Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 24/08/2026Why not have a little fun.paigeryan.substack.comCones on the HeadIt’s simple, really. 010
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 06/08/2026“as if I’ve ever stood in California and looked toward New York thinking yes, I understand distance now. Place your body at the bottom of a canyon—and you’ll see— at the bottom of a canyon, the scale is such the self…”open.substack.comSelf, to Scaleon martian crust 010
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 05/06/2026There’s nothing to do. Only a full commitment to being. [If you’re also in need of this mantra, well, there it is] 000
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 10/04/2026I’m not sure when I became the strange woman that walks through the park petting trees but I’m not exactly mad about it. Isn’t it nice? How soft the leaves are as newborns. 100
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 07/04/2026Spring seems like a good time to revisit this poem, originally published in a Plants & Poetry House anthology. If you haven’t heard of them and you’re a nature enthusiast, consider this a sign and go check them out! 010
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 07/04/2026open.substack.comHow to Read a Poem ForensicallyOn reading without rushing to meaning 010
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 07/04/2026my sister sent me this snapshot from inside my 8-year-old niece’s brain and I’m like: yes. the poetry gene lives on. 000
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 07/04/2026ever thought about how, like bark, our skin is simply a surface being lived in? 020
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 07/04/2026Don’t count your chickens.open.substack.comEgg Mathon waiting (and so much more) 010
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 20/03/2026from “be here to love me at the end of the world” by sasha fletcher ☁️☁️ 020
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 18/03/2026I thought I’d have more to say about turning 35, but it seems the words are still marinating. And I’ve learned to let things come at their own time—which somehow always ends up being right. It’s how my poetry manuscript finally arrived: alive with a decade’s worth of words on my 35th birthday. 011
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 09/01/2026The absurdity of working for a mental health org that talks “well-being” while actively eroding it for employees. 020
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 31/12/2025Friendly reminder that it’s a privilege to gain another year, and to invite age to show itself on your body. 010
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 31/12/2025Friendly reminder that it's a privilege to be able to set an intention. 020
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 31/12/2025On giving each other a home.open.substack.comThe Woman With Thrifted Flamingo EarringsOn giving each other a home. 020
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 26/12/2025Sharing this the day after Christmas feels right. Not a “holiday poem,” but a post-holiday poem—for the quieter hours, the softened nerves, the kind of comfort that’s always there, and the reminder that the giving never stops. It just lowers its voice. (Hope the holidays are treating everyone well!)open.substack.comSky Wrapped in BowThe physics of comfort (or: more gifts) 010
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 22/12/2025On days when thinking feels impossible.open.substack.comMouth-NoiseBecause this time of year is a lot for our brains. 010
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 22/12/2025If the timing weren’t so uncanny, I’d question why it took me so long to read my favorite poet’s Nobel lecture. “Whatever inspiration is, it’s born from a continuous ‘I don’t know.’” — W.S. Permission to not convert everything into certainty. To keep the work alive by staying curious.nobelprize.orgNobel Prize in Literature 1996The Nobel Prize in Literature 1996 was awarded to Wisława Szymborska "for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality" 030
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 09/12/2025First time adding a recording of me reading a poem and it feels like a big deal??? Somehow more vulnerable than the poem itself?? Be kind 🙈😅paigeryan.substack.comThe Day You Dried OrangesBecause one day will be your last, and you'll be happy. 020
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 09/12/2025This story by @ambersparks.bsky.social is BRILLIANT. Sharp, witty lines that tug hard on a feeling, then abruptly cut it loose before moving on to the next. I’m not even mad about how it plays with my heart, because it’s a thrill—I’m feeling a hundred things at once—and I’m absolutely here for it.open.substack.com"Your Life in Parties" by Amber Sparks"...your retirement party, the one they threw for you at the atrocious Italian restaurant. Surprise!, they all yell, which is so awkward because this isn’t a surprise party...." 1162
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 07/12/2025open.substack.comParental CoatWhen I think of myself becoming. 030
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 07/12/2025POV: using poetry to trick yourself into feeling something other than what you’re actually feeling 😅 020
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 21/11/2025I love how a why can age—how you can look at it years later and see all it's been through.substack.comI Write BecauseI write because the world cracks me open 020
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 17/11/2025Would love to connect with others on Substack. Read my latest post here and follow along for more: substack.com/@paigeryan/n... 030
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 15/11/2025One could argue that the best part about writing is stumbling upon the past selves you’ve forgotten. 010
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 12/11/2025In case the news is a little much, here’s a tender poem to read instead.open.substack.comHow to Steep a WinterLeaves of last year’s trees 020
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 21/10/2025People need to stop saying “I didn’t eat all day” as if it’s proof of work ethic. It’s not ambition. It’s proof of a system that taught you to confuse self-neglect with dedication. And call it professionalism. (Wild how eating lunch during the workday still feels like a rebellion.) 000
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 17/10/2025“Never be sad when you can be funny instead—unless you can be funny and sad, which is even better. Slipping on a banana peel? Hilarious. Slipping on a banana peel while already downtrodden? Art.” Finally, a sentiment I can get behind 😅 171
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 11/10/2025Death, dressed in its Sunday best. Painted in watercolor. Served almost sweet. Jenny George’s collection stuns in its balance—heavy / light, above / below, grief / grace. 000
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 25/08/2025The curse of being a poet is: every word is guilty until proven innocent 🤔 😅 030
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 25/08/2025Writing poems is just: uses word I’ve known forever → panics → googles definition. 030
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 04/08/2025Quite possibly my favorite philosophical question to date 😂 030
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 30/06/2025I picked strawberries last weekend, and halfway through the field—I had a moment. Here’s a poem about remembering what joy tastes like 🍓 “…I eat another, then another, again and again, each more ferociously than the last…” 020
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 19/06/2025Rebecca Solnits “No Straight Road Takes You There” is currently keeping me sane. Read for good perspective on solidarity, mutual aid, community, and pleasure/leisure’s ability to be a safety net. 2328
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 31/03/2025I don’t remember where I got this copy of a talk Thich Nhat Hanh did at a correctional institution but it’s full of nice little meditations on poetry and life. 020
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 23/02/2025Retreating back to nature where the chaos of the world can’t get me. Send me poems that ground—either ones you’ve read or written. #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #naturewriting 192
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 09/02/2025The novel “Playground” is my first exposure to Richard Powers and I must say, the out-of-the-blue burst of magical realism on page 173 is such a flex. #booksky 1100
Reposted by Paige RyanDan Schkade @danschkade.bsky.social · 04/02/2025WRITING TIP: if you get stuck, try making the font really really big. This will remind you of being a baby, when you only knew twelve words and didn't know about death 573877631
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 31/01/2025Also I can’t stop referring to my baked goods as babies because my biological clock is like WHAT ELSE COULD YOU POSSIBLY BE DOING. #writingcommunity #poetrycommunity #breadmaking #queerwriter #queerpoet 040
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 31/01/2025Spent the day watching my sour baby grow up instead of whatever garbage is popping up in the news. 10/10 recommend if you want to maintain your sanity. 010
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 30/01/2025Modern day self-care 101 🍯 🥲 #writingcommunity #writinglife #poetrycommunity #queerartist #queerpoet #queerwriter 061
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 27/01/2025Working for a company that directly conflicts with your values is a special kind of fun. Someone send me a poem beautiful enough to drown out my disappointment in humanity. (I promise I’m not usually this dramatic, it’s just been a day) #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity 290
Paige Ryan @paigevryan.bsky.social · 25/01/2025You wouldn’t be a creative in the modern world if you didn’t have 12 million project ideas a day that you sadly had to lay to rest for the grind 🥲 🪦💔 #writingcommunity #poetrycommunity #lifewriting #naturewriting 050