The news
by Emilie Lygren
Each morning we listen for what is breaking—
the sound of a thousand tragedies fills the air,
shattering that never stops,
headlines, a fleet of anchors tangled at our feet.
We watch, worried
if we turn away even for an instant,
it will all crumble the rest of the way.
Forget with me for a moment.
Take an unguarded breath.
Do it now, the world needs your attention here, too,
on the rise and fall of your shoulders,
the rustle of leaves outside the window,
the warm space between your gaze and mine.
From What We Were Born For (Blue Light Press, 2021).
Reprinted with permission.
Read this and other poems by Emilie Lygren in What We Were Born For, available for purchase online.
Given the news in the world these days, it can be difficult to balance self-care with a need and responsibility to know what’s happening in other places as well as in our own communities. I recently came upon the work of Emilie Lygren and find her accessible, sometimes playful, and always moving poems a necessary balm for this time in our lives. The first line of “The news” alone reminds us how challenging it can be to take in the so-called “breaking” news, to view the brokenness in our own country and around the world in a continuous loop. Typically, we hear only about what’s wrong, and can become convinced that our world is too flawed and far-gone even to try fixing it. A dangerous apathy can set in, yet we feel remiss if we turn away. As Lygren points out, however, it is essential to “forget” sometimes, and to “take an unguarded breath,” which is another way of urging us all to embrace this moment and the next exactly as they appear. The world needs our attention on our own lives, too, and this poem gently invites us into that space of greater balance. We can forget the “breaking” news for just a minute so we remember again the human news of what’s right in front of us—“the warm space between your gaze and mine.”
Invitation for Writing & Reflection: Take Emilie Lygren’s advice and “forget” the contents of the news for at least the next few minutes. When you let the larger worries fall away, and trust that the world won’t “crumble” as you’re turned away, what do you notice about your own life in this moment? What concrete details call out to you and ground you in the here and now?
ABOUT THE POET: Emilie Lygren
Emilie Lygren is a poet and outdoor educator who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Geology-Biology from Brown University. Her poems have been published in Thimble Literary Magazine, The English Leadership Quarterly, and Solo Novo, and several other literary journals. Her first book of poems, What We Were Born For (Blue Light Press, 2021), won the Blue Light Book Award. She lives in San Rafael, California.
POETRY SELECTION AND COMMENTARY BY JAMES CREWS
James Crews is the author of four collections of poetry: The Book of What Stays, Telling My Father, Bluebird, and Every Waking Moment. He is also the editor of two anthologies: Healing the Divide: Poems of Kindness and Connection and How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope. His poems have appeared in Ploughshares, The New Republic, The New York Times Magazine, The Sun, and have been reprinted in Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry and featured on Tracy K. Smith’s podcast, The Slowdown. James teaches at SUNY-Albany and lives with his husband in Vermont.
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