Reasons why I am happy to be in the city at the end of December

Anthony Wilson

(After Andy Brown)

Because my children are briefly sleeping under the same roof

Becuase Col and Lucy and M and T are coming on New Year’s Eve

Because the sun is finally shining

Because these quiet days after Christmas

Because Palace are playing Chelsea on the weekend and Merenna is taking me

Because I have an undiscovered Joni Mitchell CD to listen to

Because I have been given a new notebook

Because Hussein kept the home fires burning

Because a friend has texted offering to collaborate

Because books are in the pipeline and no one has said anything about them yet

Because the evenings are already a shade lighter

Coffee

Because everything seems possible

Because suddenly it is clear to me what I must do

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Published by Anthony Wilson

I am a poet and writing tutor. For 24 years I worked in teacher and medical education at the University of Exeter. My anthology Lifesaving Poems was published by Bloodaxe Books in 2015. In 2012 I published Riddance (Worple Press), a collection of poems, and Love for Now (Impress Books), a memoir, about my experience of cancer. The Wind and the Rain, my sixth collection of poems, was published in 2023 by Blue Diode Press. Plymbridge, a new pamphlet, is available now from Worple Press. My final research project, funded by the Foyle Foundation, was Young Poets' Stories: https://youngpoetsstories.com/. This blog is archived by the British Library.

10 Comments

  2. That’s a lovely list for the end of the year. I was wondering what to write on the first page of my new notebook. I usually put someone elses poem there, but I think I’ll have a go at a similar list. Thank you for the post! Happy New Year!

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  4. Pingback: Reasons why I am happy to be in Kerala at the end of December – Jenny Connected

  6. The Gift

    When I place my hands into your knitted Corriedale mittens

    I feel the ceremony of life playing out in the falling snow.

    I feel your hands holding mine. May we always travel

    Together to windy places where treetops waltz

    Across the sky. You keep me warm as I

    Breathe in the consecrated air on this

    Worthwhile journey through a

    Spruce-scented land. When

    I feel your hands touching

    Mine, I know we share

    One beating heart.

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