THE NEWS

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.

BY EMILIE LYGREN

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.”