After living with silent celiac disease for 15 years, Jet Widick's diagnosis presented an opportunity for her to seize control of her life from a once unknown assailant. As she fought to improve her physical health, she realized that her story could serve to help others on their journeys to wellness, and in doing so, discovered the deep healing power of poetry and how to find peace from within.
Her fourth book of poems features themes and topics around self-love, acceptance, and appreciating the details that turn an ordinary moment into the extraordinary. Her words encourage us to reflect on what brings us joy and to remove ourselves from the distractions that take us away from the vital things that mean the most to us; the things that bring lasting happiness and fulfillment.
22 Things is a beautifully designed and delightful mix of Jet Widick's poetic musings in alternating rhymes, rhyming couplets, internal rhymes, half rhymes, and free verse. Each poem is a reminder of the power of the present moment, and how in the present, something strange begins to happen. One discovers freedom and space to explore the nature of their true self. How in the now, life becomes bright and beautiful.
22 Things, poetry book, paperback, 46 pages
ISBN 9780578489797
One of the key themes of this collection is that moments of wonder and miraculousness are hidden in the everyday. The author focuses on such details with energy and aplomb in her strongest pieces. One of the best is “destiny,” which tells of the simple joys of a summer evening outside one’s house: “In your backyard / Take a brain break / Free floating on the Alucia, / A vanguard / You don’t have to go far / Starry skies, mind tricks, pink sand / Jazzy sounds.” The author wonderfully shows how quickly little things like starry skies and jazz can give way to moments of rapture. Here and elsewhere, Widick writes in short bursts, but she pulls off the neat trick of maintaining a smooth flow, even when her lines are brief.