18 Comments
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Taishin Michael Augustin's avatar

For me, the poem's first half beautifully captures the mystery of this life. What is over the hill? Where did the free bird fly? Where will the road lead to next? How can I fit together a string of words to express myself, words that, no matter how well-laid side by side, still miss something?

Then the sharp pivot, the way in which the vastness of the mystery can become overwhelming and, at the same time, suffocating. Can we rest comfortably in not-knowing, not-attaining?

What a terrific poem for this Sunday. Thank you.

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Joshua Bond's avatar

I've read a lot of poetry but never heard of Tessimond - amazing -- so thank you very much for introducing me to him. This particular poem I will commit to memory and add it to my repertoire for the occasional poetry recitals I give. The first two lines reminded me of Sheenagh Pugh's poem "What If This Road?" The poem delves into the introspective mindset of the introvert, something with which I have a long-standing affinity.

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Zuu - Radio Free Amerika's avatar

Thank you for the introduction to Tessimond.. a hauntingly beautiful piece, yet a sense of playfulness visualizing the various ways he explores and experiences himself throughout .. I loved "Twists on his heel to trap his following shadow.. "

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Robbyn T's avatar

I'm surprised Tessimond's work was never explored in any of my English Lit, Poetry and writing courses. He's wonderfully evocative. You can viscerally feel the restlessness that drove his pen to dig deeper into the mysteries of love and adventure

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Miller Henry Grace's avatar

He's searching,

He's behind you,

He's the shadow,

He's the new,

He's the old,

He's all he knew...

.

Searchlight looking out,

Searchlight makes us proud,

Searchlight sees the pain,

.

In the end it starts all over again...

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Steve Veloso's avatar

It is allways a pleasure to read what you share …

Thank you !

🌞

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Ethan Summers's avatar

Perhaps

he is searching for that part of himself that was never

resting in the rib cage of his soul, straying sparse

in everything else…

I like the perspective of a soul always on the road, unruly, restless, curious, loving this world yet being million miles away from it, fluid like water yet resilient like the earth. The poem suggested some of this ideas to me. Thank you for sharing

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Luis A. Estable's avatar

This makes me think of the famous saying, "The grass is always greener on the other side."

The poem is a good one, putting with poetic verses that man's situation. Nothing hard to understand in this; the diction comes through clear enough to enjoy the reading without semantic complications.

Good read!

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Nick Buchheit's avatar

Beautiful.

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Susan-Jane Harrison's avatar

Wonderful poem. So relatable.

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Debbi Mack's avatar

That one nails it. :)

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Robbyn T's avatar

This speaks to some very deep, often dormant places within me that still hide in the shadows, but, sparked by the match against flint of his words, now demand to be heard.

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Teàrlach's avatar

I love this

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Deb Hillyer's avatar

Thanks for writing. I need the peace that poetry brings when I read it!😊

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Robbyn T's avatar

Can anyone tell me why there isn't a link to directly navigate back to the original post from the comments section? I see the title of the piece I responded to, but no link. The back button doesn't take you there either. Thank you!

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Robbyn T's avatar

Thank you. ☺️ It would be nice if that were the default set up. So you can reference back & forth between the piece and the comments. ❤️

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Poetic Outlaws's avatar

You're the only person that's had a problem with it since I began this page. Everyone else has easily got back to it.

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