The poet James Crews has edited lovely anthologies of poetry, including The Path to Kindness: Poems of Connection and Joy and How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope. I often recommend his books to people who are seeking a path into poetry, and I turn to them myself for solace and poetic companionship.
The title of today’s poem is what grabbed me when I pulled the anthology off the shelf. You don’t have to look very far to know why. The news is hard and overwhelming, and I believe our task is to pay attention while not losing sight of the good. It turns out that the poet’s original title for this poem was “Against Panic and Pandemic.” She published it on her Patreon page on March 11, 2020.
“...and you so sure the end was here, life a house of cards
tipped over, falling, hope’s last breath extinguished ”
