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Debra Karen's avatar

Hard to put into words how much I identify with these words. Thank you for this.

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Ian Haycroft's avatar

Thank you Gideon. "in spite of it all" we keep on living. I am one of those souls who appreciate the gentle hand of your writing reaching out. It moves me to reach on.

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Angela's avatar

These Dead Canaries

Inspired by Gideon Heugh’s “Some Strange Belief of Mine” posted 4/19/25

Every year, the weight of this Holy Saturday presses down,

as if it were here to show us

what we Canaries bear every day.

How laid bare our souls feel.

Bare and barren.

To see, and yet feel alone in our seeing.

To call out.

To call out.

To call out.

But our calls are a nuisance.

“Such a victim mentality,” they say.

As the victims fade away.

And who will suffocate

When we cease to call out?

When in silence we display

The fate of those going on their way.

What will we invite into our life?

This cathedral of a life that we build each day.

What will we no longer tolerate,

If all are one?

If all are one,

How do we end something to make space for new?

If light and dark, and death and life, are all one,

What is God?

And when does tomorrow come?

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Clintavo's avatar

You stabbed sword of Truth straight into my quickened heart with this one. Ooof.

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Gideon Heugh's avatar

🙏🤍

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Ula's avatar

Thank you for salving my mutilated insides. They cut straight to the marrow, resonate, and heal in ways I cannot express. Please keep creating this coruscating, life-giving poetry. God bless your heart.

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Gideon Heugh's avatar

🤍

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Kendall Lamb's avatar

Thank you, Gideon, for the ache and the home.

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Martha Willis's avatar

😭

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Angela's avatar

"these dead canaries" I have often expressed my lament for all the canaries calling out and yet being told they are inconvenient at best, codependent at worst.

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Angela's avatar

Gideon, may I please share this in an online group and link to your substack?

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Gideon Heugh's avatar

Of course ☺️

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