is this the time to take stock of the old year?  i don't know.  2013 is definitely the year i entered middle age.  yes, for the record i am 46.  born in the summer of love.  when the world was at a tumult.  like now.  except perhaps things may be a bit more dire?  perhaps, perhaps not.  when has the world not been on fire.  one cannot predict the future but that doesn't stop people from trying.

i don't do new year resolutions.  maybe eat more.  take up smoking.  definitely love more and let those whom i love know it.  publish a bit more and bring out a chapbook.  out of seven billion voices it is hubris to think your voice is the one everyone wants to hear.  but then again, if not me [and you] who then?  everyone?  yes, indeed.  let's do make our barbaric yawps for we are alive.  there is no better reason.

i have no idea what the new year will bring.  this year brought some tragedy.  it brought some surprises.  it brought a lot of joy.  i certainly will do my best to practice gratitude.  for me my task is to remember to live and not get stuck on my own little puddle of blues.

i think i shall make a better old man than i was a young man.  besides, like the old grateful dead song goes, a bit of grey suits me anyway.  or in my case, lots of silver.

to paraphrase a poem by thom gunn, i am not superstitious/the new year may turn out very rewarding.

happy new year!!!