andrea hope

This is our New Year’s Resolution

given appropriately on August 19th 2011, or any day

because every sunrise is the beginning of a new year

and every sunset is a celebration

This year,

we will stop calling old friends out of boredom and loneliness.

We will try really hard to remember that one thing you said you always wanted to do

and do it for you

or with you

and do it happy even when we do it badly.

This year,

we will meet dozens of random people and let them share stories that makes us laugh too loud

in crowded rooms

where we realize that none of us are random

and sometimes the world is as small as our talks

This year,

we will stop asking questions in poems without taking the time to look for their solutions

we will be the law makers and the revolution

and stop pretending they don’t need each other

every good revolution comes from just cause

which translates into just laws

so just because we prefer to march in brightly-colored tights and knitted beanies

we will no longer be afraid to shake hands with every freedom fighter

even those not afraid to use an iron

This year,

we will lose the weight

on our shoulders

the anvils that our first loves left to drown our hearts

or our estranged fathers, or overbearing mothers, or ourselves

especially ourselves

and if we fail, which we will

We will remember that new dawns break open every time we choose to re-open our eyes

that our every sunrise

is the first day of a new year

and tonight

tonight we celebrate.