December again—and 2020 coming to a close. Many of us have unhappy memories of this year. We look forward to 2021 with hope, especially hope that the pandemic will come to an end.
You might feel like Christina Rossetti:
Old and New Year Ditties
New Year met me
somewhat sad:
Old Year leaves me tired,
Stripped of favourite things I had
Baulked of much desired:
Yet farther on my road to-day
God willing, farther on my way.
New Year coming
on apace
What have you to give me?
Bring you scathe, or bring you grace,
Face me with an honest face;
You shall not deceive me:
Be it good or ill, be it what you will,
It needs shall help me on my road,
My rugged way to heaven, please God…
~ Christina Rossetti
(You can read more stanzas of this long poem at https://interestingliterature.com/2019/01/old-and-new-year-ditties-a-poem-by-christina-rossetti/.)
Or maybe the approach of a new year sparks in you the joy expressed by Alfred Lord Tennyson in this section of his longer poem, In Memoriam.
Ring out, wild
bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
Ring
out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Ring out the
grief that saps the mind
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.
Ring
out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.
Ring out the
want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes
But ring the fuller minstrel in.
Ring
out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.
Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.
Ring
in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.
~ Alfred Lord Tennyson
As I reread this poem, it struck me how relevant it is at the end of 2020. “Ring out old shapes of foul disease.” Yes, please! The world is holding its breath, awaiting virus protection to end the pandemic. But also, the call to ring out slander and spite, party strife and poverty and war, and to ring in more justice, gentility, and peace.
The Poetry Foundation has a set of poems to ring in the new year here:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/collections/142018/new-years-poems.
The Academy of American Poets has its own “short list”:
https://poets.org/text/poems-new-year.
Pan McMillian has a different set of poems for the New Year:
https://www.panmacmillan.com/blogs/literary/new-year-poems-auld-lang-syne.
ThoughtCo has a different set of recommendations:
https://www.thoughtco.com/poems-for-the-new-year-2725477.
The December Challenge:
PLEASE NOTE: THE SUBMISSION ADDRESS HAS CHANGED.
ALSO, please follow the guidelines carefully. For example, if your name is at the top of the page or under the title instead of at the bottom, I might accidentally miss it when preparing to send the poems to the judge, and your poem could be disqualified as a result. If it isn’t under your poem, I might mistype it. Also, if you don’t follow the directions in how to write the subject line of your email, your poem might be missed.
In her poem, “The Year,” Ella Wheeler Wilcox asked,
What can be said in New Year rhymes,
That’s not been said a thousand times?
The challenge for this month is to answer her question by writing your poem about the New Year, though it does not have to rhyme.
What is your wish or your expectation or prayer for the new year? How will you celebrate the passing of 2020 and the arrival of 2021? What resolutions are you making as the New Year approaches? What can you say about the New Year that is new?
Title your poem unless it is in a form that discourages titles. Single-space. Note that the blog format does not accommodate long lines; if they are used, they have to be broken in two, with the second part indented (as in the poem “Lilith,” one of the May 2018 winners), or the post has to use small print. Put your name and bio under your poem. Please keep the poem on the left margin (standard 1” margin). Do not put any part of your submission on a colored background. Do not use a fancy font and do not use a header or footer.
You may submit a published poem if you retain copyright, but please include publication data. This applies to poems published in books, journals, newspapers, or on the Internet. Poems already used on this blog are not eligible to win, but the poets may submit a different poem, unless the poet has been a winner the last three months.
The deadline is December 17 (since the challenge was posted 2 days late). Poems submitted after the deadline will not be considered. There is no charge to enter, so there are no monetary rewards; however, winners are published on this blog. Please don’t stray too far from “family-friendly” language (some children and teens read this blog). No simultaneous submissions, please. You should know by the end of the month whether or not your poem will be published. Decision of the judge or judges is final.
The poet retains copyright on each poem. If a previously unpublished poem wins and is published elsewhere later, please give credit to this blog. I do not register copyright with the US copyright office, but by US law, the copyright belongs to the writer unless the writer assigns it to someone else.
If the same poet wins three months in a row (which has not happened thus far), he or she will be asked not to submit the following two months.
How to Submit Your Poem:
Send one poem only to wildamorris4[at]gmail[dot]com (substitute the @ sign for “at” and a . for “dot”). Put “December Poetry Challenge Submission” FOLLOWED BY YOUR NAME in the subject line of your email. Include a brief bio that can be printed with your poem if you are a winner this month. Please put your name and bio UNDER THE POEM in your email and/or attachment. If the poem has been published before, please put that information UNDER the poem also. NOTE: If you sent your poem to my other email address, or do not use the correct subject line, the poem may get lost and not be considered for publication. Do not submit poems as PDF files. Pease excuse repetition in stating the rules. You might be surprised how many poets do not adhere carefully to the rules.
Submission of a poem gives permission for the poem to be posted on the blog if it is a winner, so be sure that you put your name (exactly as you would like it to appear if you do win) at the end of the poem.
Poems may be pasted into an email or sent as an attachment (Doc, Docx, rich text or plain text; no pdf files, please). or both. Please do not indent the poem or center it on the page. It helps if you submit the poem in the format used on the blog (Title and poem left-justified; title in bold (not all in capital letters); your name at the bottom of the poem). Also, please do not use multiple spaces instead of commas in the middle of lines. I have no problem with poets using that technique (I sometimes do it myself). However I have difficulty getting the blog to accept and maintain extra spaces.
Poems shorter than 40 lines are generally preferred but longer poems will be considered.
© Wilda Morris
