Take it away, Ms. Palmer
God, was I ever in trouble. After a deliciously tiring New Year's celebration, I settled down to pick a poem for today. I wanted something appropriate for the day. As it turns out, a great many poets, including some very good ones, have turned their talents to writing tributes to the changing of the year. There's a whole slew of them from the late 19th century in particular.
Unfortunately, those poems are actually pretty awful, or they just didn't strike the right chord. So, in desperation, I put the call out on Twitter for help. I got answers. Thank you Madeline Ashby for recommending the above pitch-perfect Amanda Palmer song. On a side note, this past year marked the first time I had ever seen her perform live, playing "Creep" on a ukulele in the middle of Malaprop's, of all places.
Thanks also to Rita King and xutraa for pointing me to the right poem. Since last year (that's 2009, natch) Kate Sherrod has written a sonnet a day. This is a task that puts my bitching over not being able to find a poem per week into sharp perspective. Today's is particularly appropriate. Enjoy, everyone. It's another year and we're still alive.
Now, really it is just another day.
The sun came up, we woke, we ate, we washed,
We greeted those we saw - that is to say
'Tis arbitrary, New Year's Day, b'gosh.
It has to happen sometime, lest our brains
Be overwhelmed with keeping track of time,
That piles up endlessly, that ever gains
Until we all are lost amidst the climb
Towards a summit none of us will see.
So, yearly we declare "let's start again,
Let's clean the slate, let's say today will be
An origin, and not just more, again,
Of what we've had a-going for so long."
But not forget the old stuff, per the song.
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