Welcome to the final episode of the current series of Poems for the Speed of Life.

My name is Shane Breslin, and I live in the Irish countryside, where I’ve spent most of my life.

When I stepped out on this podcast journey December 2022, I had no real idea what I was doing, or why. I just felt compelled to read more poetry, to read it aloud and to share it with whoever might seek it out or stumble across it in the great intangible expanse of the Internet.

After several dozen short episodes I learned a bit more about why I was doing this. In Episode 100, I explained some of those reasons, to try to outline why poetry is so essential, why it can be so transformative in our lives, and why poetry is much, much more than just lines on a page.

For July and August 2023, the podcast will be a weekly show, with each episode containing a selection of three poems from the archives of the show linked by some magical thread. That will start next week, and if you already follow or subscribe to this podcast in your favourite podcast player those episodes will show up in your feed.

Today’s poem, and the final one of the current five-times-a-week series, is "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver.

It’s a fitting way to end this series.

For one, Mary Oliver is truly extraordinary. She died in 2019, but her work, mostly in poetry but in other forms of writing too, will is timeless and will live on for as long as humans go seeking words to read.

For another, this is a poem that grabs and bottles life itself. It’s a poem about the desperation that every now and then overcomes us. A poem about how we need one another, even when we’re separated by endless time and depthless space. Maybe more than anything else, it’s a poem about how we might go about rediscovering the true speed of life, and live accordingly.

Thank you for listening to the show. I hope you enjoy the summer series going out weekly, and all going well I aim to be back for more Monday to Friday shows from September.

You can read “Wild Geese” here

For a detailed outline of the mission and purpose behind this podcast, please check out Episode 100, "Why Poems for the Speed of Life?", in your podcast player or ⁠⁠⁠⁠click here to listen on Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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Music Credit:

Once Upon a Time by Alex-Productions | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://onsound.eu/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  | Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com