Bonus Poem: Rough Grace

My husband and I woke in the middle of the night as a burst of wind sheared off the top of a pine tree and sent it crashing to the ground. The trunk narrowly and miraculously missed both of our cars and our electric car charger, let alone our actual house. Though we were without power for about ten hours, this disruption shifted everything for me yesterday, and invited me to reflect on how moments of what I call “rough grace” find us even in the hard and harrowing moments.

Rough Grace

with a line from Dylan Thomas

Maybe choicelessness is its own

kind of rough grace, the guest

no one invited, but who knocks

in the middle of the night, in the

middle of an otherwise quiet life.

The force that through the green

fuse drives the flower also drives us

with its command to grow, not

in spite of, but because of what

has happened—illness and loss,

success and a windfall love that

drops us to our knees with fear

it too will disappear. The wind

that sheared off the top of a pine

last night and sent it hurtling

into the yard is the same one

that blows through our lives,

both gust and breeze, leaving

the air scented sweet with sap

that weeps from the open wound.

Happy Publication Day to Breathing Room: Poems of Rest and Retreat! I wanted to create a book of poems that feels like a refuge, a safe and calming space readers can dip into and recharge as needed, and I hope I’ve done that here. I’m so grateful to have a book with an actual, literal window on the cover, too, since I believe every present moment is a window we can open. As always, you can order signed copies through my local indie bookstore, Battenkill Books at the link below:

https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9798887621517

Signed copies of all my books are also available here:

https://battenkillbooks.com/search?q=James%20Crews


Gratitude to my husband, Brad Peacock, for the beautiful, glowing photo of the book.