Dorian David Leigh
@notdoriangray.bsky.social
Poet, mostly. Historian, cat and dog parent, hat wearer, coffee drinker. An imagination with a person attached. He/him/ia.
Pinned
It's a new year. Last one was hard. Here's a really important thing that I learned, important enough that I think it's worth sharing.
A thread. (Or 🧵, if you prefer.)
A thread. (Or 🧵, if you prefer.)
January 2, 2026 at 10:56 AM
It's a new year. Last one was hard. Here's a really important thing that I learned, important enough that I think it's worth sharing.
A thread. (Or 🧵, if you prefer.)
A thread. (Or 🧵, if you prefer.)
Have been on a (much needed) social media break, but it is time for my annual festive repost of Allie Brosh's epic tale of The Year Kenny Loghins Ruined Christmas.
(If you don't know who Kenny Loghins is, he did every movie soundtrack ever before Bryan Adams did every movie soundtrack ever.)
(If you don't know who Kenny Loghins is, he did every movie soundtrack ever before Bryan Adams did every movie soundtrack ever.)
The Year Kenny Loggins Ruined Christmas
The year I learned that Christmas did not, in fact, originate as a celebration of my amazing ability to temporarily transform into a "good" ...
hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com
December 23, 2025 at 6:51 AM
Have been on a (much needed) social media break, but it is time for my annual festive repost of Allie Brosh's epic tale of The Year Kenny Loghins Ruined Christmas.
(If you don't know who Kenny Loghins is, he did every movie soundtrack ever before Bryan Adams did every movie soundtrack ever.)
(If you don't know who Kenny Loghins is, he did every movie soundtrack ever before Bryan Adams did every movie soundtrack ever.)
Really pleased that this came together on time, for a change! #PeomsAbout #DogTags for @thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk
Annealing is the process of making metal less hard and more malleable.
Annealing is the process of making metal less hard and more malleable.
November 21, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Really pleased that this came together on time, for a change! #PeomsAbout #DogTags for @thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk
Annealing is the process of making metal less hard and more malleable.
Annealing is the process of making metal less hard and more malleable.
Reposted by Dorian David Leigh
When people say that Wuthering Heights doesn't have anything to do with race or that no film has engaged with race, what they mean is that for them Romani people do not count and they also haven't been paying attention. I'm going to share a little material from a recent talk. Content note: racism 1/
November 14, 2025 at 1:31 AM
When people say that Wuthering Heights doesn't have anything to do with race or that no film has engaged with race, what they mean is that for them Romani people do not count and they also haven't been paying attention. I'm going to share a little material from a recent talk. Content note: racism 1/
It's nearly 7am, there was a minor pet emergency and I haven't slept, but some pieces fell into place and here's something for #PoemsAbout #Desire for @thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk
Posting before I try to get some sleep, will read and comment when I wake up.
Posting before I try to get some sleep, will read and comment when I wake up.
November 14, 2025 at 5:51 PM
It's nearly 7am, there was a minor pet emergency and I haven't slept, but some pieces fell into place and here's something for #PoemsAbout #Desire for @thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk
Posting before I try to get some sleep, will read and comment when I wake up.
Posting before I try to get some sleep, will read and comment when I wake up.
I've been very offline due to serious health issues, but it's Monday and I wanted to #LiftToTheSky the woman who has slaughtered me, made me raw and open and ready to explode with words. She doesn't need me to lift her, she's too busy lifting all of us. Thanks, Florence. I needed this. So do you.
Florence + The Machine - Sympathy Magic (Official Video)
YouTube video by FlorenceMachineVEVO
youtu.be
November 2, 2025 at 12:59 PM
I've been very offline due to serious health issues, but it's Monday and I wanted to #LiftToTheSky the woman who has slaughtered me, made me raw and open and ready to explode with words. She doesn't need me to lift her, she's too busy lifting all of us. Thanks, Florence. I needed this. So do you.
Reposted by Dorian David Leigh
They don't make motivational posters like they used to...
October 28, 2025 at 12:16 AM
They don't make motivational posters like they used to...
I see a lot of photos of intricately carved pumpkins from people in the USA, stunning works of art designed to evoke the spooks and the shivers.
They have nothing on someone from the British Isles with a knife and a turnip. Turnip Man will haunt your dreams.
They have nothing on someone from the British Isles with a knife and a turnip. Turnip Man will haunt your dreams.
🎶 ‘Ware ye, child, of the Turnip-Man / With turnip head and turnip hands / His turnip heart’s as cold as ice / And at his belt gleams a turnip knife 🎶
October 27, 2025 at 4:28 AM
I see a lot of photos of intricately carved pumpkins from people in the USA, stunning works of art designed to evoke the spooks and the shivers.
They have nothing on someone from the British Isles with a knife and a turnip. Turnip Man will haunt your dreams.
They have nothing on someone from the British Isles with a knife and a turnip. Turnip Man will haunt your dreams.
Reposted by Dorian David Leigh
"A Burglar Bitten by a Skeleton," Illustrated Police News, June 27, 1874
October 26, 2025 at 4:27 PM
"A Burglar Bitten by a Skeleton," Illustrated Police News, June 27, 1874
Coming in a day late for #PoemsAbout #BurnForTheCamera but I have actually written something complete and not just fragments. @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk
Time to go explore everyone else's work.
Time to go explore everyone else's work.
October 25, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Coming in a day late for #PoemsAbout #BurnForTheCamera but I have actually written something complete and not just fragments. @alanparrywriter.co.uk @thebrokenspine.co.uk
Time to go explore everyone else's work.
Time to go explore everyone else's work.
I'm seeing a lot of things, I'm away from the worlds and words and change what is happening. If I don't throw myself at what is here, it isn't because I don't care. I love you so much I'm pulling the words inside so that I can make them bigger. I love you so much and I want you to know that.
October 21, 2025 at 12:32 PM
I'm seeing a lot of things, I'm away from the worlds and words and change what is happening. If I don't throw myself at what is here, it isn't because I don't care. I love you so much I'm pulling the words inside so that I can make them bigger. I love you so much and I want you to know that.
I am trying to go walking more and taking photos has been good motivation. I've moved on to the Proper Camera rather than the smartphone one on days when it isn't raining, but I still take phonecam photos on drizzly days.
These might even be gloomy enough for @braegrosz.com
These might even be gloomy enough for @braegrosz.com
October 16, 2025 at 11:37 AM
I am trying to go walking more and taking photos has been good motivation. I've moved on to the Proper Camera rather than the smartphone one on days when it isn't raining, but I still take phonecam photos on drizzly days.
These might even be gloomy enough for @braegrosz.com
These might even be gloomy enough for @braegrosz.com
Haven't posted any current work for a while, here's a fragment from something I'm working on for @thebrokenspine.co.uk's #WednesdayWIPs.
This is part of a larger poem that will definitely change both form and face. This is just the getting stuff down sort of stage, with some segmenting happening.
This is part of a larger poem that will definitely change both form and face. This is just the getting stuff down sort of stage, with some segmenting happening.
October 15, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Haven't posted any current work for a while, here's a fragment from something I'm working on for @thebrokenspine.co.uk's #WednesdayWIPs.
This is part of a larger poem that will definitely change both form and face. This is just the getting stuff down sort of stage, with some segmenting happening.
This is part of a larger poem that will definitely change both form and face. This is just the getting stuff down sort of stage, with some segmenting happening.
Reposted by Dorian David Leigh
Hey look, Israel broke the cease-fire, twice, in two different ways, within 24 hours - again.
NEW: Israel informed the UN it will permit only 300 aid trucks into Gaza daily, not the 600 mandated by the ceasefire it just signed.
October 14, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Hey look, Israel broke the cease-fire, twice, in two different ways, within 24 hours - again.
October 14, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Reposted by Dorian David Leigh
LOOK at who our #NotJustPretty features will be! It'll be another (online) full house! #OpenMic priority: women who haven't yet read in this @thebrokenspine.co.uk series. All welcome to listen. Details: bit.ly/499kkJk #WomenSupportWomen #WomenSpeakUp #WomenSpeakOut #CanYouHearUs
October 14, 2025 at 7:50 PM
LOOK at who our #NotJustPretty features will be! It'll be another (online) full house! #OpenMic priority: women who haven't yet read in this @thebrokenspine.co.uk series. All welcome to listen. Details: bit.ly/499kkJk #WomenSupportWomen #WomenSpeakUp #WomenSpeakOut #CanYouHearUs
Well, I saw this.
October 11, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Well, I saw this.
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.
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
October 11, 2025 at 12:47 PM
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.
I am neurodivergent, queer, and often brutally honest.
If you ask me things you might regret it, but at least it will be anonymous.
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.
put trans women in your fiction. don’t be a fucking coward.
October 11, 2025 at 12:32 PM
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.
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?
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?
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
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
October 11, 2025 at 12:19 PM
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?
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?
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.
Your academic discourse doesn't need tits and ass.
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/
But my books offers well researched challenges on key Gothic issues 1/
October 11, 2025 at 12:16 PM
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.
Your academic discourse doesn't need tits and ass.
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!"
October 11, 2025 at 11:40 AM
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!"
Reposted by Dorian David Leigh
Life isn't life unless you can dream. Gaza dreams of thriving olive groves, children playing under skies clear of bombs, lovers holding hands as they walk along the beach, old men sharing coffee and stories with friendly strangers. Gaza dreams of a peaceful future. One day soon, inshallah.
Honestly, it’s exhausting that people think Gazans should only ask for help to survive to eat, to stay alive but not to dream, to study, or to rebuild their lives. Wanting education, safety, and a future isn’t greed. It’s being human.
October 11, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Life isn't life unless you can dream. Gaza dreams of thriving olive groves, children playing under skies clear of bombs, lovers holding hands as they walk along the beach, old men sharing coffee and stories with friendly strangers. Gaza dreams of a peaceful future. One day soon, inshallah.
Been walking in the rain. Gloomy photos for @braegrosz.com because I can.
October 11, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Been walking in the rain. Gloomy photos for @braegrosz.com because I can.