Russians launch more rockets against Kiev,
celebrities, a pope and other mere mortals are dropping like flies
(including holiday-makers killed in a helicopter crash at Sea World),
China faces a new form of COVID calamity,
Twitter probed after hack involving 400 million,
recession strikes one-third of the world’s economies …
but here’s a prayer to settle the nerves,
“Happy New Year!”.
Fireworks,
banging gongs,
drinking to excess,
all while houses fall into the sea
as climate change unravels …
oh, what a mess.
It’s the same as any other day,
of course,
shit hits the fan continuously
and we can attend to it excessively
or otherwise heed and act
in accord with what matters.
Just as surely,
for instance,
it could be a perfectly fine day –
watching Avatar and being pleasantly entertained,
spending happy times with family
and enjoying unseasonable temperature weather.
The good, bad and indifferent
arise in life –
for most,
it’s mostly good …
and more good is always due.
Is faith the answer?
Even Jesus’ brother, James,
seemed to think not –
saying,
“Prayer without works is dead”.
The Old Norse knew the same,
writing,
“Nothing happened in the heavens –
good families embraced wisdom
protecting the venerable …
sow that garden
(such is the spear-bench ‘love and peace’)”.
Perhaps in 2023,
some NLP is apt –
along the lines of a script that reads,
“Make the New Year happy”.
Douglas Colston hails from Australia, has played in Ska bands and picked up university degrees, supported his parents during terminal illnesses, developed chronic mental and physical illnesses pursuant to sustained workplace harassment, married his love, fathered two great children, had his inheritance embezzled and among other things, he is pursuing a PhD he hopes will provide a positive contribution to the zeitgeist. In 2022, in addition to Poetry Potion, his fiction, nonfiction and poetry appeared in various anthologies and magazines, including: POETiCA REViEW; Impspired; New Note Poetry; Otherwise Engaged Literary and Arts Journal; and Revue {R}évolution.