32 Comments
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Fractals of Gaia 🌿's avatar

Such beautiful and nostalgic writing, brings back some of the best memories! Thank you Mark! 🫢🫢🫢

Mark Crutchfield's avatar

Thank you! Fractals for letting me write this for you 🫢

Fractals of Gaia 🌿's avatar

πŸ™πŸ»πŸ™πŸ»πŸ™πŸ»

20th Century Fox's avatar

Gorgeous! β€œi simply kept walking with something softer

beneath my ribs” = ❀️❀️❀️

Mark Crutchfield's avatar

Thank you! ❀️❀️❀️

Dipti  Vyas's avatar

The guitar may have been hanging in the shop, but what is really waiting to be noticed? That question lingered with me long after I finished reading. We often imagine that we discover the world, yet there are moments when it feels as though the world has been patiently discovering us all along.

β€œMy fingers carried on before my thoughts” is the line that quietly anchors the whole poem. It suggests there is a knowing beneath thought, one that cannot be reasoned into existence. The mind arrives late, trying to explain what the heart has already recognized.

And that ending is beautifully understated. Nothing dramatic happens. The guitar stays behind. Yet something continues the journey. Perhaps that is all transformation ever is, not acquiring something new, but walking away a little less separate from what was always there.

Mark Crutchfield's avatar

That’s such a lovely observation there Dipti. Maybe many things in life aren’t the ones we expect to be waiting for us - relationships, moments, objects. And the world around us has been truly discovering us as we pass on by. I’m so pleased you caught that moment in the piece. Our hearts often feel the beat of something more, long before our minds have had a chance to catch up, and maybe that’s the way it is supposed to be.

Thank you Dipti, for adding a whole new layer to this piece 🫢

Dipti  Vyas's avatar

I smiled at your phrase, β€œthe world around us has been truly discovering us.” It turns the usual story inside out. We spend so much of life believing we are the ones searching, choosing, arriving. But perhaps recognition is always mutual. We notice something because, in a quiet way, it has already made room for us.

And yes, I think the heart has its own chronology. It doesn’t rush ahead of the mind or lag behind it. It simply moves on a different clock altogether. The mind calls it coincidence, instinct, or chance. The heart never seems to need a name for it.

Thank you for writing a poem spacious enough to let those thoughts wander into it.

The King who seeks Truth's avatar

Reads and flows smoothly and paints the picture it wants to convey, lovely

Mark Crutchfield's avatar

Thank you, King!

Jennifer Wagner's avatar

Oh, this made me smile and sigh. 🀍

Mark Crutchfield's avatar

Thank you, Jennifer. Your kind words do the same for me β™₯️

Dorie Snow/ι›ͺ倚丽's avatar

So beautiful

Mark Crutchfield's avatar

thank you, Dorie 🩷

Dorie Snow/ι›ͺ倚丽's avatar

Always!

EJOD's avatar

It felt like I was there, observing. This is lovely.

Mark Crutchfield's avatar

Thank you, EJOD. I'm so pleased that cane through in the piece 😊

EJOD's avatar

Are you a songwriter? I can almost hear the song that this is… or could be.

Mark Crutchfield's avatar

I write electronic music more recently, but used to be in a uni band on guitar back in the days ;)

Got a new poem, video and music coming out this weekend when I finish the video 😊

EJOD's avatar

Aha! It really came through this poem. Please turn it into a balladβ€¦πŸ™πŸΎ

Mark Crutchfield's avatar

I’ll see what I can do! Thanks for the idea πŸ’—

EJOD's avatar

You’re welcome! Can’t wait to hear it!

Dean M's avatar

Oh this is so beautiful and for me sentimental, reminds me of my young high school days, where we had not much money but wanted to have a band and needed guitars ... so went to shops and admired ... touched ... exited empty hands ...

Mark Crutchfield's avatar

Thank you, Dean!

I think at times we led parallel lives.

In my high school days I used hang out at the local guitar and amp shop in Bristol. Usually staying late on a Friday night to play the les Pauls and crank up the Marshall amps when the shop shut. And eventually got a very low paid job - just because I liked it so much (and for the staff discount 🀣)

Dean M's avatar

Indeed Mark! I have the same impression! Similar experiences, similar things we did, similar things we liked and still do … similar epoque … that’s cool …

Linda Blatnik's avatar

you played memories of the woods. beautiful poem.

Mark Crutchfield's avatar

Thank you, Linda!

Good Witch Poetries's avatar

🎸πŸ”₯ 🎸

Aaliya's avatar

This was so poignant and beautiful

Mark Crutchfield's avatar

Thank you, dear Aailya β™₯️

Jay's avatar

My first was like that too. I remember it like it was yesterday. Perhaps it was.

Mark Crutchfield's avatar

Thank you, Jay. A lovely memory to hold.