35 Comments
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Nathan Slake's avatar

Wow Ben, that last paragraph!! Stunning and powerful.

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Ben Wakeman's avatar

Thanks, Nathan. 🙏

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𝐂𝐁 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧's avatar

Wow. Short and impactful. And I love hearing your voice with cadence and intonation you intended.

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Ben Wakeman's avatar

Thanks so much. I’m glad you enjoyed the reading. It’s something I do for most of my work, certainly all my novels. I always learn something more about my writing when I read it out loud.

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Kate Bown's avatar

Wonderful, a moving and thought provoking piece. Love the ending too

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Ben Wakeman's avatar

Thank you, Kate. I’m glad you enjoyed it.

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Claudia Befu's avatar

This so beautiful and haunting, Ben! The pain of losing this beautiful planet on which we live, this miracle of the universe is unbearable. You've expressed with so much emotion.

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Ben Wakeman's avatar

Thank you, friend. I had hoped that I would come up with some kind of positive vision for the future. That’s why I delayed for so long.

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Claudia Befu's avatar

Self-imposed expectations, right? We write what we see and experience in this world. I’m happy you listened to your heart.

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Chloe Hope's avatar

I'm with Nathan. The entirety is gorgeous, but that last part...oof. It's going to take me a moment to recover...

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Ben Wakeman's avatar

I know, it’s grim. I put off writing this assignment because I knew it would be grim. As good as my imagination is, I couldn’t write an optimistic picture of the future when it comes to climate.

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Chloe Hope's avatar

I hear you. I couldn’t have, either. Also, and, I’m referencing a different post now, which is probably against the’ stack rules, but, I’m still smiling at how kind it was of your daughter to go back to that stall...

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Ben Wakeman's avatar

It’s definitely against the rules. You will be cast out of Substacklandia for such blasphemy.

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Chloe Hope's avatar

Don’t report me, I beg

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Susie Mawhinney's avatar

Such tender words Ben, I wish they didn't feel so true... 💚

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Ben Wakeman's avatar

Thank you, Susie. Me too.

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Joseph Young's avatar

"knew and squandered" yes, exactly. very good, Ben, very sad. thanks for writing.

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Ben Wakeman's avatar

Thanks, Joseph.

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Lor's avatar

Poignant and beautiful, Ben. This is not the hopes and dreams we could ever have envisioned for future generations . This is not the gift we meant to leave. Yet we move ever closer like a moth to a flame.

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Ben Wakeman's avatar

Thanks, Lor. It's true, climate change is like a steamroller that we can't seem to outrun.

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Kimberly Warner's avatar

Oh shivers. This is stunning Ben!

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Ben Wakeman's avatar

Thank you, Kimberly. ❤️

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Sara Santa Clara's avatar

Hopefully this won't be what my young daughter will be telling her child... Beautiful, Ben, and haunting. It breaks my heart to think that not-so-future generations may indeed not be able to experience nature the way we still can.

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Ben Wakeman's avatar

Thank you, Sara. It really breaks my heart too. Nature was such an integral part of my childhood and remains so important to me.

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Emily Charlotte Powell's avatar

Ben, you broke my heart. so melancholic and beautiful 💔

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Ben Wakeman's avatar

Aw, thank you, Emily. I’m looking forward to digging into your story and all the rest.

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Nick Buchheit's avatar

Evocative, Ben. And beautiful.

This made me think of what beauty may not exist when my son is the same age as I am now. Haunting.

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Ben Wakeman's avatar

Thank you, Nick. It is kind of a sobering and terrifying notion.

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Kara Westerman (she/her)'s avatar

So lovely.

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Ben Wakeman's avatar

Thank you, Kara.

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Mr. Troy Ford's avatar

I'm late to the party, which ironically is what this poem is about. Sobering, but beautiful in emotional impact.

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Susan Earlam's avatar

Now I'm craving the scent of honeysuckle. Great piece 👏🏻

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Nick Winney's avatar

ohhh thats crushing 😪 well done!

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