best words, best order
Excerpts of exceptional writing on Substack read by their authors.
best words, best order
Coleridge wrote that writing is "the best words in the best order." I would like to celebrate some of Substack's "best words in the best order” as part of an ongoing series.
We have all had moments when we are stunned by the quality of someone's writing here on Substack. I am creating an opportunity to both read and hear a writer share their work.
👉🏻 I need your help to pull this off and find wonderful work.
Some Basics
I'm looking for short excerpts of spectacular prose or poetry from a Substack writer to share with my readers.
The writer will need to read their work out loud and record it
Reading time must be no more than 3 minutes
best words, best order will of course link back to the content itself
The words of the nominator will be included. See below.
How to Participate
You must nominate another writer from Substack.
Within a comment below,
Include a link to the piece
Provide the text of the specific excerpt you have selected (not the whole piece.)
Include the name of the writer (please tag them so they have context here and to honor their work even if it is not selected for best words, best order)
Finally, and of utmost importance:
Please share why you think the chosen excerpt is exceptional, ideally from a "feel something" point of view. Your recommendation text is a critical element, so take a quiet moment to get your best words in the best order. You may write up to 200 words. Consider your appreciation of them as of equal importance to the writer’s work. You are honoring them!
Who Can Participate
This is open to anyone to submit
You may not nominate yourself
What Does the Writer Need to Do?
The writer will need to record themselves reading the selected excerpt
They will save the recording as a WAV file and reviewing the post prior to its publication. I will provide a path to upload the file.
I really look forward to what you share and I can’t wait to hear writer’s read the best of their own work. I think there’s community value in sharing little nuggets so that others can explore on their own.
Let’s do it!
And, of course, please share this note as well! This could be wonderful.
“Nobody gets through this life unscathed. Maybe that’s the beauty of it. Maybe life is nothing more than singing love songs into the deep as Orcas ever circle in the gloom. Maybe that fine balance between sanctuary and danger, that safe haven in the firelight as hands are held and the dark is repelled, as death circles in the gloom, maybe that is where dignity and true love reside. So rave on, rave on and sing your song, till your lost and bursting, then sing some more, then sing some more.”
https://substack.com/home/post/p-147971305?r=3lmmp&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
@jonathanfoster
This paragraph, this entire essay sings the echos of pain and love throughout all of existence, throughout all of time, held in the hand of life refusing to surrender under this great tension of opposites.
Adam Nathan( yes, you)
The Gondelier;
It goes without saying, this entire story was a masterpiece.
Listening to “Belle Nuit, o nuit d’amour”
“ἀγάπη – In infinite beauty there is infinite sadness.”
I could see it all play out in words, and boy, I could feel it all. Strength, joy, sorrow, infinite and eternal beauty . I chose the final scene;
“In his mind, he paddled through paper canals, past the first-year students on the fondamenta. He paddled through black balloons. The moon danced up and over him.He paddled out from San Marco and into the rippling black sheets of the watery lagoon. Stars bobbed in his eyes.
He paddled into nothing, and he paddled into everything. He let memories of his wife and daughter sweep through him like starlight.
He thought of infinite beauty and infinite sadness.
Then, together with his father and his daughter, the gondolier paddled into the stars, pulling the Earth behind him in his wake.”
https://open.substack.com/pub/adambnathan/p/the-gondolier-may-2024-part-2?r=2vg1j&utm_medium=ios.