NOTE: This was written by Jerrice on Friday, January 2, 2026 during one of our 40-minute, flow-State writing sessions.
From fear to love to more love when the heart opens and gratitude comes rushing in. A flow that vanishes faces of perceived enemies to become sunlight. Thank you for the altar with pink lilies my soul bows in front of on this lazy morning. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! …and the words can’t come fast enough. I want to kneel to kiss sacred ground like my friend did. Her head resting near petals of the crocus blooming in Spring. Now, my heart seems empty of knowledge but full with the force of the waterfall’s wisdom cascading outside of the village in Summer.
I take nothing for granted. A fresh pair of eyes, the world is alive, pulsing at my fingertips like when I dug the earth to put in the bulbs with my friend. After the drought, the garden waited for no one to grow but leaned with hope its fertile soul on the raindrops, golden sun rays, and not depended even on our hands that shifted its soil. The purple hyacinth held up its head across from yellow daffodils.
On this morning, I pick up my head to say thank you for blue sky, like I’ve never seen it before. Like a toddler who crawled to her mother’s arms and collapsed her whole body in hands wide open, I crawled to the divine and bowed my head to say thank you to the rhythm of my heartbeat. The words can’t be repeated fast enough on this day. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Jerrice J. Baptiste is a poet, author of nine books. Her most recent book titled, Coral in The Diaspora is published by Abode Press. She’s been nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2024 and 2025. Her writing has been published in One Art: Poetry Journal, Neologism Poetry, The Write Launch, The Banyan Review, Mantis, The Yale Review, Artemis Journal and many others. Baptiste is the founder and facilitator of Authentic Poetry & Healing which embraces the belief that connecting to Spirit is the way to living a beautiful, powerful, peaceful, joyful life.