Podcasts Culture Louise reads poems Time to be Slow

Time to be Slow

Published: Nov. 9, 2020, 1:55 p.m.

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By John O\'Donohue, Time to be Slow seems very apt after spending 3 weeks of the last 4 feeling unwell - taking time to be slow becomes very important when life gets tough. 

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I enjoy how the poem\'s rhythm subtly shifts in the middle part of the poem. The start and end of the poem feel slower and has a slight lilt to it, which I think arises from the stressed & unstressed syllables forming groups of 3.

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The middle part, the part about bitter weather, withstanding the storm and guarding your own "hesitant light" have more of a rhythm of plodding on. There\'s also very little punctuation in the 2nd verse, which pulls me on without pause, despite the first line\'s reminder to be slow. 

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 As the poem comes back to the words "... of yourself" the lilt returns and, as reader, I breathe easier again.

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Time to be Slow has featured as one of the Poems on the Underground, you can read it here:

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https://poemsontheunderground.org/time-to-be-slow 

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