27 Comments

This was wonderful. The form and each part feels like it could stand on it's own as separate poems. The third is my favorite, every single line surprised me after the next.

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Thanks Daniel, I thought the same as it was coming together. I considered breaking them apart completely or trying to force them together but in the end thought I'd experiment with the 4 parts. I think it had the right balance and felt right when reading them.

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"Here;

Time is a shadow creeping,

Deadlines are a child stirring,

Growth is a tree humming."

There is a tension to these lines that feels so human. I think it feels like the way time slows when we notice and the push/pull urgency of the so many things that fill our lives and require our presence and sometimes leave me unsettled with the unfinished-ness of it all, which I'm learning that mostly just has to be surrendered to - to know when it is time to end the day, put the shovel away, rest.

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Absolutely, it can be a challenge to know when its worth fighting back, if at all. But there are boundaries that push you through the days, weeks minutes whatever. And yes in the other poem I guess you see that at the micro level ticking away so fast, even in the slowness of the big picture.

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Jun 23Liked by David Donoghue

How can dirt make me feel this emotional? Maybe it's thinking of my Dad or your reading of the poem. It was these lines for me-

Ten heaps to settle the barrow,

Ten more to see it full.

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Jun 23Liked by David Donoghue

Wonderful writing, David. Keep up the great work! 🙏

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author

Thanks so much for your kind words and the encouragement!

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Jun 21Liked by David Donoghue

Breaking the sections draws elegance into the earthiness and leads to section 3 hitting with wonderful weight. Bravo, and thank you for sharing this beautiful meditation.

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Jun 20Liked by David Donoghue

This is incredibly gorgeous, David. No notes at all. I love how you give weight and significance to the pauses in your reading especially. Background and figure go together. Sound and silence are intimately interdependent. You understand and convey this beautifully.

I can't help but wonder if the deadline is that your child will be awake and so you'll have to stop doing yard work.

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I love how the reader is completely transported into the poem and the work. It reminds me a little of Robert Frost.

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Whoa thanks so much. I am delighted and humbled to hear it has that effect for you. 🙏

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love this.

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author

Thank you so much for coming, reading and leaving a comment. I hugely appreciate it. 🙏

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Jun 20Liked by David Donoghue

Really lovely writing, David. A touch of Heaney maybe. The lovely pauses and imagery.

To the light whistling through the apple tree.

“How have you been?”, she sang,

(Yes, yes)

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author

Thanks so much. 🙏 Ah certainly a hint of himself but I'd not be too quick to compare myself to such a writer 😅

Yeah I enjoyed writing this one so happy to see it received so well.

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Jun 20Liked by David Donoghue

Well done!

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author

Thanks Mathew!

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Jun 20Liked by David Donoghue

Wonderful, David.

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Thanks a million for reading and commenting, Gary! 🙏

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Jun 20Liked by David Donoghue

This is spectacular David!!! Something in the air these days, all things seem to lead back to trees!

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Yes, Ive just been out in it so much, they are in so much of my writing and words at the moment 😅 perhaps this season of writing should be named "Trees Trees and Trees"

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Jun 20Liked by David Donoghue

Ha!!! Treepalooza!!!

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Jun 20Liked by David Donoghue

I feel taken back in time to love a daisy and dandelion lawn.

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author

It's certainly not grass anyway, not even close 😅

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Jun 20Liked by David Donoghue

Beautiful, David.

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Thanks so much Deborah!

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It'd certainly not grass anyway.. not ecen close!

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