James Crews: The Poetry of Connection and Joy | A Conversation with Michael Simms

Michael Simms: James, you’ve been tremendously prolific in recent years. You’ve published four full-length collections and four anthologies. You also publish a weekly poem and you host a monthly writing session with a guest poet. You visit classrooms, offer workshops and do readings. Can you tell us about the daily routine that’s allowed you to be so productive?

James Crews: I begin each day with writing. After years of working in offices and classrooms, once I was finally able to devote myself to my own practice and set my own hours, the writing seemed to come more naturally. My husband is a farmer, so we often wake up before first light, and I go off on my own with a big cup of coffee to scribble in my notebook for a few hours. I do a loose version of Julia Cameron’s practice of “morning pages,” made famous in The Artist’s Way, but I also leave room for the emergence of short essays, poems, and whatever else wants to come through during that time. I like to start the morning too by reading something that stretches my mind toward sacrament and mystery. I’ve found that Mark Nepo, Mary Oliver, Ross Gay, Ted Kooser, and Naomi Shihab Nye all help with this tremendously. Something about their writing opens up my mind and seems to make it more elastic and receptive at the same time.

I’d say that most of the ideas for my books and anthologies have come from this morning routine, which I’ve done for probably five years or more very seriously at this point. I make it a practice never to turn on my phone or check email or read news before these few hours I take to myself. If I open up my laptop and turn on the wifi, then the inspiration seems to fade away into the many tasks and responses demanded of me that day. It’s a difficult balance to strike, and even more so for my friends with children. But even a short amount of time that we know is just for us can help so much with creative practice.

Probably the other most helpful ritual for me is simply walking […]

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Copyright 2024 James Crews and Michael Simms. First published in April 2024 by Plume Poetry.

James Crews’s books include a poetry anthology — The Wonder of Small Things: Poems of Peace and Renewal; and a collection of essays — Kindness will Save the World: Stories of Compassion and Connection.

Michael Simms’s books include a collection of poems — Strange Meadowlark; and a novel — Bicycles of the Gods: A Divine Comedy.