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Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · 4d

Not been well all week. Feeling a bit better. But ailing, I never noted that Hollywood or Home turned the grand old age of two a few days ago. Thank you to everyone who bought her and who said nice things. I appreciate you hugely, more than you will know (and so does Norma Desmond!).

Norma Desmond, yellow dress and heels. She has curlers in her hair and wields a cigarette. Drowned man to her left. Pure Sunset Boulevard.

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Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · 17d

Sunday evening. A small poem from Hollywood or Home about art, lost love, and reversal of fortune. Guest stars the marvellous Alvin Pleasant Carter, a patriarch of the legendary Carter Family, who pioneered country music. I’ve never performed it at readings. Must fix that.

Songs
Alvin Pleasant Carter was a man who knew— a pilgrim of the ultimate tune.
A.P. at his counter,
hefting over the sacks of brown sugar—
years after the road, when he'd lost his Sara, and a man can measure the weight of forever...
A.P. knew, stood in that general store, we never hear the songs we are listening for.

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Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · Sep 7

Sunday night poem from Hollywood or Home. E.T./The Goonies meets mortality. And, oddly, probably the nearest I’ll ever come to an ecopoem, as it dawns on me now.

The Adventurers
Out from the drives we join, one by one, and do not ask where the grown-ups have gone. Almost-spring is here again, lovely against our cheeks in the evening air. We have our sweaters on. We do not ask why we are here why tonight. The streamers from my handlebars—so free, so light!
Look how big the moon is! someone shouts.
Everyone is out. Everyone is out from the drives, even the kids who could never, who could never waggle their way to propulsion, whose mothers cared too much— asthma or dietary problems or one cliché after another serving as the explanation.
All are out, as the streetlamps tick and fizz.
We could fly! We could do anything!
Remember what it's like or never was?
Of course, there are the bad guys. Bad guys are everywhere, out of sight, but they are not us. And something not good bleeds from a pipe on the edgelands.
Something long suspected by us, but missed by the good, gone grown-ups. The bad guys listen in the dark-windowed vans of the mind you can't see. Now, we must speak softly.
We are out for treasure. We are out for trees, and the big moon. A shy boy has a plan and a map. We must be careful of the vans.
We have a boy with a plan. We came equipped with torches, the requisite peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches. The bikes slip from our grip. The bikes pile up. The shy boy puts his finger to his lips. Something is moving, he wants to say. Our round, credulous faces burn and thin to the summation of meaning— the beautiful horror, the mangled wonder.

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Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · Sep 6

One of my all-time favourite tracks from the Boss. Tunnel of Love is one banging and beautiful album all round.

youtu.be/_91hNV6vuBY?...

Bruce Springsteen - Tougher Than the Rest (Official Video)

YouTube video by BruceSpringsteenVEVO

youtu.be

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Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · Aug 31

Unsure what it says about modern life, but the first thing on a social feed of mine this morning was a clip of the Brookside moment when Barry Grant finds his mum, Sheila, in bed with Billy Corkhill. “It’s the most natural thing in the world,” she claims. Brookie is not the Chekhov I remember.

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Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · Aug 30

Old photos. My grandmother comforting her little brother, my great uncle Danny, after the Commonwealth Games 1958 cycling road race. He came 8th—pretty darn great. Both of them gone to light now. Amazing people. ❤️

My nan wears a mac. She has a short 1950s do. Danny wears a blanket. He looks dejected, but shouldn’t.

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Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · Aug 30

Reality Bites. Still iconic.

youtu.be/SQVw58aDt3Y?...

My Sharona - Reality Bites (3/10) Movie CLIP (1994) HD

YouTube video by Movieclips

youtu.be

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Reposted by Kathryn Gray

Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · Aug 27

A reminder that our @badlilies.bsky.social submissions window closes this Sunday! If you’re thinking of submitting some beautiful blooms, you can find our submission FAQ here: www.badlilies.uk/submit

Submission FAQ — Bad Lilies

Guidelines to submit to Bad Lilies

www.badlilies.uk

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Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · Aug 28

Annual rewatch of The Firm—a v v good Tom Cruise movie. So many biggies in the cast! Among them—and most prominently—Gene Hackman, who takes his role so seriously that he elevates the whole. Pollack directed, perhaps why so many stars wanted in, despite their slight parts.

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Reposted by Kathryn Gray

Steve and Dave's @steveanddaves1.bsky.social · Aug 28

Marvin Gaye’s often-incendiary album, Let’s Get It On, was released today in 1973 on Tamla. The lp was controversial in its time but is today seen as groundbreaking – & doubtless is one of the most important albums of the 1970s. It’s a deep work of art – with a revelatory Gaye going for broke.

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Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · Aug 28

It’s almost two years from the birth of Hollywood or Home, my second collection—the work I’m proudest of. Proud because of the sense of risk, the sense of coming from a *true* place, for whatever that can mean. Now, it’s to the new poems, with a somewhat heavy heart. Onwards. No Surrender Dorothy. 🌸

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Reposted by Kathryn Gray

Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · Aug 22

Last year marked 20 years since beloved poet, teacher, and friend to so many, Michael Donaghy, left us. His widow, Maddy Paxman, created a site for his students of yore to share their memories of Mikey’s unique, transformative, lasting power. Here’s mine. michaeldonaghywordshop.com/2024/05/29/k...

Kathryn Gray – Escape Room: The Writer by Richard Wilbur

I met Michael Donaghy in the early autumn of 1998. I had been in London for a year by that point. I had come to the capital with impossibly large hope – and far too much arrogance. The reality was …

michaeldonaghywordshop.com

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Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · Aug 27

A reminder that our @badlilies.bsky.social submissions window closes this Sunday! If you’re thinking of submitting some beautiful blooms, you can find our submission FAQ here: www.badlilies.uk/submit

Submission FAQ — Bad Lilies

Guidelines to submit to Bad Lilies

www.badlilies.uk

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Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · Aug 23

Those were the days… 😀

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Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · Aug 22

Last year marked 20 years since beloved poet, teacher, and friend to so many, Michael Donaghy, left us. His widow, Maddy Paxman, created a site for his students of yore to share their memories of Mikey’s unique, transformative, lasting power. Here’s mine. michaeldonaghywordshop.com/2024/05/29/k...

Kathryn Gray – Escape Room: The Writer by Richard Wilbur

I met Michael Donaghy in the early autumn of 1998. I had been in London for a year by that point. I had come to the capital with impossibly large hope – and far too much arrogance. The reality was …

michaeldonaghywordshop.com

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Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · Aug 18

It’s just so relaxing afterwards, too! You feel the benefit.

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Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · Aug 17

I had the most heavenly swim today. I don’t swim nearly enough. When I was at school, I was like a little, mousy-haired fish. Yes, I was a wonderful, fast and bold swimmer. Whenever I swim, I go to the mindful place—zoned-out, so natural and free. The Pisces in me needs more of this.

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Reposted by Kathryn Gray

Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · Aug 16

Meryl Streep’s filmography has seen me through the bad times and the good. Here’s a poem from Hollywood or Home, featuring some of my favourite performances.

Meryl Streep is my therapist
I met a married man once, on a train. He was handsome.
He had the kind of face that made me think of clean, smooth hands. I should add that in the end nothing really happened.
I have done terrible things I will not own.
The dingo took my baby!
Bear with me.
Men have left me. No Vietnam. They simply went.
You must hear this sort of thing all the time. But.
I have stood, hooded, on the jetty; the sea—the sea turned over my mind, roughly.
I have been very 'tired and emotional'.
I cannot afford a rehab facility.
There are not enough Key lime pies in this world for all the people who deserve them. In the face.
Yes, this is heartburn.
You might be onto something.
O Michael! O Michael! O Michael!
I worry that I'm all cliché.
I like to fake accents with strangers.
I suppose that tells you a lot.
I suffer from Imposter Syndrome. Or maybe not.
I had a farm-

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Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · Aug 16

Meryl Streep’s filmography has seen me through the bad times and the good. Here’s a poem from Hollywood or Home, featuring some of my favourite performances.

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Reposted by Kathryn Gray

Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · Aug 5

Massively looking forward to reading at Chener Books on 4 September with two brilliant poets I hugely admire, Sarah Corbett and Tamar Yoseloff, to celebrate the launch of Sarah’s sixth collection of poetry, The Ishtar Gate. It’ll be a wonderful birthday party! Do join us for poetry and joy. ❤️

September Poetry at Chener Books

Join us for readings from Sarah Corbett, Kathryn Gray and Tamar Yoseloff

www.eventbrite.co.uk

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Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · Aug 10

Wasn’t it? My daughter had legit Stendhal syndrome after experiencing Hôtel du Pavot, Chambre 202. Wasn’t the only one. Greatest woman artist of the 20th century, IMO. I feel seen by her.

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Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · Aug 10

Endlessly in love with Dorothea Tanning. Endlessly in love with her Self-Portrait (1944).

https://www.dorotheatanning.org/life-and-work/view/230/

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Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · Aug 9

I think you’ll love it. It’s so moving, so tender—and the performances are perfect.

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Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · Aug 9

The book’s absolutely wonderful—but the film is, too.

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Kathryn Gray @kathryngray.bsky.social · Aug 9

Rewatched Brooklyn last night. Is it one of the greatest movies ever made about radically ‘leaving home’, reinvention, and the tension between being ‘here’ and ‘there’/being ‘there’ and ‘here’? I think so. Ronan’s fragility, brittleness, wide- and sad-eyed bewilderment. Incredible.

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