Thursday, December 15, 2022

A Gathering of Poetry: December 2022


It's the third Thursday of the month so I'd like to welcome you to our fourth Gathering of Poetry post. Today's poem is one that I like, about how it's easy to wake up to your aches and pains, but there are often things to be grateful for. 

Winter Morning 
James Crews

When I can no longer say thank you
for this new day and the waking into it,
for the cold scrape of the kitchen chair
and the ticking of the space heater glowing
orange as it warms the floor near my feet,
I know it’s because I’ve been fooled again
by the selfish, unruly man who lives in me
and believes he deserves only safety
and comfort. But if I pause as I do now,
and watch the streetlights outside flashing
off one by one like old men blinking their
cloudy eyes, if I listen to my tired neighbors
slamming car doors hard against the morning
and see the steaming coffee in their mugs
kissing chapped lips as they sip and
exhale each of their worries white into
the icy air around their faces—then I can
remember this one life is a gift each of us
was handed and told to open: Untie the bow
and tear off the paper, look inside
and be grateful for whatever you find
even if it is only the scent of a tangerine
that lingers on the fingers long after
you’ve finished peeling it.

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Crews, James. "Winter Morning". How to Love the World, edited by James Crews, Storey Publishing, 2021, p 137. 

You can read more about the poet here.

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Thanks for reading and joining us for our monthly Gathering of Poetry. Be sure to visit Kym and Kat so you can gather more poetry and you can add your link below if you would like to share one of your favorite poems. The more the merrier!

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4 comments:

  1. I love that poem so much. It really does bring a bit of . . . perspective . . . to the everyday-ness of our lives, and reminds us to be grateful for the little gifts. (Because they are everywhere!) XO

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  2. This is a poem I can feel in my bones -- those sounds and sensations are so familiar! It is so easy to slip into grumpy mode on a cold winter morning, but I'm going to remember this poem now and remember to be grateful for the little things.

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  3. This poem is just wonderful, Bonny! It invites the reader to move beyond the mundane and see the wonder that lives at the edges.

    Kym is right, little gifts of wonder are everywhere! XO

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  4. Indeed. It is good to love the life we are given.

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Thank you for visiting and taking the time to comment! :-)