David Crews

Blue Woods

This is the light
we know, you’d say
when the woods 
turn blue 
in the cold quiet
of winter
at dusk
and I remember still
those hikedays
after school
the trail left to
the soft cooing 
of owls 
along the ridge
mountain streams
falling
we would climb
the murmuring
on rocks
around ice and snow
and the quiet chips
of juncos 
darkening the forest
that felt like 
a great expanse
utterly ours
because we were
there sharing
in the great offering
the living world 
gives us
and how I
miss those days
so much 
it makes my chest
ache in a nostalgia
only we could know
or understand

for Neighbor Tom

Autumn Sky

There’s something
about a view
distance and vista
the light
how it changes
the deeper it falls
how details
slip to landscape
how many skies
have I seen
this lifetime
how many sunsets
how many
mountain summits
have I climbed
and how does one
reconcile
the color
what seems
infinite space
these visitations
there,
a raven
looking directly
into my eyes
they follow me
you know, ravens
up here
in this thin place
of being
and longing
I look for you
always
with attuned ear
torn open
chest

for Murphy

These poems and paintings were first exhibited together in April 2023 at NorthWind Fine Arts in Saranac Lake, NY for the gallery’s annual National Poetry Month Celebration.