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“Fevered as by groinfire,” “better than hunting bear.” Yes, a soul punch. Thank you for the introduction to Hayden.

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So many wrenching lines. Thanks for reading, Rona. I know I've been neglectful this busy summer. Getting back in gear. Eager to be amazed again. :)

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Neglectful? Substack is swamping us with terrific writing by members of our chosen tribe and others we’d follow more closely if time allowed. It’s not just the writing that tugs, but the reading, an integral part of the Substack experience.

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Exactly.

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"Those Winter Sundays" -- one of my all time favorite poems. I like is so much that I rely on it here: https://marytabor.substack.com/p/meter-in-poetry-part-three-of-lesson Not that you need to read this but perhaps useful to others ... xx

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I read it with pleasure, Mary. Such admirably clear and accessible instruction, I'm compelled to share!

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"I want them to know that they, too, live in history, and they can choose how they do it." I don't think you could communicate a more foundational principle of living in relationship than this, Jay. It very much supports Bryan Stevenson's counsel to "get proximate" to those we otherwise hold at a remove, and especially Rabbi Sharon Brous's call "to establish new neural patterns" to replace "lack of curiosity, fear, isolation, repulsion, tribal biases" ("The Amen Effect"), and so allow us to see one another in our humanity and create a new story that replaces the one in Hayden's brilliant poem.

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You know, there's a part of me that understands -- feels -- the impulse to live disconnected from society and the world. They can be disillusioning and off-putting, to say the least. But that choice raises difficult questions for which I find no satisfactory answers, especially if one continues to live *physically* proximate to them. . And regardless, unless one is very lucky, the world will come calling.

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