The New Year provides us with ample opportunities to reflect on the past and look forward to the future. It is the reason that the first month of the year is named January after the Roman God Janus who is always depicted as having two faces, one looking back the other looking ahead. This is also meat and drink to the poet, who can use such consierations as the basis for wonderful imagery. Today we shall feature some of their New Year offerings.
Amanda Gorman – New Year’s Lyrics The 23-year-old poet, whose reading of her own “The Hill We Climb” at President Joe Biden’s inauguration made her an international sensation, posted a new work and accompanying video on Instagram. “New Day’s Lyric” is a five-stanza, 48-line resolution with themes of struggle and healing known to admirers of “The Hill We Climb” and of her bestselling collection “Call Us What We Carry,” which came out in early December: “This is such a unique New Year’s Day, because even as we toast our glasses to the future, we still have our heads bowed for what has been lost,” she wrote. “I think one of the most important things the new year reminds us is of that old adage: This too shall pass. You can’t relive the same day twice — meaning every dawn is a new one, and every year an opportunity to step into the light.”
Suheir Hammad – What I Will Suheir Hammad is a Palestinian-American poet and activist. She was born to refugees in Jordan and immigrated to Brooklyn. “What I Will” was written in response to the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Suheir Hammad – in addition to other achievements that go to her account – excels in the art of spoken or performance poetry. Her poem “What I will“ has been called “a modern statement of pacifism”, a testimony of living non-violence.“ It feels incredibly apt right now.
Robert Burns – Auld Lang Syne is a popular song, traditionally, sung to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. By extension, it is also often heard at funerals, graduations, and as a farewell or ending to other occasions; for instance, many branches of the Scouting movement use it to close jamborees and other functions. The text is a Scots language poem written by Burns in 1788 but based on an older Scottish folk song. In 1799, it was set to a traditional tune, which has since become standard. “Auld Lang Syne”. The poem’s Scots title may be translated into standard English as “old long since” or, less literally, “long long ago”, “days gone by”, “times long past” or “old times”. Consequently, “For auld lang syne”, as it appears in the first line of the chorus, might be loosely translated as “for the sake of old times”.
