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New Year’s Poem: Resolutions

By Anne M. Doe Overstreet 12 Comments

poem resolutions by anne overstreet

Wear nonsensical heels   investigate the suspicion of doubt
spend more time gathering   stones date a baker and learn to
taste the difference in flours   impress vermilion upon a lip
emulate spiders:   touch everything first before engaging
ask to be called Jane    collect Janes   paint the bathroom black
memorize a Basho poem that is not about leaving    call your
mother only when half-drunk   have an icon of Teresa of Avila
beside you when you call    study walls, what they keep in
eat some animal you’ve never seen   draw what that animal
tastes like     clean out the deep freeze in the basement
call your mother Elizabeth as if by mistake    attend a
Beekeepers of America meeting    read a biography about
Amelia Earhart change    the cat’s name to Amelia dream of
Icarus    pray beneath low ceilings. Maybe then.

Photo by Jurvetson, Creative Commons license via Flickr. Poem by Anne M. Doe Overstreet,  author of Delicate Machinery Suspended. “Resolutions” originally appeared in Every Day Poems. 

____________________________________

Anne M. Doe Overstreet is the author of Delicate Machinery Suspended: Poems. She has facilitated a writing critique group for thirteen years, been a Pushcart Prize nominee twice, and taught poetry workshops at numerous conferences and retreats including at Laity Lodge and Seattle Pacific University. She is an Associate editor at DMQ Review.

 

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Anne M. Doe Overstreet
Anne M. Doe Overstreet
Author of Delicate Machinery Suspended. Founder and editor at Spine-Line editing. Associate editor of DMQ Review.
Anne M. Doe Overstreet
Latest posts by Anne M. Doe Overstreet (see all)
  • Poetry Classroom: Sour Plums - January 30, 2013
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Filed Under: Blog, Every Day Poems, Poems, poetry

About Anne M. Doe Overstreet

Author of Delicate Machinery Suspended. Founder and editor at Spine-Line editing. Associate editor of DMQ Review.

Comments

  1. L. L. Barkat says

    January 1, 2013 at 8:50 am

    I love this poem, Anne. Again.

    (I loved it the first time and the second and the third and and and)

    It’s a great picture into your wit. I’m smiling. 🙂

    Reply
  2. Maureen Doallas says

    January 1, 2013 at 10:05 am

    Love it, Anne!

    Wishing you much success in the coming year, especially with the workshop.

    Reply
  3. Donna says

    January 1, 2013 at 11:39 am

    Love this!

    Jane

    Reply
    • Anne Overstreet says

      January 2, 2013 at 12:24 am

      I can’t be the only one who does this, can I?

      Reply
      • Donna says

        January 2, 2013 at 7:14 pm

        I used to want to be called Marie… 🙂 Haven’t thought about another name in a looong time (although once when I worked for a customer service job on phones I used the name Donna REED and imagined myself with flour all over my face and shirts, and that all of my husbands shirts were neatly ironed)!

        Reply
  4. Laura Brown says

    January 1, 2013 at 5:56 pm

    Love this.
    Collect Janes …

    I bought a red cardigan with Jane over the heart for a quarter at a thrift shop in Arkansas in college. One of my classmates in grad school in Pittsburgh kept defaulting to calling me Jane even though she knew that wasn’t my name and even when I did not have that sweater on, because I had it on when she met me.

    That “Maybe then” is tantalizing.

    Reply
    • Anne Overstreet says

      January 2, 2013 at 12:22 am

      Laura, now I’m gonna have to find a ‘named’ shirt at Goodwill and reinvent myself for a day. Hmm…

      Reply
  5. Megan Willome says

    January 1, 2013 at 8:29 pm

    The first time I saw this poem of yours, I printed it to keep in my poetry scrapbook. Now I know it’s you! And though I don’t know you, through Tweetspeak, I feel like I do.

    Happy New Year.

    Reply
    • Anne Overstreet says

      January 2, 2013 at 12:20 am

      That’s quite a compliment, Megan. Bet I’m in good company. Do you know, it took me until the end of today to register WHY “Resolutions” was relevent… even though Jeff and I spent the afternoon walking by the water and talking about what we hoped for in 1213!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Mischief Cafe: Colorado Springs School, CO - says:
    November 26, 2014 at 4:02 pm

    […] be a joke about baked-goods, so to speak, and flour, when we read Anne M. Doe Overstreet’s Resolutions. I don’t remember a mention of cinnamon at that juncture, but the spice of laughter filled the […]

    Reply
  2. Mischief Cafe: Lincoln, Nebraska - says:
    December 1, 2014 at 1:42 pm

    […] was drawn to Glynn’s work poems. Aimee read Resolutions (sense a pattern on this trip?). When it was time to go, Kori commented, “This was an amazing […]

    Reply
  3. Secret Layers - Poetic Earth Month says:
    April 22, 2020 at 7:01 am

    […] or a half food, or from a whole or a half food. If you write to or from a whole food, try writing a prose poem. If you write to or from a half food, put only one word per […]

    Reply

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