Tessera

Em Gray

@em-words.bsky.social

She/her. Poet. Words in The Forward Book of Poetry, Propel, Mslexia, Strix, Arachne Press, Modron & more.🌱FTA. Dyspraxia. Foxes.

177 Posts1102 Follower 658 Folgt

Em Gray @em-words.bsky.social · 3w ago

Some workshop confusion yesterday when I thought what was being discussed was ‘writing from the gnome’. #writingfromtheknown

Em Gray @em-words.bsky.social · last mo.

Lovely to have two poems in Issue 30 of Lighthouse - the #Neurodivergent Issue. This is one of them.

Photo of a poem by Em Gray titled 'What a silent disco is and isn't', that reads;

There have to be headphones, the
claiming of funtime space like a
pub garden or low tide beyond the
shingle - glow sticks ideally), an
allegiance to the beat. Passersby
should know just by looking when
the track drops, and feel plaintive
(how it is to watch gladness from
an unlit street). What it can not be
is the sound inside your head -
confusing your block for the set
of a musical in which you are the only
dancer.

Em Gray @em-words.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Lovely to spend time with the wave twenty-six poets' poems - so many gems!

𝒊𝒂𝒎𝒃 ~ 𝒑𝒐𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅@iamb.uk · 2mo ago

Summer arrives with its usual swagger: everything loud and bright and hot. For something cooler, dive into the latest wave of @iamb.uk. You'll find 45 poems by 15 poets – written and read by their authors. Enough to see you through the driest season. iamb.uk/index/wave/26

Em Gray @em-words.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Delighted that my #poem 'some people' is this issue of @mslexia.bsky.social 's Poet Laureate poem, inspired by Aloka the dog and the monks' walk through the US earlier this year. And what a beautiful cover!

Photo of Mslexia, issue 110, open on a poem called 'some people' by Em Gray, that reads;

so these guys are doing a big long caterpillar walk with a dog with a heart on his forehead like a memo & the guys all wear orange like homies & some have bare feet so people bring boots to make them more normal & some people by the road are sick & the guys do healing or you get a free bracelet & the leader is the hot one & he has all these badges from cops of stars & guns & the guys are like wizards but they don't try to change you not even the man who revved his truck & made them cough & they sleep on the floor & say stuff about being happy but they mostly don't speak & no one knew about the walk but now people push with their phones & their crying & some people shout & some people wave flags & some people bring cookies & flowers

Photo of the cover of Mslexia, issue 110 featuring a collage by Julia McKenzie of swallows flying from a circle of map, with various flight path arrows in bright colours. The swallows have maps incorporated into their feathers.

Em Gray @em-words.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Love this idea - www.liminalbingo.com

Liminal Bingo

Pat Perry's photo game for anyone who wants to glimpse into a magical haunted reservoir sitting just beneath the surface of the everyday world.

liminalbingo.com

Em Gray @em-words.bsky.social · 3mo ago

My poem 'Night Maths' is published today on the new Grasshopper Poetry site. Wishing the Grasshopper team the best springy green legs in their beginnings! www.grasshopperpoetry.co.uk/poetry/night...

Screenshot of a poem titled 'Night Maths' on a salmon coloured background from Grasshopper Poetry's site. The poem reads:

You text two kisses
to my words and moon and three.
My three are lowercase
and one of yours is a capital X
which might make it equal
to two small kisses
in the calculations of affection.

Oh, I would rather no kisses –
how tyrannous they are,
like the meting out of candy;
here, you may have one marshmallow
(because, today, I love you less).
Tomorrow, perhaps, a pillow of sweetness
(think about what you've done).

Em Gray @em-words.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Found some exciting books by the bins. Here are some of their more and less proficient illustrations. I especially love the 'wild cat' from behind, as if only ever glimpsed leaving.

Stone Circle Review @stonecirclereview.bsky.social · 5mo ago

“When you want to see something clearly, do not shine too much light on it, do not exile all the shadows from its surface. Our duty—when faced with a true mystery—is not to explain it but to deepen it, to transform it into a greater mystery.” -- Lucian Blaga

Em Gray @em-words.bsky.social · 5mo ago

My #poem 'Slow' and accompanying interview are in Modron magazine today, amongst lovely company, including a thoughtful and timely editorial. modronmagazine.com/more-than-hu...

Poem by Em Gray titled 'Slow', that reads;

The sloth is standing like a toddler imploring to be held.
A man lifts her from her armpits.

It takes some scrolling through the hearts and bless yous
to learn this arms-up stance is to appear larger

and to communicate STEP BACK
(if one so round-faced and mossy were permitted to yell).

There's debate as to where the sloth was heading –
if she had, in fact, come from the verge where she's been placed,

and if, before this intervention, the aisle of that late-sunned track
was just where she needed to be.

It is difficult for some to relate
to such a creeping peristalsis,

to one for whom the world so vertiginously spins
her toes have evolved to hold on –

she who would not answer, busy
but sing of clouds, the slow piñatas of figs.

Em Gray @em-words.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Thinking there should be a world day of 'finding a #poet on social media and sending them a message of gratitude and appreciation for a poem they have written'. I have many in mind, and have only told a few.

Em Gray @em-words.bsky.social · 8mo ago

I have a new sad and angry #poem with Black Iris Poetry's 'poetry of breaking news' on instagram today, in response to the UK's possible plan to confiscate jewellery and other belongings from asylum seekers to pay for 'processing costs'. www.instagram.com/p/DRmfvV6jZwd/

Sarah Doyle @poetsarahdoyle.bsky.social · 9mo ago

This took courage, and makes me feel very vulnerable, but here I share some insights into how the recent Laika situation played out for me – along with a plea for more compassionate social media engagement. We need reflection, not retribution. www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/... If useful: archive.is

I was the other poet in the Len Pennie row: here’s my story

Sarah Doyle’s poem Laika won high praise but when she queried similarities to it with the poem Good Girl she was caught up in a storm of accusation, denial and online vitriol

thetimes.com

Em Gray @em-words.bsky.social · 9mo ago

I so love Poppy Cockburn's poem from @perversemag.bsky.social - the cheery last line (like 'how are you?'/ 'Good thanks' exchanges when this isn't how one is feeling) versus the longing (I think?) of what precedes. I never watched Twin Peaks, but don't feel I needed to for this poem to resonate.

perversemag@perversemag.bsky.social · 9mo ago

The second poem in PERVERSE 9F is 'POSTCARD' by Poppy Cockburn. Read all five poems in this section here: perverse.substack.com/p/perverse-9f

Em Gray @em-words.bsky.social · 9mo ago

A brilliant article - well worth a read.

The last frontier of empathy: why we still struggle to see ourselves as animals | Megan Mayhew Bergman

Champions of exceptionalism say humans hold a unique moral status. Yet there’s only one species recklessly destroying the planet it needs to survive

theguardian.com

Em Gray @em-words.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Lovely to have my lightbulb #poem out in the world today. Thank you, @perversemag.bsky.social 💡. Do check out the issue, and the archive - lots of gems.

perversemag@perversemag.bsky.social · 9mo ago

The first poem in PERVERSE 9F is 'The leaflet with the lightbulb says do not swallow' by Em Gray @em-words.bsky.social. Read all five poems in this section here: perverse.substack.com/p/perverse-9f

Em Gray @em-words.bsky.social · 10mo ago

I'd heard of a rare #squirrel a couple of times on local Facebook groups...and found him today - isn't he beautiful!

Em Gray @em-words.bsky.social · 10mo ago

My little UFO poem has found the perfect home with @atriumpoetry.bsky.social today - thank you so much to @clairewalkerpoetry.bsky.social for her patient checking of how-to-spell-teletubby too! atriumpoetry.com/2025/09/30/u...

UFO – Em Gray

UFO . . Em Gray is a neurodivergent poet living in Brighton, UK. She has been highly commended by the Forward Prize, shortlisted for the Creative Future Writers’ Award and has won second priz…

atriumpoetry.com

Atrium @atriumpoetry.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Thank you for reading and sharing today's poem - brassband by @niaandthepoems.bsky.social

Atrium@atriumpoetry.bsky.social · 11mo ago

brassband – Nia Broomhall @niaandthepoems.bsky.social atriumpoetry.com/2025/09/23/b...

Em Gray @em-words.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Such a moving read - how a small, lost dog resonates and captivates... www.newyorker.com/news/the-wee...

How to Save a Dog

For nearly a year, a motley crew scoured New Orleans for a shaggy white mutt named Scrim.

newyorker.com

Em Gray @em-words.bsky.social · last yr.

This year's 2 cubs I watch from my window are growing beautifully, and now have their adult coats and eye colours. What a serene looking face this little one has 🧡

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · last yr.

We celebrate the bull, believed to have escaped from an abattoir, that ran loose in Birmingham, yet almost everyone participates in the cruel and grisly trade in body parts which keeps abattoirs in business.

Em Gray @em-words.bsky.social · last yr.

Fox Villas news 🧡 - there are only two cubs this year, but they are beauties - a boy and a girl with lovely chunky legs to grow into. Here is the bolder of the two.

Photo of a fluffy red fox cub. S/he is almost head on to the camera and standing, looking slightly to the side. S/he now has adult colours, although s/he still has the pale (and intense looking!) eyes of cubs, that will probably darken a bit. S/he stands on grass starred with buttercups.

Em Gray @em-words.bsky.social · last yr.

Welcome, little one. Here beginneth #chick (gull-let? Gullet?) season.

Photo of a one day old herring gull chick sitting amongst dry moss next to cracked egg shell. Their beak is wide open, their pointed pink tongue protruding. Their feathers are fluffy and beige with dark spots like a pebble/seal pup/the egg they came from.

Em Gray @em-words.bsky.social · last yr.

Honoured to have two poems in this beautiful anthology from @sidhepress.bsky.social. All proceeds go to The Sameer Project. The physical book is available from Amazon, and the ebook is just 5.99 Euros, and can be purchased directly from Sidhe Press here: www.sidhe-press.eu/product/to-l...

Photo of anthology 'To Lay Sun Into A Forest', propped on old stone wall and leaning against leaves and small blue flowers.

Cover of To Lay Sun Into A Forest- Poems About Grief by Sídhe Press. On the left there is a quote : The wide-ranging community of poets chart grief across a galaxyof stars, lands, and the oceans, through the shivering leaves oftrees, to the heartbeats of loved ones, their losses are encapsulatedin words that stay with us, long after we close the book.
Teresa Pilgrim, academic, creative practitioner, activist, survivor
On the right, there is a swirl of a painting, red, yellow, orange, you can see the brushstrokes. On it is the title in a handwriting font.

Photo of poem by Em Gray, titled 'all of this is normal', that reads;

to wait at glass for unseasonal butterflies /
strange weather / tameness

to seek counsel from hellebores /
carry a person-faced stone

to continue to omit sage / chilli / juniper
despite a love for them

to adopt a worn shirt as support animal

to darn a requiem of socks

to fear what is melting
but leave the lamp on

to hear from the empty kitchen
devotions of tea

to recur together sleep-limbed
in borrowed coats / on unfamiliar benches

to press call then name yourself stupid

for believing loss a mastless hill /
a loft / a swift / a door

Photo of poem by Em Gray, titled 'Remembrance Day for Lost Species' (after The Christmas Island Pipistrelle), that reads:

You are two paragraphs.

I'm sorry

for the Feral of cat,
the Wolf of freighted snake

and how the microfiction
of your body
is the size of a prune's
dark shrivel, stone heart.

All, now, is elegy.

I seek the lore of you so always everywhere
you'd fly through open doors, missteer into soup

but find your seed bead eyes
flash-lit,

eleven seconds
of the last recording of your voice

looping its morse
as if to be understood.

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · last yr.

I'm really sorry, but we just need to stop doing this. Your wood-burning hygge leads directly to people's deaths - other people's and perhaps your own. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Map reveals residential wood-burning hotspots in England and Wales

Researchers analyse energy performance certificate data to identify areas with potentially high particle pollution

theguardian.com

Em Gray @em-words.bsky.social · last yr.

Poem by Em Gray titled 'Due to legal guidelines this will not be a march,
just a still protest' that follows on from the title, and reads:

as in still here,
as in still for the camera,
as in even so and regardless,
as in not moving

backwards
like in that image
of the stages of a species
where the one at the back
is at the back.

Louise Kenward @louisekenward.bsky.social · last yr.

From last week: How Can I Make People Care? #Disability #CIADISH #NEIS louisekenward.substack.com/p/how-can-i-...

How can I make people care?

Disability benefits are not prizes to be won nor luxuries we can afford to live without.

louisekenward.substack.com

Live Canon @livecanon.bsky.social · last yr.

Wow. We are over half-way there. So grateful for the extraordinary response to this appeal from our community. Thank you. We're starting to reach out to schools, plan boxes to send out, & get those books onto library shelves. Please help us spread the word! #poetry fundrazr.com/22Wg69?ref=s...

Poetry Books for Secondary School Libraries

Many secondary school libraries have a very limited selection of poetry books. We try to donate over 1000 books a year to secondary school libraries - with your help!

fundrazr.com

Em Gray @em-words.bsky.social · last yr.

Just reading the National Poetry Competition winners' anthology - love this moment of noticing by Matt Barnard, that feels like a rites of passage. poetrysociety.org.uk/poems/two-bo...

Photo of 'Two Boys at Midnight' by Matt Barnard, that can be found with a recording in the link.