Welcome to Poetry Is Life, friends.

My name is James Crews. If you’re a poetry fan, odds are you know me through one of the poetry anthologies I’ve published, including How to Love the World, The Path to Kindness, The Wonder of Small Things, and Love Is for All of Us, co-edited with my husband, Brad Peacock. For over a decade now, I’ve been writing and sending out weekly poetry newsletters to a growing community of readers who see writing as a daily, spiritual practice, and poetry as a source of deep nourishment. In the past few years, I’ve shared more of my own work, including a book of short essays, Kindness Will Save the World, a book of poems and reflections called Turning Toward Grief, and my forthcoming book of poems about rest and retreat, more needed in this time than ever before, called Breathing Room. I partner with my local indie bookstore, Battenkill Books, and folks can now purchase signed copies of all my books, to be shipped anywhere in the U.S.

Because the creative life is lonely without connection, I host a regular writing community via Zoom called The Monthly Pause, with special guests that have included Naomi Shihab Nye, Dorianne Laux, Nikita Gill, and my mentor and friend, Mark Nepo. I also host occasional webinars around the writing of poetry with my dear friend, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer and others.

Whether you’re a free or paid subscriber to Poetry Is Life, I want you to know how grateful I am that you’re here. And if you find something that resonates with you in the poems, short essays and writing invitations I share each week, I’d be thrilled to hear about it. Community is more essential than ever, so thank you for being a part of mine.