Once I vanish into an opening line, words follow on their own without so much as an umbrella or a newspaper to keep them dry. Notebook paper, damp with moisture, fills with runnels, and ink flows freely toward the edges. Pages glisten with a sheen, sleek and grey as a chrome bumper lost in a carpark I cannot remember. Off in the distant haze of early evening, cathedral bells toll vespers, my inky fingers moving counterpoint to words falling like prayer. O Joyful Light!
Paul’s Substack is an independent publication supported by subscribers, readers and followers across 48 U.S. States and 80 countries worldwide. If you enjoy the content, why not subscribe? There is only one level of subscription, and it’s FREE!
As always, to the current readership of Paul’s Substack, I am grateful to each of you for your support of my writing. I am also grateful to those who comment on the work, as well as those who restack my work in order to share it with their own audiences.
Thank You!
PS: Readers wishing to support this work financially may do so by purchasing my book, An Assembly of Words, available on Amazon and eBay. A second collection of poetry, Not Emptied But Altered, will be available in late September 2025.
You are like the Pied Piper of words, Paul, summoning them to come to you, to follow you through sun or rain, and it seems like a mysterious holy act that brings it own share of light. This is another really fine poem.
Once I vanish
into an opening line,
words follow
on their own
without so much
as an umbrella
or a newspaper
to keep them dry.
Thank you to @Marisa for sharing this