Poets Salon: New Year Dawn

POETS SALON

New Year Stone for 2020 (Arrangement and photo –
Kath Abela Wilson)

– 01/01/20

Hosted by Kath Abela Wilson

first stone
on the beach
the new year
in my pocket

~ Kath Abela

Ο Ο Ο

Queen Anne’s Lace Roadside (Photo – Alice Pero)

Alice Pero

Let it all be new
Let the year yawn
and turn around
to another side
Let us jump in laughter
at another dawn
coming just as before
without invitation
or regret

Though this poem ended
it will start again
another thought, another yen
for sparkle
Is this really “time”?
or marking time
in tiny increments of joy
for her and him and him ?

Ο

As the day broke
I stepped in its pieces
Then made it whole
calling it The New Year

Ο

We thought heaven
was the new time
but then found
it was only laughter

Ο

Do you have fireworks?
or is your laughter
quite enough
for this brand new year

Ο

I ran as fast as I could
to get to the beginning again
Then played a trick on myself
pretending the New Me

Ο

The New Year dawns
leaving the stars
points of white light
millions of years old
We are celebrating
our longevity

Ο Ο Ο

The Dragon’s Egg performance space built by Dan Potter (Photo – Alice Pero)

Dan Potter

Solstice Voices

Cry in the new year light!
Tonight they come
like midwives to feast and glug.

Some all in straw
with effigies of wrens to fly
up out of darkness, fast and bright.

Ο Ο Ο

Chinese New Year in Singapore (Photo – Mandy Macdonald)

Mandy Macdonald

scattering the hours
faster than the speed of day
Scotland to Singapore

streets blaze red and gold
laughing crowds press and jostle —
Year of the White Rat!

back at home
they’ll be drinking to Scotland’s bard
in smoky single malt

(Chinese New Year: 25 January 2020)

Ο Ο Ο

A detail of a Rose Parade float (Photo – NASA/JPL)

Natalia Duxbury

MultiVerse Rose Parade

Semi-wild this sensation-
Multi roses inspiration!
In some countries snow, not dew –
Scintillating – pretty blue.
We see here fairy glade:
Very fancy – Rose Parade!
Shining stars, but very warm.
Rosy petals come as swarm –
Floats will cover – brightest view!
Not at all – as cold as metals.
Everyone in rosy petals! –
Smiling souls are happy, new!

*Pun: verse is a poem and the new astronomical term Multiverse, meaning many Universes

Ο

New Year Dawn 2020 (Photo- Kath Abela Wilson)

New Year Dawn: Quotes and Credits

Alice Pero thinks each New Year is more precious as she perceives the decades passing. It occurs to her that more laughter is needed to “mark time,” thus the philosophy of some of these poems. A resident of Los Angeles for 24 years, she spent her earlier years in New York. She’s Founder of the Moonday Reading series and Windsong Chamber Ensemble and grandmother of five.

Daniel Potter is a sculptor, painter and poet who lives in Stonington, CT. With his partner, he built the beautiful performance space, Dragon’s Egg, which hosts classes and residencies for dancers. Alice Pero and Dan have been dialoguing every other day for the last five years. He says: “At New Year’s in Dingle Ireland, County Cork, boys dress in straw to hunt down effigies of Old Year’s Wren as Alice and I every other day still hunt each other with new poems.”

Australian writer and musician Mandy Macdonald lives in Aberdeen, Scotland. She is widely published, and her first pamphlet, The temperature of blue, has just appeared with Blue Salt Collective. She writes in the hope that poetry can change the world, even a little. This poem remarks on the delightful fact that the beginning of this year’s Chinese New Year celebrations coincides with Burns Night in Scotland.

Dr. Natalia Duxbury is a renowned international planetary scientist, writer and mathematician. She is included in the book Who is Who in the World and Lifetime Achievement. She was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and a Research Scientist/Senior T. Staff at the NASA/JPL- Caltech. She has more than 100 publications in scientific refereed international journals, in addition to the first scientific interpretation of one of the A. Einstein’s letters. She’s currently an Aff. Professor at George Mason University. She is a member of the Writer’s Guild and of the Caltech Alumni Association. Duxbury received NASA awards for her scientific achievements and cosmic innovations; Pushkin, Chekhov, Mayakovsky medals, and other awards for her literary publications. She writes in 2 languages.

♣ A note from Kath Abela

Send your submissions by midnight Sunday, Pacific time, on each week’s theme: “Year of the Rat“, “New Year Mouse“, “Winter Planting“, or suggest your own theme.

Send short poems, haiku, senryu, tanka, cherita haibun, tanka prose, short prose poems, etc., or your own unique approach, to Kath Abela by Facebook message or click here to email her directly. We can feature your work again after five months. Multiple Submissions can be saved to appear later:

1. Send a short bio, comments on the theme.
2. Send photos or artwork by you, if possible.
3. No attachments except photos.

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