New Year New Day 2015
by Jan Godown Annino
Pairs of coots, licorice gumdrops on the surface
Great blue herons, statues ready to spike fish (frogs, snakes…)
Black anhingas tend wings, arched in pine tree branches
Watch animals
Read poems
Make notes
My handsome returns from a marsh path, with sightings to report
If we had opened a fortune cookie the night before
it could have read: You will be rewarded for seeking joy in Nature
©Jan Godown Annino
……….
Now we are back, after dark, from a wildlife refuge that lures us down a spindle road in marsh and through ponds to the saltwater coast. Earlier on Day One, 2015, we welcomed young friends in for Italian cookies.
The night before, plunging into NYE we had laughed and clapped in front of a wide stage, with a friend our age, as national & state & local foibles paraded through a comedy cast who we knew.
After this fine fuss I feel celebratory and exhilaratory about the year ahead of work, the writing work. So I hope these lines from poet Alexis Rotella, who put them in “Purple,” feels like a gift to you, as they have become to me. With my appreciations for your poem-sharing & story telling that buoyed me in 2014.
from Purple by Alexis Rotella
“In second grade Mr. Barta
said draw anything:
he didn’t care what.
I left my paper blank
and when he came around
to my desk
my heart beat like a tom tom.
He touched my head
with his big hand
and in a soft voice said
the snowfall
how clean
and white
and beautiful
STEP LIGHTLY: POEMS FOR THE JOURNEY, which is one of the poetry books I like to travel with, especially to a wildlife refuge, is how I learned of Alexis Rotella, through one of my favorite poets, Nancy Willard, who collected the volume.
If you meandered here via Poetry Friday, or even if you didn’t, you’ll be well-rewarded with a toggle over to the nourishing Miss Rumphious Effect, today’s host.
