Vox Populi
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James Crews: Two Poems
Blue-Eyed Grass
All spring long, you have waited
for the tiny, star-shaped flowers
of the blue-eyed grass, glancing
out the window, squinting at that
same place in the yard where they
appear each year. Why do we try
to rush delight, strong-arm joy
into busy lives, when so much
beauty already seeds itself beneath
our restless feet? Why not sit out
on the back porch and watch for
the moment these small beings
blink open their eyes, more violet
than blue in the late afternoon,
awakening some wildness
too long sleep in you?
~
Beech Trees in Spring
I want to be like the maples,
letting go so easily of their leaves
in the slightest autumn breeze,
surrendering every piece of themselves
they no longer need, and embracing bareness
like a new suit they can simply step into.
But I’m more like the beech trees,
which cling to the husks of their leaves
long into spring, refusing to give up
even a scrap of who they once were
until the last possible minute.
Perhaps they need the reassurance,
or maybe they’re here to lend music
to the silence of winter, leaves
beaten thin as tissue paper rustling
a lonely chorus in the snow-covered woods—
until buds push up to the surface,
and with no other choice, they say yes
to the final scatter and release,
learning again, as if for the first time,
how loss leaves room for something new.
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.
Copyright 2024 James Crews
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Lovely poems James!
And here we are in Vero Beach, Florida with all these palm trees!
They go to great lengths to please and mystify us…
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Two exquisite poems about our beautiful natural world! The poem waiting for the tiny blue flowers made me think of a spiritual teacher saying to me, years ago, “Patience is resistance to learning.” 💜
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“How loss leaves room for something new.” This is so relevant to me right now. Moved to tears.
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Yes, a lot of wisdom in these poems.
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There’s a tenderness-of-living James Crews so generously writes about. And; through this, the reader is
“learning again, as if for the first time,
how loss leaves room for something new.”
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“But I’m more like the beech trees,
which cling to the husks of their leaves
long into spring, refusing to give up
even a scrap of who they once were
until the last possible minute.” Oh yes!
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These two poems cover so much fertile ground, they deserve an eco-poetry essay. Both strongly written, strongly felt Spring poems about patience, paying attention, and working through the winters of our lives into possibility. The world is a better place with these poems, and these plants in it. Thanks for sharing. I will sit with these poems for awhile.
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I enjoy a first reading of James’s poems, and each time I read them, I feel the music of the words more deeply.
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Beautiful and wise. ❤️❤️
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Love this two pieces.
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I love the poem about the beech trees. And also in the first poem, I’m somehow wondering if the last line was meant to include the word asleep rather than sleep. Every time I read that last line I hear asleep in you.
(Carla)
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Thanks, Carla.
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