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Moll Moonlight's avatar

Beautiful!

"breath,

tightening.

Then light,

slow as thaw,

unwrapped the air."

The way you suspended the flow across the line break but held it alive there with the half-rhyme, the sharp "t"s balanced with the long, sighing assonance - lovely.

Mark Crutchfield's avatar

Thank you 💛💛💛

Mark Crutchfield's avatar

PS. Really pleased you caught the breathlines I sent across the pond :)

Moll Moonlight's avatar

They were unmissable. Rocked by Atlantic currents, but still fresh off the sea!

Marwa Mabrouk's avatar

It feels like a certain type of quiet, the one created by looks between the eyes, rather than by words...

Mark Crutchfield's avatar

Thank you for recognising the quiet — and for feeling it with me, Marwa 💛

MargaretGypsy's avatar

"What broke wasn't silence" -

I could feel the breath in between the lines, Mark.

Mark Crutchfield's avatar

Thank you Margaret and love you felt the breath there 💛

AsukaHotaru's avatar

Mark, this one feels like standing in that fragile hush right before the world exhales — that small, shimmering pause when even light forgets to move. The rhythm is so tender; every line lands like breath on glass — slow enough for warmth to find its way back. I love how the repetition folds time in on itself, like memory and moment holding hands for a second.

“Her words fell on my heart like quiet snow” — that line alone could melt winter. It’s so simple, yet it carries a whole life of ache and gentleness underneath. I could almost hear the stillness between the lines, how the silence wasn’t empty but listening back. There’s something about the way you write that turns quiet into texture. It lingers — soft, luminous — like breath still visible in the cold. I just sat there for a moment after reading, letting it settle...

Mark Crutchfield's avatar

Wow Asuka. You see the word, but you notice what happens underneath when you feel them.

How they can shape what we feel, how they land, where in the body we feel their touch.

There is something magical about snow — but not just the wonderful snow on mountains and in winter, but the quiet it brings, the soft feeling, the breath of cold air.

And as you say — letting it settle, long after ready.

Such a wonderful reflection. Thank you! 💛

AsukaHotaru's avatar

I love how you described that — the breath of cold air — it’s exactly that quiet kind of magic I was trying to hold in words. There’s something sacred about how snow hushes the world without asking it to stop, just… softens everything into listening.

And yes, maybe that’s what good writing does too — lets the noise fall away until what’s left is the pulse underneath. I’m really moved by how you saw that, how you traced it back to the body, to the feel of words before the thought.

Thank you for meeting me in that hush — it’s always a gift when reflections find each other like this~

Mark Crutchfield's avatar

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☺️☺️☺️