Rachel Landrum Crumble
Rachel Landrum Crumble (MFA from Vermont College) has published poems in various journals, recently, Typishly and Porter House Review. Her first poetry manuscript Sister Sorrow was finalist for Blue Light Press Poetry Prize in 2018. She lives in Chattanooga, TN with her jazz drummer husband, and without her three grown children. She has taught kindergarten through college and is currently an Inclusion teacher.
Courage for a New Year
All familiar things
are released of connotation.
In these early hours, starting over
seems possible:
A shoe on the step
becomes hopeful, loses
its dereliction—
was going somewhere
all along.
Paper clutter
on a bedroom shelf
vibrates with history.
Old photos, proof
of a hard-won past
forecast an unexpected
cheery present.
The blank page is a blizzard,
and on dogsled we course our way
through blinding brightness.
While the year is young,
it seems possible to arrive.
We cannot lose our way
before we find it.
Sheila-Na-Gig online 