Vox Populi
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James Crews: Choosing the Light
We think of wildflowers as fragile,
amazed at the way they shoot through
layers of soil and plowed-up gravel
on the raw cusp of spring each year,
sensing some new heat and invitation
in the sun, often long before we do.
But as I kneel beside the first tiny
yellow coltsfoot to appear in the yard,
in ground I’d think too rocky and cold
for any living thing, I see they are
not delicate. I notice the segmented
stems that must have guarded each bud
as they pushed upward like spears
to pierce the warmer air. Relentless
as the urge that also blooms in us—
to find the things that bring us alive,
and open ourselves fully to them, never
giving up and saying to the world:
Do unto me what you must. Knowing
it will have been worth it to spend
even just one day, a single hour,
exposed to the light we chose.
Copyright 2024 James Crews
James Crews’s recent books include a poetry anthology The Wonder of Small Things and a collection of prose Kindness Will Save the World: Stories of Compassion and Connection. As a professional speaker, reader, and workshop leader, he has touched audiences all over the world with his message of healing and hope through the power of writing.
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Love this line: “the urge that also blooms in us—
to find the things that bring us alive,” The choice of the word “bring” is perfect.
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Yes, James’s poems are very subtle.
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Well done James!
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I love this instructive poem💛
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“Relentless
as the urge that also blooms in us—
to find the things that bring us alive”. And sometimes we need a brave flower to remind us. Thank you. I may get up this morning after all.
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This is a healing poem for me. It works to create a new Spring after a season of grief. It helps show a way to naturally rise toward the sun, after the darkness we so often find in our sorrow. Whether the sorrow is for a loss, or for the broken world of today, these words of natural rhythms and beauties help us rejuvenate.
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Thanks, Jim. Me too.
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