Hi Friend, Happy 5th of July! My favorite day of the year because it means the fireworks (one of my least favorite things) are over. I was a bit startled when I sat down to write you and realized how many weeks have been paddleboarded away since I last wrote. It feels as if time has hit the gas and suddenly we’re George Jetsoning into the future yelling, Jane, stop this crazy thing!
Since I last wrote, I’ve done several readings and Zoom events for Accidental Devotions, and you know what? I’ve genuinely loved them, which has surprised no one except me. But yes, it seems I do like seeing people and talking about poems. Imagine!
I was nervous about ushering this book into the world. It felt a little like handing someone my heart and hoping they’d handle it with care. But the response has been so generous that I keep finding myself quietly stunned and deeply grateful. Thank you to everyone who has read it and/or reached out or let me know a poem found you. I’m just so appreciative. Today I did an interview with Lois P. Jones for her wonderful podcast The Title Drop and she said how open these poems feel. I think that’s because with this book, I trusted the reader with more: more uncertainty and spirituality, more joy, grief, humor, desire, more of the questions I’ve carried quietly. And I think that’s the best advice I can give any poet or writer—write openly with the belief your reader will “get you.” We can’t control how a book will be received. But we can make the thing with care, release it into the world and trust it finds the people who need it. And mostly, we’ll have no idea if that’s happening...and yet, we write. I think that’s a hopeful act.
Speaking of hope—we had a beautiful conversation last night that basically amounted to this: we can still have hope for the future, even when the present feels like a Fourth of July parade waving tiny flags in front of our burning yards. So last night we decided to celebrate the America we want to help create: one that is inclusive and compassionate, and actually invested in the lives of its people. We want an America that uses its resources to help humans, not just to enrich a select few or fund giant monuments to one man’s ginormous ego. We want more love, more light, more belonging. And we celebrated the America we love too: our national parks, the ACLU, libraries, teachers, artists, mutual aid groups, journalists, poets, park rangers, nurses, election workers, public defenders, volunteers, immigration attorneys working pro bono, neighbors who show up with snacks/champagne or protest signs or both. We celebrated the people who remind us that a country is not only its leaders. It is also the hands that plant trees and gardens, pass laws, stock food banks, protect strangers, teach children, make art, tell the truth, and refuse to give up. And maybe for me, that is where hope lives right now. Not in pretending everything is fine or hanging patriotic bunting over a falling-down house. But in the daily decision to keep making the world more livable, more tender. I think to love a country is not to look away from what is broken, it is to say: I know we can be better than this, and we are still here, trying. A Few Small Devotions for You 💌
So I hope your 4th was beautiful and exactly what you wanted. And if you’re reading this from another part of the world, I hope your day offered you some small kindness too. We are all in this together. May we continue to hold each other up even if everything around us is falling down. Keeping a vision for a better world… 💙 xo kells
📍Where to find me: Facebook, Instagram, listening to Chicago sing “Saturday in the Park.” Will you help him change the world. Can you dig it? (Yes, I can). ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ If Accidental Devotions found its way to you and you enjoyed it, I’d be so grateful if you left a rating or review on Goodreads or Amazon. A handful stars tossed gently into the algorithmic pond can help the book find more readers. Thank you! This post is public—feel free to share it with a friend, another poet, or any devoted reader. 💕 Thanks for reading Postcards from a Poet, a joyfully unpredictable newsletter with surprisingly good timing and that will always be free.
⭐ It’s not too late to order Accidental Devotions from The Poetry Shop: www.tinyurl.com/OrderAccidentalDevotions (and if you do—drop your snailmail address to kelli (at) agodon (dot) com and I’ll inscribe a bookplate for you.) ⭐ or Seattle’s Open Books: www.tinyurl.com/AccidentalDevotions (signed copies available!) Also—Bookshop.org: https://tinyurl.com/AccidentalDevotionsBookshopOrg or Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/AccidentalDevotionsAmazon Thanks for reading Postcards from a Poet!
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