Here are a few quotes which describe my start in the New Year, courtesy of The Poetry Foundation, The Poetry Archive and my own bookshelves.
So much of any year is flammable,lists of vegetables, partial poems.Orange swirling flame of days,so little is a stone.Quick dance, shuffle of losses and leaves,only the things I didn’t docrackle after the blazing dies. (Naomi Shihab Nye)
The problem
of time. Of there not being
enough of it.
My girl came to the study
and said Help me;
I told her I had a time problem
which meant:
I would die for you but I don’t have ten minutes.
Hawking says
there are little folds in time
(actually he calls them wormholes)
but I say:
there’s a universe beyond
where they’re hammering the brass cut-outs .. .
Push us out in the boat and leave time here—
(because: where in the plan was it written,
You’ll be too busy to close parentheses,
the snapdragon’s bunchy mouth needs water,
even the caterpillar will hurry past you? (Brenda Hillman)
How far is far?And how many ways to get there?We walkand walk towards meaningand don’t arrive (Mahmoud Darwish)
The trees are coming into leaf,
like something almost being said. […]
Last year is dead, they seem to say,
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh. (Philip Larkin)
much against everyone’s advice
I have decided to live the life
I want to read about and write it
not by visiting the graves of authors (Sam Riviere)
Marina Sofia – I love these poems, especially the Hillman. And I do love the feeling of a new start that the new year brings. It’s revitalising.
Isn’t it just? I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions (or rather, I believe in making resolutions at any time throughout the year), but I do feel like we have a fresh chance, a fresh start.
those are wonderful poems to start the new year with….esp. the one by hillman spoke to me… happy new year to you….
I thought of you when I read it, actually – very much your style!
I loved the Hillman too, especially the line ‘I would die for you but I don’t have ten minutes’ – too true, too often, eh? And the Darwish makes me think I’m rather glad we never get there – because where would we go then?
I laughed in recognition at that line, I have to admit. So glad you picked up on it too! And yes, the journey is often far more exciting than the arrival, isn’t it?