Grieving Me

Published under a pen name, M. K. Leray, Grieving Me is both a poetry collection and a photography curation. Coming on November 11, 2025!

The cover of Grieving Me features a lichen covered branch. Written my M. K. Leray.

Grieving Me charts the journey through identity lost and reclaimed. In 33 lyrical poems divided into four parts—A Shell, A Ship, In H*ll, and That B*tch—this collection gives voice to the grief of a past self, shaped by trauma and emotional blindness.


Weaving religious and mythological symbolism, deeply layered allusions, and personal metaphor, this book carries you from darkness toward a fragile light. From the hollow echo of a shell to the stormy voyage at sea, through the infernos of h*ll, and finally to the fierce reclamation of self.


For anyone carrying PTSD or who’s felt lost and is fighting to be found again, this is for you. Grieving Me doesn’t shy away from pain, but it does offer hope in its final pages.