January 10, 2013

• ElectricPoetry: Poem for the New Year 2013: My Year

  

  "Poem for the New Year 2013: My Year"
  © January 08, 2013 6:48-11:59 a.m. pst

  This last year was a good year, I proclaimed, when it began
  But this one would be better yet, prophecy led
  A far far better year than most, my dictum ran
  Less than two weeks in, a problem huge rears it's ugly head

   

  Oh well, and oh crap, I'll forget obstinate negatives
  Perhaps bad tidings only replace glad ones at the outset
  The overwhelming mania trumps all open prerogatives
  And my winning hands will surely collect the last bet

   

  Debt will be paid (e'en as more debt is dished out)
  Summer will be bright (e'en as winter tightens her grasp)
  My spirit is youthful (e'en as my mirror image loses clout)
  I'm still opening life's door (e'en if I'm having trouble with the hasp)

   

  This year will be my year, and yours, for all to share
  We're going on an adventure, and maybe we won't even get there
  But we'll have lots of fun and we'll laugh with sheer delight
  Nothing will bear witness that stamina should have to fight

   

  This year is the year the debt will shrink, I think, I pray
  This year is the year the happy gnomes and sprites come out and play
  This year is the year, another year, a fresh new start
  If not the year I finally find the desire which rips my heart

   

  The play's the thing, the thing's in play, and I play with strength of soul
  My year's begun, alight, undone, and doors are open wide
  My health is healthy, this I know, I'm vibrant, lucky, whole
  I'm getting out, around, about, and can't stay locked inside

   

  I've danced through despair, and I've lost most of my hair
  But that happened a long time ago, you see
  My steps are less hesitant, altho' I throw down the stare
  I shall whirl like a dervish, around the cosmic shivaree

   

  January may be colder, By December, I shalt sure be older
  But time's demons are dust, in God's power and mine I trust
  My sure gait shall step o'er the storms lapping at my shore
  Imprinted on my brain it says Brave New Beginnings Again or Bust

  ---

  My yearly tradition of writing a Poem for the New Year dates back to the very first one written on January 4, 1974 (at 1pm in the afternoon. Another tradition is time and datestamping all my work.) This year's poem is a "benchmark" since I turn "the Big Sixty" during the year. Below I'll present some other "benchmark" Poems for the New Year in chronological order beginning with the first one. (I'm not posting ALL benchmark years either, or you'd be here forever, or leave early.  1980 is a decade year, 1983 was my 30th year on the planet, 2000 is the millennium year, 2010 the last decade. I've skipped 1990, 1993, and 2003 MFN/ppf

  ---

  "Poem For The New Year"
  Poetry by Michael F. Nyiri
  © January 4, 1974 1:00 p.m

   

  Naught but compassion for a fallen soul,
  He looks into mirrors in order to find life.
  The religionists will curse you if you
  fail to believe...their way.

  Now as we survive yet another dream year,
  When it has passed although we wanted
  to get something else done, we realize
  That time waits for no one even
  when their clock has run down.

  When letters are written to wisps of smoke
  And I tread on fields of broken glass
  I look to you for peace, my God,
  Because without you I couldn't keep
  my sanity in this world of paper scraps.

  When I think of what they've done to you
  The hypocrite religionists with their
  dog-eared Bibles, I realize
  my problems are but
  pieces of dust
  in the
  wind

  And because of You I can look upon
  a beautiful day and forget about
  problems--
  and hypocritical philosophies--
  and fields of broken glass--
  And I can pray.

   

  "Poem for the New Year 1980"
  Poetry by Michael F. Nyiri
  © January 27, 1980 7:30 a.m.

  onramp to the "freeway to nowhere"
       =finding meaning in the moment=
  Unremembered moments
       Under the influence under the gun under the bed
       Understanding later the implications
       of earlier misunderstandings
  The door ajar- the music off-
       the money gone
  last week I broke my highschool      picture
       on a drunk- but do not remember why
       not even now
  I threatened someone with a knife
  and this after not drinking for      two weeks
  Hello 1980
       Hello significance
       I'll change
       I'm positive this time
       My love is close this time
       I feel it
       (As I have before)
       I really feel it
       (But it wasn't real)
       I really feel it

   

  "Poem for the New Year 1983"
  Poetry by Michael F. Nyiri
  © December 30, 1982 1:30 p.m.

  Let's settle back, rejoice;

    remember.

  Wreck no subtle reveries tonight.
  Let us lock our liquid eyes
  Search for substance;
    whisper sighs.
  And think of pure emotions in their flight.

  Let's turn the box off

    cut the timber.

  Try to talk but move no tender lips.
  Let us live for moment's miracles
  Mine our caverns

    cast the shackles

  Read each other with our fingertips.

  May we learn, to love

    a little.

  Wreck no soft scenarios tonight.

  May we meander for a minute

  Find our fullest

    interests in it.

  Share the secret stories in our sight.

   

   

  "Poem for the New Year 2000"
  © december 31, 1999 2000 12:10 p.m. pdt

  When the books are all opened, and the covers thrown back,
  The face of humanity will see the naked form of serendipity, wallowing in self-absorbtion, asking alms for creativity.
  The number is so round, so pure, so oval.
  In a past life one could never really grasp that humankind would arrive at this point.
  Intact.
  And in fact it is somewhat perilous, and with shaking hand,
  That I address the multitudes on this momentous day.
  A day like any other day,
  And yet a day, which by it's nature will cause it to be etched in the books,
  Those same books, which upon opening, serendipity stares at us,
  Wondering what all the fuss was about anyway.

  Nature wouldn't give presents to the inhabitants.
  They stole everything they could get.
  God couldn't abide by the inquisitive nature of man which gave cause for the fall.
  So upon leaving the garden one was given pause.
  And nobody heeded the call.
  In recompense, a short year hence, when the actual Millennium is nigh,
  Will anyone be the wiser, and will I breathe a belated sigh?
  Ago, now, the disheveled remains of circumstance see fit to
  Tell the unsuspecting populace not to worry.
  Youth ages, and the skin gets wrinkled.
  I do not feel any older, nor any wiser today.
  But I am glad to be alive, and glad that I could stay.

  The same, pure, realization which draws the numbers,
  Draws the wonder from my soul, and energizes the totality with electricity.
  Something is brewing, something is conjuring up a delicate brew,
  Which, when taken from the cup of kindness, will spark a Millennial attitude.
  I will not have felt these feelings, nor lived this life. I will be refreshed.
  I will drink without prejudice, and satisfy my hunger for romance.
  I will bathe in the waters of satisfaction.
  A new dawning, a new page turned from the book.
  A clean white page beackoning to creativity.
  We are all, at once, a doomed and fallen lot,
  Yet we are infused with this wonder and this capacity for understanding.
  Humankind is the duality of the universe.
  One man, one woman.
  A thousand thousand meager understandings spark me this afternoon.

  This is my poem for the new Millennium. This is my viewpoint for the stars in our souls.
  As the numbers seem so round and full, so does my love.
  Satisfaction upon being, a delicate balance fulfilled.
  I approach this year, this decade, this century, the Millennium,
  With a rapture of feeling for the Godhead's mysteries fortold.
  I open my arms to this enthusiasm in the ether.
  And stand transfixed, ready to welcome time into my bosom again.

   

   

  "Poem for the New Year (Decade) 2010"
  Poetry by Michael F. Nyiri
  © 01/13/10 6:15 a.m. pst

  Always pondering beginnings
  Forever reworking the past
  to correlate with the present
  Watching the clock even as I deny the existence of time

  Always pondering beginnings
  As I meet another caravan of ambulance and emergency trucks
  on my way out of the senior community on the way to work
  Was this a passing of one with whom I greet hello on my daily walks?

  Another new year arrives, bringing with it a decade of possibilities
  Those possibilities are endless, I proclaim forever
  Possible scenarios do not include the inevitable
  Impossible thoughts will never grace the patterns of my life

  Or so I am always saying, even as I think those impossible thoughts

  Always rejecting negativity
  Forever reliving bright moments
  Shuffling the sadness to the back of the deck
  Even as aces and eights are dealt all around me

  Always rejecting negativity
  Purging the penalties of my lifetime
  While celebrating the wonder of it all
  Yanking the yins and the yangs with a vengeance

  Another new year arrives, bringing with it a new decade of deliverance
  Freedom from strife and procrastination
  Letting loose the pain of periodic unhealthiness
  Impossible thoughts will never impose on the possibilities abounding

  Or so I try to convince myself, even as my body reminds me of impossible thoughts

  Always looking for ideas
  Always recreating creativity
  Always turning on lights in the distance
  Always looking forward
  Always pondering beginnings

   

  Posted: January 08, 2013 12:24 PM

  • 10:32 am
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