Queer Poem-a-Day, Year 5: Jan-Henry Gray

Day 10: Jan-Henry Gray reads his poem "On Therapy," first published in the anthology Permanent Record: Poetics Towards the Archive (Nightboat Books, 2025), edited by Naima Yael Tokunow.

Jan-Henry Gray is the author of Documents, selected by D.A. Powell as the winner of BOA Editions' Poulin Poetry Prize, and the chapbook Selected Emails. His poems have been included in various anthologies, including Here to Stay: Poetry and Prose from the Undocumented Diaspora (HarperCollins, 2024), Permanent Record: Poetics Towards the Archive (Nightboat, 2024), as well as Essential Queer Voices of U.S. Poetry, Queer Nature, and Nepantla: An Anthology for Queer Poets of Color. He's received fellowships from Undocupoets, the Cooke Foundation Award, and Kundiman. He was born in the Philippines, raised in California, and worked as a chef for over 12 years. He is an assistant professor at Adelphi University and teaches in their low-residency MFA program.

Text of today's poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/

Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog. 

Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language. 

Queer Poem-a-Day is founded and co-directed by poet and professor Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Library and host of the Deerfield Public Library Podcast. Music for this fifth year of our series is "L'Ange Verrier" from Le Rossignol Éperdu by Reynaldo Hahn, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission.