Dorian David Leigh
@notdoriangray.bsky.social
300 followers 180 following 610 posts
Poet, mostly. Historian, cat and dog parent, hat wearer, coffee drinker. An imagination with a person attached. He/him/ia.
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notdoriangray.bsky.social
Have anger, will poem.
#NZpol #NZpoetry #poetry
How Not to be Intimidated by a Haka
by Dorian David Leigh

don’t be so
chicken
shit.

i could stop there
but i'll explain it for you
so you’ve got no excuse

a haka is an affirmation
of identity
history
solidarity
a bursting forth of wairua

it’s a challenge to rise up
to gather your mana and
meet head on
let it wash over you like
the cold sea
testing your balance with
salty relentless waves
(is that why you want to
mine the oceans?)

let your tīpuna wrap
their fingers around your spine
let their strength
bear
you
up

(continued next image)
if you find the haka so
intimidating that your
stomach falls in the split
second between the widening
of the eyes and the
explosion of proud reo

you’ve bought into that
dismissive coloniser
war
dance
bullshit

if you cannot stand strong
in the face of that challenge
if your legs shake and
your heart shrivels
before you piss yourself
have a think:

where is your mana?
what did you do to make
your ancestors so ashamed
that they refuse to
hold
you
up,

e hua.
notdoriangray.bsky.social
If I ever do online dating (which I probably won't), I'm going to lead with: "can change the clock on the stove, fold a fitted sheet, and put a duvet cover on a duvet".
notdoriangray.bsky.social
This is literally the sort of thing I am good for. I can sort out a duvet (any size, don't need help, will get lost in it for a bit but it'll be fine in the end), and I panic about overstaying my welcome so I don't linger and chat. Also high likelihood I arrive with baked goods.
notdoriangray.bsky.social
I made a face that can only be described as, "MNGGGERRRR!!!!"
notdoriangray.bsky.social
@harecomedy.bsky.social This seems like the sort of thing you ought to be tagged in?
notdoriangray.bsky.social
Oh, the temptation to travel to Te Wai Pounamu, visit the penguin nesting grounds, and do this for real.

(I will accept sponsors, I am poor and will curse a penguin in your name if you pay for my travel and accommodation.)
notdoriangray.bsky.social
@larsum.com I knew this would be right up your street. Even though it's actually up Albert St in Hokowhitu, which is nowhere near where you live in any way at all.
notdoriangray.bsky.social
If the target is that high, would people even consider contributing?

If you could change someone else's life for a fraction of the cost it would take to change mine, would you even consider helping me?

I don't know if I deserve it, there are other people who need it more.

But also... I matter.
notdoriangray.bsky.social
Just want to ask a question.

The thing that I: a queer, disabled, unable to work person genuinely needs - costs a six figure sum.

Not available in my country. No way of earning that kind of cash. I'd need to both travel and pay for private healthcare.
notdoriangray.bsky.social
Everyone seems to be doing this thing. I don't know if I should be doing this thing.

I am neurodivergent, queer, and often brutally honest.

If you ask me things you might regret it, but at least it will be anonymous.
Anonymous messages!
Anonymous messages!
ngl.link
notdoriangray.bsky.social
Maybe? Have you been staring at the skies looking for omens?

I was sceptical, but I've found that it is genuinely helpful while also being gentle for when you just can't. (You get rewarded for reflecting on why you need to postpone or skip goals.)

If you want the referral reward thing, just ask.
notdoriangray.bsky.social
Currently writing a thing that has a trans woman in it, and she is literally the only stable person in the entire what-will-be novel. Also, she is not white and she does not pander to anyone. She is a bossy bitch to a bunch of people who need a bossy bitch to manage their lives, and I love her.
badambulist.bsky.social
put trans women in your fiction. don’t be a fucking coward.
notdoriangray.bsky.social
As someone with ADHD (and autism, and a bunch of other shit) I highly recommend the Finch app. Cute birb? Tick. To do list you'll actually check and do things from? Tick. Halloween special event? Tick motherfucking tick!

Everyone is different so may not work for you, but always worth a try.
notdoriangray.bsky.social
Pre-ADHD diagnosis, I discovered that the optimum ratio was 250mL energy drink (in my case V black) to three shots of espresso. It made me move superhumanly quickly and my mind focus on stuff and pay attention to it while absorbing it like a sponge being given water during a drought.
notdoriangray.bsky.social
Currently having a minor existential crisis which will prevent me from submitting to this, or cause me to over-submit to this.

I know I'm not the only one, I have a fair idea of who follows me and I know you're all strange and doomed and at least partway insane.

At least get a poem out of it?
thebrokenspine.co.uk
Something Gothic this way comes… Submissions are OPEN for The Havisham Steps: Modern Gothic Poetry. We want poems of neon dread, fractured love, haunted minds.

Closing date: October 31st

#PoetrySubmissions #SubmissionWindow #TheHavishamSteps #ModernGothicPoetry
Something Gothic This Way Comes: Submit to The Havisham Steps: Modern Gothic Poetry - The Broken Spine
Submissions Open Throughout October 2025 | Publication in 2026
thebrokenspine.co.uk
notdoriangray.bsky.social
Sexy titles are overrated. I've attended multiple online talks where Sam has shared various bits and pieces of what's in this book, and they know what they're talking about and are talking about it in an incredibly interesting and accessible way.

Your academic discourse doesn't need tits and ass.
romgothsam.bsky.social
I feel like the title of my book - Theology in the Early British and Irish Gothic - isn't very sexy or puts people off thinking 'well, I'm not interested in theology so... meh'.

But my books offers well researched challenges on key Gothic issues 1/
notdoriangray.bsky.social
Literal definition of awesome? Opinion so amazing it's soundtracked by, "Also sprach Zarathustra," and everyone is overcome by your insight?
Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra / Dudamel · Berliner Philharmoniker
YouTube video by Berliner Philharmoniker
youtu.be
notdoriangray.bsky.social
That said, my sister is an ecologist so don't tell or I'll get a lecture. (Not the fun educational kind of lecture, the exasperated, "you ought to know better," kind)
notdoriangray.bsky.social
They are hard to film because I always forget how FUCKING FAST they can be when they want to. I did talk to it and tell it I was filming it for you, though. And it did make a cute face at the camera, so probably that was the right move.
notdoriangray.bsky.social
Technically an invasive pest in Aotearoa and we're not supposed to encourage them, but in my experience everyone thinks they're adorable. And in terms of invasive species destroying our native wildlife, they don't even make top ten.
notdoriangray.bsky.social
How much do you think I could make if I formulated and marketed a dice curse removal spray?
notdoriangray.bsky.social
I'm very suggestible and will point a camera at pretty much anything for pretty much anyone. I filmed a hedgehog for @romgothsam.bsky.social the other day because I saw the hedgehog and thought, "Sam will want to see the hedgehog!"
notdoriangray.bsky.social
Rare is the instance where the truth is kind. Treasure it.
Reposted by Dorian David Leigh