For dVerse Poets Pub – Where Mish is our host.
Hello and welcome to Prosery at the pub. Mish here from mishunderstood, happy to be your host.
For today’s prosery challenge, I am choosing a line from his poem, “Starpainters”. by Gordon Downie
Here is the line to include in your Prosery:
The Starpainters are taking over now.
Prosery: Tribute to Gordon Downie
When the Starpainters Came
I went outside because sleep wouldn’t come.
The island was quiet, the mountains black against a moonless sky. Above me, thousands of stars glittered where city lights could never reach.
Then one moved.
Not falling—painting.
A silver brushstroke stretched across the darkness, followed by another, violet and gold. Constellations loosened from their ancient shapes and rearranged themselves into something almost familiar.
A doorway.
I should have been afraid.
Instead, I heard laughter—not with my ears, but somewhere inside my chest.
The Starpainters are taking over now.
The doorway widened.
For one impossible moment, shadows stood beyond it: people I had loved, animals I still missed, faces untouched by time.
No one spoke.
They didn’t need to.
Then the colours faded and the constellations returned.
I stayed beneath the stars, smiling.
Perhaps heaven doesn’t always open.
Sometimes it simply leaves the light on.
💜
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My new song is out on streaming platforms.
https://ditto.fm/silenced-but-not-broken
With love, coffee, poetry, and stardust,
— Maggie The Afterlove Voice 💫
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