‘I was determined to glitter’: How I spent New Year’s Eve...

The year ended like a speeding sled meeting a wall of snowdrift

In soft suddenness at the bottom of a steep hill; time had sped by so fast

I felt I’d lived three years in one, because everything I’d been working on

Was suddenly over and done. The gibbous moon hung like a dish

Of New Year wishes in the soot of the sky above my head

As I left for New Year’s Eve at someone else’s house, for which

I was determined to glitter. The road in the headlights led me through

Some of the last hours before midnight, when I got to begin again.

It was like opening a door into a new room in which

There was no furniture. It was for me to decide how many

Of my old belongings, habits and ideas I wanted to populate

This shiny new space. The break in the dateline was a reminder

Of the shortage of time, giving me the opportunity to get rid of

Whatever holds me back. My new plans will require the application

Of an astronaut, the concentration of a chess master, and all

The physical energy I can scrape out of the barrel of my former self.

I feel as if I am leaping into the air from the White Cliffs of Dover,

Arms akimbo and feathers flapping to catch the thermals

Without a parachute or safety net, shouting:

“The old year is over, I’m ready for the new one!”