Starling's New Year's Resolutions

Excerpt from "In the Beginning"

Now only make your offerings to the trees,
to these things that hold firmly to the ground.

And build your house from branches and dirt--
a swallow’s thousand mudbeaks--
because clay can never lead to disaster.

Find a table in the wilderness under which to dream
and your mother’s red shoes will take you home
when the fires in the hills threaten to freeze your blood.

Unfurl your wings,
leave your cardinal dreams to the forest,
and follow the girl whose eyes are sunlight and stone.

You will write your story then
with slate quills that prick the smooth skin of your palms
And I will forever carve the sparrows from cinnamon bark and birch.

***

Inspired by my speaker, I will:

1. not spend another year feeling displaced and unsettled; I will (re)discover home.
2. set aside time weekly to work on the Hills trilogy.
3. attempt to silence (muffle?) inner critic (by way of mental baseball bat, sedatives, or anvil).

and not so much inspired by the speaker, I will:

4. continue to find new and engaging tools and materials to use in the classroom.
5. read one book a week (at minimum) for myself.
6. reduce (substantially) my diet pepsi consumption (as recommended by EH, my mother, and various doctors).

That's it, my friends. Now, what are yours?