Hello friends! I’m sorry I haven’t posted much in the last couple of weeks, but I’ve been busy working on a new project that I’m really excited to share with you.
Today is the launch day for my new poetry collection, Open Things! It's new, but I've actually been working on it for over a decade, and several of the poems in there predate any of my other published works. Open Things is also a little bit of a departure from my other books in that it is a little less ministry-focused, or self-help-focused if you will. It's less about walking the reader through difficult times, and more about me expressing and processing my own experiences through poetry. If you know me from my Long Night books or 365 Days of Peace, this one is a little different.
In many ways Open Things is actually more honest and vulnerable than my previous books. I've been very open about certain things—depression, searching for community, etc.—but in Open Things I write about subjects that are even more vulnerable to me: relationships and sex, jealousy and longing:
it was night in the garden
i used to pace the path through the garden
between your house and mine
like a panther in a zooit was night, and you hadn’t invited me over
it was night, and i wondered why—
it was always night in those days
and i was always wondering, pacing
trying to outpace your cruelty
trying to earn your lovethe path through the garden
was dusty with my treadthe path through the garden
was worn into a trenchinto which i still flow
like water always flows
to the easiest
lowest place
Talking back to God and reframing Biblical questions are also themes in Open Things, as in this short poem:
parable of the sown
then when the teacher stopped speaking
there was silence
and a girl spoke into the silence
her voice small but strong—
“rabbi,” she asked,
“what about the seeds
that were planted
on rocky soil
and grew
anyway?”
And this one:
abolition
i was in prison and you visited me
but when you were in prison
i broke down the doorswhen you were in prison
i flung keys over the
barbed wire, dailywhen you were in prison
your side of the bed
was so coldwhen you were in prison
i abolished prisons
bent steel barsbrought you home
There is also a poetical mystery of sorts involving a missing epigraph for the reader to solve!
Open Things is out today in paperback, and the ebook version is on its way (stay tuned). I hope you'll check it out!
In love and hope,
Jessica
I SHOUTED when I read "Parable of the Sown." Jessica, your words always move me.
Looks like a great book! Congrats on your launch date!