The Machine Keeps Moving

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📝 News from the week

This past week, I wrote five new poems. I was pleased because I had been in a bit of  writing slump. If you have been following my content, you may already know that I try to write a poem every day. You may also know that if the words don't flow, I don't try to force them. After a couple of dry weeks, the words started flowing again. 

I also submitted ten pieces to two different literary magazines. Every time I receive a rejection, I sent out two more. Sometimes sending submissions feels like screaming into the void. I'm going to keep trying though. It is just a matter of time until my work finds a home. 

It’s been a week of steady effort, small wins, and quiet persistence. But it’s also been a week where I’ve felt the weight of the grind, that pressure to keep going, keep producing, keep submitting to a system that doesn't see you.

That feeling is at the heart of this week’s spotlight poem. 


📝 Spotlight Poem: "Monstrosity"


You can read it here.

The “monstrosity” in this piece might be a system. A job. A machine. A world that keeps demanding energy long after we’ve run dry.

It never rests. It doesn’t apologize. It doesn’t even notice.

And somehow, we keep moving within it. We do the work, push forward, knowing we’re just fuel for a heartless monstrosity.

Writing this poem helped me name a feeling I couldn’t quite articulate before. Maybe it will do the same for you.

Thank you for reading.

—Donnie


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