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27th October, 2023

Friday Poem – ‘Handsome Weeping Boy’ by Kathryn Gray

Black and white photographs of water droplets on a branch

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘Handsome Weeping Boy’ by Kathryn Gray from her highly anticipated second collection Hollywood or Home.

Handsome Weeping Boy I cannot cry. I have need of a handsome weeping boy. Handsome weeping boy. His tears are pear cultured pearls against his cheeks; he is in touch with his emotions; he leaks. Strap me to a chair. Freeze-frame the oxygen tank in Beaches. These days it is so hard to be authentic. Handsome weeping boy, I hear you. Your shoulders move beside me so gently—breeze caught by a tree! Debra Winger is dying again. Handsome weeping boy, with your handkerchief to stem the flow. The feels is what the kids call it now, and I— I am so full, I am running on empty. I cannot cry. I have need of a handsome weeping boy.

Join us on Tuesday 7th November at St John’s Waterloo in London for a joint book launch featuring Kathryn Gray, Lynne Hjelmgaard and Sue Hubbard. Readings start at 6:30pm. All welcome.

Joint book launch. Lynne Hjelmgaard, Kathryn Gray and Sue Hubbard. Tuesday 7th November from 6:30pm. Free entry. All welcome. St John's Waterloo, 73 Waterloo Road, London, SE18TY

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Related Books

This cover shows an illustration of a woman wearing a yellow dress. She is walking down a pier surrounded by water. In the background there is lighting and a bare forest. The dress is drawn as if wind is blowing it to the left. On the right of the character is a figure in a shirt and dark trousers floating face down in the water. Hollywood or Home. Kathryn Gray. ‘‘Underpinning the comedy and satire... is a real pain at life’s jolts time’s realness” - Nick Laird.

Hollywood or Home

Kathryn Gray

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