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LeeAnn Pickrell's avatar

I love that idea of keeping extra people out of your poems and how that worked so beautifully in this poem. So true how much we need each other.

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Meagan Francis's avatar

Thank you so much for the mention of my work, Tara! Funny, I just deleted the Substack app fro my phone the other day - as much as I love being here, I was finding the behavior too similar to other social media: scrolling and hoping for a magical dopamine hit.

"When has any one of us

ever actually done it alone"

This was my favorite line!

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Tara Connor's avatar

Thank you, Meagan. Really enjoyed your piece. And very much looking forward to reading your book. I'm going to submit it as a suggested purchase to the library where I work.

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Melanie Bettinelli's avatar

Keeping extra people out of the poem is great advice. I need to stick that in my pocket. That final stanza is a brilliant ending.

I just sent my two oldest children to spend two weeks with my parents halfway across the country, so I'm definitely feeling this one tonight.

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Tara Connor's avatar

Thanks, Melanie. I hope your kids have a great adventure. And I hope you miss them just the right amount.

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Candace's avatar

“the most terrible myth

we tell ourselves is the one

about independence” ❤️❤️

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Margaret Ann Silver's avatar

Oh, that last stanza 💛. (And the rest of the stanzas.)

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