New Year’s Eve, 2020
by James Sutton
I do not cheer the new.
I celebrate
because the old is gone.
No need to make
improving resolutions,
since I know
a shift in time
is sure to help me grow
after this wasting year.
I’ve been locked up
away from those I love
& made to fear
any who wander near.
And so I keep
my dearest close to heart,
and as she sleeps,
I turn her way & smile.
I have enough
to keep my hopes alive.
Old promises
will serve as well as new.
Even if horror
fills the coming year,
love will renew.
About the author
JAMES SUTTON learned Latin and less Greek at the Boston Latin School; English and American Literature at Brown University; and poetry at the Iowa Writers Workshop. His epic, The Last Samurai, won the Mellen Poetry Prize for “best long poem in Gt. Britain & the U.S.” Driven to earn a living, he earned a doctorate in university administration while serving variously as faculty advocate, labor organizer, lobbyist, and policy analyst for Iowa’s teachers union. He lives in Des Moines, Iowa, with wife and cat.
Enjoy more poetry on Flashes
