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

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Beautifully penned, Brenda. A very lovely write my friend. Appreciate you.

Damian

This poem is a vivid, honest look at desire – full of passion but also quiet vulnerability. The contrast between the “neon God” and “bluebirds” is striking and memorable.

I feel these words. They are otherworldly, uttered from another world beyond the one we inhabit.
Kind regards
James

IDK, the world doesn’t care about any of us. It just keep rolling along. Don’t you think it is up to us to care about feelings? About the feelings of others, about how we relate to the world, all life, and the people who inhabit it? In this sense, you are not a “glitch” but an integral part of everything around you.

I realize this is one part of a larger story (Chapter 17) and I have not as yet read all the chapters, so my comment may be way off base. If so forgive me. But I personally think we all are like stones cast on calm water and the ripples we leave affect the world around us. So, we are all “glitches”. Besides, Amethyste as a crystal is a warm calming stone so those feelings may be some warmth cast into this cold, cold, cold world.

Thanks for your chapter, hope I didn’t over step.
-Curt

Only a human cares about other human feelings. We make our own distracted universe. But it is isolated.

Dein Gedicht gefällt mir sehr gut, lieber Daniel! I like the use of opposites and your beautiful imagery. And I absolutely agree with your last line. Very well penned!