Tuesday
Jan012013
1/365: New Year's Day
Tuesday, January 1, 2013 
I am being old.
It is what I do when the year is new.
I think of last chances,
I think of this mad race to the end,
I think of how dark seeds might wrest my soft tissue,
and I eat vitamins.
I criticize stiff knees
and pull up skin on the back of my hand
to see how long it takes to pull back.
I regret all the youthful sex I forgot
because I drank too much in my twenties.
But then I remember:
I know love now
better and more than I once did,
my orgasms are hard fists of bright memory,
and I am brave enough to see my sins
and raise them a finger on good days.
I am older now.
I am less terrible.
I am more loved.
Reader Comments (14)
Love this. You are going to ROCK this project, and I look forward to reading them all!
Cheney, thank you! I hope so.
Ah. Love. I will read them all. You will make this a worthy project, I know it.
Fantastic! Love the imagery. I may have to join you in this, humbly.
Jen Taylor, thank you!
Leanne, please join me. There may be a couple of other people joining us, as well. I'm hashtagging this year's poems on Twitter #364poems.
Lovely and well composed.
See you everyday right here, then. Really very wonderful.
This is lovely. Your poems touch me because they're so grounded and raw. I can't seem to write without myths or magic sneaking in, and that's OK, but I love those who can take snapshots of real moments and make something sublime out of them. I'm excited for more Schmoetry:)
love love love this. you and Amy Turn Sharp are on to something. Maybe I'll learn to be a poet yet.
Erin Margolin, I really think we all have it in us. Give it a shot :)
I have already committed to blogging every day for a year, though obviously that can be phoned in with a photo or some links on a busy day.. Perhaps I'll try this project NEXT year.
Ohh, the good work that's going to come out of this project..... it's already started. Way to go, Schmutzie.
I'm so glad that you're doing this as I loved following Amy's year of poems. I am not brave enough to embark on such an endeavor (I think it's been too long since I wrote a poem) but appreciate those who do!
I'm looking forward to reading and writing a year's worth of poems. You're off to a glorious start! The imagery of pulling the skin back on the back of your hand. Yes...I know that. Sigh. There isn't enough hand lotion in the world... ;)