#143 Last Year I Abstained, This Year I Devour
A new workshop alert + poems to help you burn the old year
Dearest,
Last year I abstained
This year I devour
without guilt
which is also an artMargaret Atwood
I have a new workshop this coming Sunday!
The arrival of a new year is always special.
It is a time for reflection, a time to burn the old year, a time for transformation, a time to dive into a fresh start.
And what better way to do all that than through gentle poems, excerpts, and enriching conversations?
What to expect?
🐾Poetic pathways that lead you to yourself
💟Conversations that carry you and your heart
📖Excerpts that nudge you toward reading what you enjoy
💬A patient ear from the kindest strangers on the internet
Registering is easy-peasy. All you have to do is visit this form and fill it up!
You can also sponsor seats for strangers if you are feeling like doing a random act of kindness for someone this new year. Just drop me a mail/DM me on Instagram.
Some verses:
#1 By Keaton St. James
#2 Excerpt from Spring by Mary Oliver
Arrives, year after year, humble and obedient
And gorgeous. You listen and you know
You could live a better life than you do, be
Softer, kinder. And maybe this year you will
Be able to do it.
#3 “i am running into a new year” by Lucille Clifton
i am running into a new year
and the old years blow back
like a wind
that i catch in my hair
like strong fingers like
all my old promises and
it will be hard to let go
of what i said to myself
about myself
when i was sixteen and
twentysix and thirtysix
even thirtysix but
i am running into a new year
and i beg what i love and
i leave to forgive me
#4 Burn the Old Year by Naomi Shihab Nye
Letters swallow themselves in seconds.
Notes friends tied to the doorknob,
transparent scarlet paper,
sizzle like moth wings,
marry the air.
So much of any year is flammable,
lists of vegetables, partial poems.
Orange swirling flame of days,
so little is a stone.
Where there was something and suddenly isn’t,
an absence shouts, celebrates, leaves a space.
I begin again with the smallest numbers.
Quick dance, shuffle of losses and leaves,
only the things I didn’t do
crackle after the blazing dies.
Watch:
Latest work for Wakefit, a New Year Film for the brand which is a homage to The Office. As an absolute sucker for that sitcom, this was a dream come true.
Wondering how you can support me?
You can contribute via GPay or UPI and show The Nook some love here: riya.roy6@axisbank
or,
See you next Sunday in a new year,
Love, Riya
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