In the deepest depths of the night, in the farthest reaches that remain untouched by rays of warm daylight, there is a rhyme lost in the ether. In the blackness of my woes, wrought in my own dissonant thoughts, tossing in its relentless echoes, I hear that rhyme calling for help. So I go there, tracking that tone. In doing so, I make it my mission to share with it a blanket of my own, keeping the rhyme from frostbite. We find ourselves in space together, I am shown how to wield my chatter. And so it may live in sight forever, in return I offer the rhyme my voice.
Why I Write - by Tom Shaw
This poem is a little piece about what poetry means to me, which I’ve written in celebration of reaching over 100 subscribers on Substack. In the time between making this post available for my Tribe members and in it becoming public, I’ve now passed 150 subscribers. So I guess it’s a celebration for 150 subscribers too!
In celebration of reaching 200 subscribers, I’ve also added an audio reading of the poem to the page. Thank you everyone for helping me make it here!
I spoke a little bit more about why I write in a recent interview with
, which you can find a clip of below.You can find the full interview with Dr Lawrie over on her Substack below.
And, as a follow-up to this, I wrote an essay-poetry hybrid on “Who Am I Writing For?” to address how I go about writing pieces that resonate with people without needing to over-generalise or censor myself. You can find that piece below:
You can use the image version of this poem below to easily share this piece with someone who may benefit from it:
I’ve also turned this poem into a notepad in the same style as the image above, which I think makes a great item for anyone who wants to write their own poems and wants to support my work in the process. You can check that out over on my Shop using the button below:
I cannot thank you enough for all the support you have shown me. Please consider subscribing to receive my latest works as they’re ready. Paid subscribers get access to all sorts of extra goodies, like a free digital copy of “Born Anew and Other Poems”, early access to my poems, and lots of exclusive content. Your help goes a long way!
With immense gratitude,
Tom