers against a black background

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· Jun 27

stealing I mean pruning a local area feral hydrangea, since 2024

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· Jun 22

it’s only june

map of the UK showing high temperatures of 38° forecast for Thursday 25 June

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· Jun 21

there’s a woolly mammoth on the front cover of this excellent book on Essex geology, so in my mind the Pleistocene bone fragment I found Thursday must be mammoth, though rhino would also be very cool

front cover of a book called Essex Rock: Geology beyond the landscape, with an image of a woolly mammoth and a piece of fossilised bone from the later Pleistocene

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· Jun 19

walking the Thames estuary from Shoeburyness towards Southend yesterday, I found a fossilised megafauna bone fragment from the later Pleistocene. it could be mammoth, rhino, hippo, deer… lots of possibilities. too small to pin down exactly. but still. EXCITING

hand holding a fossilised megafauna bone fragment

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· Jun 14

a few photos from the intertidal walking and writing workshop I led near Two Tree Island in the Thames Estuary today, supported by the wonderful team at Metal Southend

small clipboards with writing prompts attached

two people walking with sticks along a creek in a salt marsh

two people with walking sticks standing in a reed bed with the tide creeping in

deep boot prints the mud with some reeds and sea weed

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· Jun 7

orange hawkweed just coming out now on the canal towards Kirkstall, West Yorkshire #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· Jun 7

maybe hemlock water-dropwort, or maybe just cow parsley. certainly lovely in the rain yesterday along the Aire at Kirkstall Abbey #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· Jun 7

loving all the stages of the unfurling of the hog weed along the Leeds-Liverpool Canal #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· Jun 7

big #nomowsummer energy on the verge on the way to the Lidl, Armley, Leeds #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· Jun 6

nine years since the publication of The Gathering Cloud www.uniformbooks.co.uk/thegathering...

J. R. Carpenter's The Gathering Cloud collates research into the history and language of meteorology with current thinking about data storage and climate

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· Jun 3

happy 300th birthday to James Hutton, founder of modern geology. here’s a photo I took of Hutton’s unconformity at Siccar point in Scotland last May. there’s a gap of 65 million years between the Old Red Devonian sandstone on top and the orthogonal tilted Silurian Greywacke below

Information panel. Text: James Hutton (1726-1797), known as the founding father of geology, was a man of genius. Whilst farming nearby he indulged in his passion for geology. The rocks here at Siccar Point were the defining proof for his revolutionary Theory of the Earth. Most people at this time thought the world no older than a few thousand years. Hutton realised that earth processes are cyclical and that geological time is virtually unlimited.
What we see today is very much how he would have seen it over 200 years ago (but a moment in geological time!)

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· May 31

people gift me pumice stones from specific volcanic eruptions. random, and ultra niche, but I like it. the top one is a recent gift from the Azores. the bottom one was sent to me by post many years ago. it’s from Herculaneum.

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· May 25

cartoon of a dog in a room on fire with a speech balloon saying: this is fine.

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· May 23

spectacular bit of unreconstructed colonialism in the wild (at the B&M) this morning. England just keeps giving.

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· May 10

MPs from Labour’s left are expected to urge Ed Miliband to consider a leadership bid in the coming days, or face chaos with Keir Starmer www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

billboard of a Tweet made by David Cameron 3 May 2015 which says: Britain faces a simple and inescapable choice - stability and strong Government with me, or chaos with Ed Miliband.

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· May 9

join us at @banffcentre.bsky.social next week for the University of Alberta 50th Anniversary Writer-in-Residence Alumni Showcase, with Readings from: Thomas Wharton Fred Wah Ryan Fitzpatrick Cody Caetano JR Carpenter @robmclennan.bsky.social Daphne Marlatt Jana Pruden Hiromi Goto Marilyn Dumont

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· May 7

a great spotted woodpecker spotted at my feeder, pretty great

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· May 6

my author’s copy of Transformative Repetition in Experimental and Post-Digital Poetics arrived today, with many thanks to editor Bruno Minstro @brunoministro.bsky.social for including my chapter “It’s Fine: An Ecopoetics of Exhaustion in Weather Writing”

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· May 3

shore thing — a new poetry chapbook out now from Ottawa-based above/ground press. if anyone in the UK wants to buy one directly from me, to save on postage, get in touch

poetry chapbook with turquoise cover, with the title “shore thing” the author name “J. R. Carpenter” and a drawing of an echinoid on the front cover, with the actual echinoid fossil sitting on top of the chapbook

J. R. Carpenter@jrcarpenter· Apr 24

yesterday I gave a keynote at conference on Poetry & Performance at University of Porto in Portugal. such a lovely event.