19 Comments
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Lori Ayre's avatar

First thought, that's a beautiful image of what we as humans yearn for...to give most of ourselves away. Then, my second thought was....we are all zucchini.

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Martin Mc Carthy's avatar

Nice poem, Jed. I particularly like the last verse:

"Tossed in this wave of

Abundance, we learn to conserve,

Even as we secretly yearn to

Give most of ourselves away."

Here are two quotes from Irish Nobel Laureate, Samuel Beckett, on the topic:

"You say excessive, I say not excessive enough."

"Excessive people are the most memorable." (Just look at Trump, Netanyahu and Hitler to name but a few)

Beckett himself was almost excessively sparse in his later use of language - a contradiction you will appreciate.

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Paul Wittenberger's avatar

Sometimes Beckett was so fragmented that one could get lost, but maybe that was the idea.

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Martin Mc Carthy's avatar

If Becket seems fragmented at times, then it's deliberate. When he was directing Jack Mc Gowran (his favourite theatre actor) during readings of his work, he even told him when to pause and exactly for how long.

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Jonathan Potter's avatar

I’ve loved every poem of yours, Jed, but maybe this one the most. So far.

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Nazish Nasim's avatar

Speaks of your giving spirit, Jed. And then, there's that contradiction. ❤️

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Weston Parker's avatar

It's always a good poem that leaves the reader thinking, wondering for far longer than it took to read the poem.

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Stefano Carini's avatar

“The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom”

William Blake

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David Kirkby's avatar

The return of the Jed I, think.....

Welcome back, mate. Apparently the ring around the sun is fish, according to this guy:

( https://davidkirkby.substack.com/p/waves )

Lovely poem though !

I might just dream of a zucchini avalanche, but they may be a thing of the past - unless you grow your own - because I hear all your zucchini pickers have been deported.....

D :)

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Monoreena A Majumdar(Mocra)'s avatar

Tossed in this wave of

Abundance, we learn to conserve,

Even as we secretly yearn to

Give most of ourselves away.....churning thought Jed

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Rebecca Cook's avatar

"Tossed in this wave of

Abundance, we learn to conserve,

Even as we secretly yearn to

Give most of ourselves away."

I think in many ways, this is our current struggle--do we lean in toward oneness, or pull away into separate camps?

I generally lean toward, or hope that I do, oneness. I yearn toward something that is whole, of one piece. However, I can see the obvious issues with developing, for lack of a better term, a "hive mind."

Of course, it doesn't have to be either or, but it is so hard for me to understand what appears to be a vanishing ability to at least attempt to understand where another person is coming from, to practice empathy.

When we withdraw from the whole and establish ourselves in little groups, that danger is all to clear. But, then again, if one sees the whole as pernicious, what must one do?

I certainly don't want to dive into the nucleus of an infection.

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Paul Wittenberger's avatar

Ah, the zucchini! My friends have been making deliveries for most of the month. I favor the smal ones, not the warclubs.

As for the Sun, does the energy really dissipate to?

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Paul Wittenberger's avatar

I mean, where does it dissipate to?

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Peter Whisenant's avatar

Founder under an avalanche of zucchini on Labor Day . . . Now, that is an interesting string of words.

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School of Blue's avatar

We live in the beauty of Jed's words that carry us along, waking us up.

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Megan Youngmee's avatar

wow wow wow. chills. from this one.

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Ann Collins's avatar

Perfect metaphor Jed. The sweet generosity of zucchini! So tender. So simple.

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James Hart's avatar

Yes indeedy. When it comes down to it, we don't really need much—either in the astronomical or cosmic sense.

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Sonja's avatar

Yesss

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