Stephen Guy-Bray
@stephengb.bsky.social
Professor of poetry, curious, gay, love to cook. Currently writing about poems about poems.
Happy Valentine's Day! Here is a matchless quatrain from "The Ecstasy" by John Donne.
When love with one another so
Interinanimates two souls,
That abler soul, which thence doth flow,
Defects of loneliness controls.
When love with one another so
Interinanimates two souls,
That abler soul, which thence doth flow,
Defects of loneliness controls.
February 14, 2026 at 5:59 PM
Happy Valentine's Day! Here is a matchless quatrain from "The Ecstasy" by John Donne.
When love with one another so
Interinanimates two souls,
That abler soul, which thence doth flow,
Defects of loneliness controls.
When love with one another so
Interinanimates two souls,
That abler soul, which thence doth flow,
Defects of loneliness controls.
Rudolf Nureyev cruised me at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He was so obvious even my father noticed.
Right folks. Feeling rather down at the moment so bringing back an oldie
Please Quote this with your most minor celebrity interaction
Please Quote this with your most minor celebrity interaction
December 29, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Rudolf Nureyev cruised me at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He was so obvious even my father noticed.
As a gay Canadian, I'm getting a lot of questions from Heated Rivalry fans, so here goes. Yes, I played hockey, but not often and not well. On the other hand, I was very good at floor hockey, although my career ended when I was banned for life for "excessive force." Now I'm a poetry specialist.
December 25, 2025 at 7:01 PM
As a gay Canadian, I'm getting a lot of questions from Heated Rivalry fans, so here goes. Yes, I played hockey, but not often and not well. On the other hand, I was very good at floor hockey, although my career ended when I was banned for life for "excessive force." Now I'm a poetry specialist.
Hello fellow Canadians! Please sign this important petition supporting trans rights.
December 21, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Hello fellow Canadians! Please sign this important petition supporting trans rights.
I just reread Roderick Hudson. I feel people don't appreciate how filthy Henry James could be. For instance:
"I have only one way of expressing my deepest feelings--it's this." And he swung his tool.
Total smut.
"I have only one way of expressing my deepest feelings--it's this." And he swung his tool.
Total smut.
December 16, 2025 at 6:47 PM
I just reread Roderick Hudson. I feel people don't appreciate how filthy Henry James could be. For instance:
"I have only one way of expressing my deepest feelings--it's this." And he swung his tool.
Total smut.
"I have only one way of expressing my deepest feelings--it's this." And he swung his tool.
Total smut.
"He ruin'd me, and I am re-begot / Of absence, darkness, death: things which are not."
Which lines of poetry live rent-free in your head?
December 7, 2025 at 6:24 PM
"He ruin'd me, and I am re-begot / Of absence, darkness, death: things which are not."
Worlds AIDS Day. I'm thinking again of Howard, dead so many years now. He was my first love.
December 1, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Worlds AIDS Day. I'm thinking again of Howard, dead so many years now. He was my first love.
Happy Wrong Thanksgiving to my neighbours in the melancholy republic to the south.
November 27, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Happy Wrong Thanksgiving to my neighbours in the melancholy republic to the south.
Here are two tenure-track jobs in the English Department at the University of Victoria:
www.uvic.ca/faculty-staf...
www.uvic.ca/faculty-staf...
www.uvic.ca/faculty-staf...
www.uvic.ca/faculty-staf...
ENGL 250-106 - Faculty & staff - University of Victoria
Inspired by and honouring place, we are a community-minded, globally engaged university where we transform ideas into meaningful impact.
www.uvic.ca
September 9, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Here are two tenure-track jobs in the English Department at the University of Victoria:
www.uvic.ca/faculty-staf...
www.uvic.ca/faculty-staf...
www.uvic.ca/faculty-staf...
www.uvic.ca/faculty-staf...
First day of teaching and we're under an air quality advisory because of the thick smoke from all the forest fires.
September 3, 2025 at 8:00 PM
First day of teaching and we're under an air quality advisory because of the thick smoke from all the forest fires.
Hello everyone. Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax has a tenure-track job in Enlightenment rhetoric and / or 18th-century literature. Tell everyone.
www.msvu.ca/about-msvu/c...
www.msvu.ca/about-msvu/c...
Full-time Academic positions
Inspired by a strong tradition of social responsibility and an enduring commitment to the advancement of women, Mount Saint Vincent University promotes academic excellence and the pursuit of knowledge...
www.msvu.ca
August 29, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Hello everyone. Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax has a tenure-track job in Enlightenment rhetoric and / or 18th-century literature. Tell everyone.
www.msvu.ca/about-msvu/c...
www.msvu.ca/about-msvu/c...
Happy birthday to Herman Melville, 206 years young. Once again I say "harpoon me, Daddy."
August 1, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Happy birthday to Herman Melville, 206 years young. Once again I say "harpoon me, Daddy."
Last night was rather a blur, but when I woke up I saw that I had written METAPOETICS in block capitals on a piece of paper so it's on now.
July 20, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Last night was rather a blur, but when I woke up I saw that I had written METAPOETICS in block capitals on a piece of paper so it's on now.
Today I visited the memorial to John Milton, the greatest poet in English and one of my greatest joys since I was a teenager.
"not to me returns / Day"
"not to me returns / Day"
July 17, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Today I visited the memorial to John Milton, the greatest poet in English and one of my greatest joys since I was a teenager.
"not to me returns / Day"
"not to me returns / Day"
Irish pizza! Bacon, mushrooms, sausage, black & white pudding (a rather dull meat product that they love), and an egg. Yes, an egg. Wish me luck. #CulinaryAdventurer #GastronomicAudacity
July 12, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Irish pizza! Bacon, mushrooms, sausage, black & white pudding (a rather dull meat product that they love), and an egg. Yes, an egg. Wish me luck. #CulinaryAdventurer #GastronomicAudacity
My hotel lobby is full of brides and bridesmaids and in the park across from my hotel there's a very loud hippy drumming circle. #WhyThisIsHellNorAmIOutOfIt #WasEverGriefLikeMine
July 10, 2025 at 10:59 AM
My hotel lobby is full of brides and bridesmaids and in the park across from my hotel there's a very loud hippy drumming circle. #WhyThisIsHellNorAmIOutOfIt #WasEverGriefLikeMine
Just having a beer and a cigarette and thinking about Fanny Howe.
July 9, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Just having a beer and a cigarette and thinking about Fanny Howe.
Happy Father's Day to my wonderful father, seen here with my sister and me, a tiny baby.
June 15, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Happy Father's Day to my wonderful father, seen here with my sister and me, a tiny baby.
Two outhouses, both alike in shittiness.
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
June 5, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Two outhouses, both alike in shittiness.
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
Happy Pride Month to all! As we say at the poetics lab, you can't spell Pride Month without ODE. #praxis #themoreyouknow
June 1, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Happy Pride Month to all! As we say at the poetics lab, you can't spell Pride Month without ODE. #praxis #themoreyouknow
Thinking of my mother today. Here she is with my sister and me in 1970. Happy mothers' day!
May 11, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Thinking of my mother today. Here she is with my sister and me in 1970. Happy mothers' day!
Yesterday I submitted my final marks so I'm giving everyone in the world the day off. Party on!🥂🥂
May 2, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Yesterday I submitted my final marks so I'm giving everyone in the world the day off. Party on!🥂🥂
Today in George Eliot news: my partner is rereading Middlemarch and I'm rereading Romola. This is as it should be.
April 20, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Today in George Eliot news: my partner is rereading Middlemarch and I'm rereading Romola. This is as it should be.
why did I call my paper on Fulke Greville "Learning From Cupid" when I could have called it "Do You Want To Fulke" I'm so stupid
April 6, 2025 at 4:56 PM
why did I call my paper on Fulke Greville "Learning From Cupid" when I could have called it "Do You Want To Fulke" I'm so stupid
The business class lounge at Boston airport was out of breakfast sausages. #WasEverGriefLikeMine
March 23, 2025 at 12:22 PM
The business class lounge at Boston airport was out of breakfast sausages. #WasEverGriefLikeMine