Paul you have the gift of painting with words. Peeling off the layers and for a moment making us disappear under those words. Thanks for sharing your gift here. Bless you 🙏❤️
"What more can I offer when I have nothing to spare?" This is always the question, Paul. Can we even imagine giving more? Wonderful piece, thank you, Paul.
I ‘auger comfort’ and find a new hole in my belt. My fast has tightened my middle but I have the moments walking with a love true until she ran ahead of me.
I keep reading the poem and all the comments posted in response and I will repeat more or less what everyone tells you. Paul, you have an amazing gift with words.
Thank you for your kind words, Mo. I want my work to connect with readers, to be the vehicle that creates an atmosphere of intimacy and trust between reader and writer, to be a space where the writer can share an emotion and the reader can somehow recognize it, perhaps understand it, as their own.
You are an artist with the way you craft the words and feelings intertwined with such depth of emotion. I do know loss but have never experienced a love so deep. Sending hugs
"My hand fumbles with a shoe,
across town a siren wails."
These images perfectly portray your sense of loss.
Thank you, Mark
I agree, that line stood out to me. What a reminder that the simplest observations are what take us there.
Amen
"I have loved you for so long there’s
scarcely a name for it."
Such a delicate picture of longing and loss. Thank you, Paul.
Thank you for sharing this thought, Mary
WOW, Paul, this is beautiful writing. I love all of the feelings you evoke.
Thank you, C.J.—I think I posted elsewhere that this was an earlier piece I reworked a bit differently
This ain’t your grandma’s Don Quixote.
No it isn’t, unless grandma ever felt the windmills of her mind
This breaks my heart so beautifully
I hope it mends quickly, rena
Paul you have the gift of painting with words. Peeling off the layers and for a moment making us disappear under those words. Thanks for sharing your gift here. Bless you 🙏❤️
What a wonderful comment, Jamie—Thank you for sharing.
Paul, I feel so moved that I want to send you special understanding hugs today. Thanks for being so “real and raw delicately.” 💙
Thank you, Diane, hugs received!
💙💕💙
"What more can I offer when I have nothing to spare?" This is always the question, Paul. Can we even imagine giving more? Wonderful piece, thank you, Paul.
It is a vexing question, Steve, and sometimes it’s an oblique way of getting an answer to “tell me what you want,” without asking directly
It walks back sometimes to become a companion - while the loss of what it was remains.
That explains why it’s always there
Yes, persistently both, and every name you can think of in between
I ‘auger comfort’ and find a new hole in my belt. My fast has tightened my middle but I have the moments walking with a love true until she ran ahead of me.
Yes, Richard, sometimes love runs ahead and sometimes it runs away
Faster we run, and out of breath we carry a weight that slows us down. Strength is our resolve. Love skip ropes with an energy profound.
Such sorrow and longing in this. Your heart has been exposed. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Thank you, Monica—this was an older piece to which I thought I might be able to give a bit of new life.
You know heartbreak. Daniel
I think everyone knows heartbreak in one way or another, Daniel, but it does seem to be a pervasive theme in my writing
I keep reading the poem and all the comments posted in response and I will repeat more or less what everyone tells you. Paul, you have an amazing gift with words.
As do you, my friend—Thank you!
With compliment taken I'm off for a night sleep, grateful as always for your words.
Heartache and regret never sounded so loving. You certainly have a wonderful gift Paul. Thank you 🕊️
Sometimes I think of heartbreak as being love on the outs with itself. Thank you for reading and commenting, Pamela
And when I am able to come on Substack I want to read your lists.
Thank you for sharing your gift so freely Paul.
I agree with you!
Paul, your ability to evoke such strong feelings with minimal words is truly remarkable. Thank you for sharing this glimpse into your soul.
Thank you for your kind words, Mo. I want my work to connect with readers, to be the vehicle that creates an atmosphere of intimacy and trust between reader and writer, to be a space where the writer can share an emotion and the reader can somehow recognize it, perhaps understand it, as their own.
You are an artist with the way you craft the words and feelings intertwined with such depth of emotion. I do know loss but have never experienced a love so deep. Sending hugs
Thank you for reading and commenting, Java—Hugs received and returned!