Dear Poet, this poem is a brutal, metallic self-imprisonment. The rusted gallows, the echoing anvil, the cold, pressing imagery – I can feel the inescapable weight of existence in every line. Even the aftershave lingers

Thank you. It’s all fiction. I write 90% fiction.

This feels like opening a box of old keepsakes -tender, nostalgic, and a little bittersweet. Lovely write

Memories of an easier time when the grass was sweet. Thank you for reading.

Absolutely loved it. The art too !

This is a brilliant and honest look at the collaborative process. You perfectly capture the tension and the beauty of it. The line “Turning glass back into sand” is an amazing image for the way things come together.

Collaborations are a dance in a way. Got to read your partner. It’s tricky to get magic but when it works it’s beautiful.

Great ink friend.

I remember you from the ember DU days (daze?) but our paths never crossed. You were always so encouraging and supportive of fellow comrades. That is an art in itself. Keep writing fella.

Great and beautifully written reflections, dear Damian! I agree, the collaboration process is an art itself. Different writing styles collide, and if they are harmonic, the result will read like penned with one ink. When the styles are very different, maybe a piece of abstract art will be created. The diversity of possible collaborations makes them beautiful and interesting!

Even Lennon and McCartney couldn’t get along in the end. Collaborations are famous throughout history. But sometimes ideas go in different directions, ego’s overtake, and animosity takes over. It can be sad, very sad when things fall apart.

Friends drift apart. As you mentioned in your last comment. Also we just change. Many things we don’t enjoy or like from when we were kids or teenagers. Keeping a friend or two from your youth though is important. I feel it’s the bridge to a life that was a simpler, more meaningful time. We grow old, but the kid inside never dies. Great write Damian.

I always find collaborating incredibly intimidating. How to find a balance where both voices carry equal weight? Some styles are more dominating & others more gentle. But I’ve seen jarringly different styles woven beautifully in a single piece. I love the glass back to sand metaphor. Deconstructing to its base element. All comes from the same beach, as it were. The places your pen travels, my friend…

I have been asked many times but even though I am occasionally tempted, I have always tended to shy away .. having said that, I have a great deal of admiration for anyone who chooses to go down that particular poetic and or storytelling route & gets something out of it other than enjoyment or a headache .. I imagine that here you have given this particular reader something to think about long after the curtain has been drawn .. Kindest regards to both you n your pen Damian .. Neville

It’s an remarkable article in favor of all the online people; they will obtain advantage from it I am sure.

I was drawn into the surreal, haunting imagery – the stunning contrast between the “sweet as rain” “taste of life and the suffocating pressure of the high-backed chair” and found myself suspended between horror and wonder. Beautifully dark. I love this.

I thank you. My pen has an illicit affair with the dark side of my dreams.