‘I was determined to glitter’: How I spent New Year’s Eve...
Poet and artist Frieda Hughes talks about diving headlong into the new year, full of promise (and sequins)...
The year ended like a speeding sled meeting a wall of snowdrift
In soft suddenness at the bottom of a steep hill; time had sped by so fast
I felt I’d lived three years in one, because everything I’d been working on
Was suddenly over and done. The gibbous moon hung like a dish
Of New Year wishes in the soot of the sky above my head
As I left for New Year’s Eve at someone else’s house, for which
I was determined to glitter. The road in the headlights led me through
Some of the last hours before midnight, when I got to begin again.
It was like opening a door into a new room in which
There was no furniture. It was for me to decide how many
Of my old belongings, habits and ideas I wanted to populate
This shiny new space. The break in the dateline was a reminder
Of the shortage of time, giving me the opportunity to get rid of
Whatever holds me back. My new plans will require the application
Of an astronaut, the concentration of a chess master, and all
The physical energy I can scrape out of the barrel of my former self.
I feel as if I am leaping into the air from the White Cliffs of Dover,
Arms akimbo and feathers flapping to catch the thermals
Without a parachute or safety net, shouting:
“The old year is over, I’m ready for the new one!”