‘Gazette’ concludes its celebration of National Poetry Month with a new, never-before-published poem by one of its reporters

To celebrate National Poetry Month this year, James Blevins, the Gazette’s in-house reporter and poet—who has seen his work previously published in Salt Hill Journal, Pretty Owl Poetry, Stoneboat Journal, Mud Season Review and AZURE, as well as numerous other outlets both online and in print—elected to pick five poems for publication, one for each Friday in April, concluding today with a new, never-before-published poem of his own.

Blevins said that he hopes you enjoyed the month and poems, and that you continue to read and celebrate poetry wherever you happen to find it.

After Depth and Long Waste

By James Blevins

The nature of a flood of light

within oneself

without explanation

is a hushed song

that grows louder

with one’s love

inside:

it’s like a thought suddenly occurring to

glisten like the stars,

and then

the absolute clarity to know why.

James Blevins was born in Oak Harbor, Ohio, in 1981. He is an award-winning poet and journalist who graduated from the College of Central Florida in 2017. Bitterzoet Press published his first chapbook, What Nature Keeps Secret, in 2018. Blevins’ son, Gavin, is about to graduate high school in June and he is very proud of him.