Poetry & prose · Don Sylvester

Some places
save you.
And cannot keep you.

Writing about leaving a place, a person, or a version of yourself. And what stays after.

Read Home ↗ Explore the writings →
A quiet shoreline beneath an open sky
Hawaiʻi, and the distance after.

From Home

I am not leaving in anger.

I am leaving because love does not pay rent.
Because beauty does not lower the cost of breathing.
Read the poem →

The Baltimore collection · In preparation

What Stays After

A familiar place.
An unfamiliar life.

Leaving Hawaiʻi, returning to Baltimore, and the distance between a familiar place and a familiar life. Five connected pieces, from the decision to leave to the first moment of rest after returning.

Read the collection →

Read freely here. A digital chapbook and readings in Don’s voice are in preparation.

Before · During · After

The places the writing comes from.

01 / Before the return

Hawaiʻi & the road

Land, belonging, travel, and the places that ask us who we are.

Read the earlier writing → 02 / The transition

Back to Baltimore

Leaving what I love. Looking back. Learning what it means to return.

Read the five pieces →
03 / After the return

What comes next

The life after arriving. Writing that will take its shape as it is lived.

Forthcoming

The person behind the words

Written by someone
still working it out.

Don Sylvester writes poetry and personal essays about place, belonging, and leaving. Dotish Philosopher is where those pieces live, alongside space for your own reflection.

Read Don’s full note →

When words need a little space

Pause here, if you need to.

Practices →Quiet rooms →Private journal →