{"id":1684,"date":"2016-01-04T00:00:18","date_gmt":"2016-01-04T05:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=1684"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:48:01","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:48:01","slug":"dec-31-poem-for-the-turning-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2016\/01\/04\/dec-31-poem-for-the-turning-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Dec 31 &#8211; Poem for the turning of the year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Monday, January 4 \u00a0&#8211; &#8220;just average changes&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mary Ann Buckley, a soul friend of 40 years, wrote me on December 31 to introduce me to this lean and understated poem written by \u201ca young Afro-American man in prison.\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0A good way to begin 2016\u2019s work year. \u00a0 Here\u2019s Mary Ann\u2019s cover note.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Hi, John. It was good to hear from you and thanks for the poems. Here\u2019s one by a young Afro-American man in prison \u2014 from a web-site connected with an organization that teaches literacy to prisoners. I met the director of the organization in November when she was among those honored by the Library of Congress for their work to promote literacy. I was there because our school in the Dominican Republic was also honored, and it turned out that her mother was taught by our sisters [i.e., Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus]. She\u2019s started sending me her blog which includes some poetry by the prisoners she helps.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>If you read the poem out you may notice that each line works best with a pause. \u00a0Short lines, short pauses create a cadence, which is the poet\u2019s intent I think.<\/p>\n<p>Happy New Year, \u00a0work day 1.<\/p>\n<p>john sj<\/p>\n<p><strong>Today\u2019s Post\u00a0\u2014 \u00a0&#8220;Changing Ways&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>No New Year\u2019s resolution for me<br \/>\nNo crying decree<br \/>\nNo promises, just average changes<br \/>\nLess time stressing<\/p>\n<p>More time working out<br \/>\nLess time talking<br \/>\nMore time learning<\/p>\n<p>Not so many haters<br \/>\nA few more friends<br \/>\nNot so much sadness<br \/>\nA little more happiness<\/p>\n<p>Less weakness<br \/>\nMore strength<br \/>\nLess Sleeping<br \/>\nMore thinking<\/p>\n<p>Change after all\u2026is good<br \/>\nChange after all<br \/>\nIs all I know<\/p>\n<p>By VB\u00a0 ,\u00a0 September 1, 2015<\/p>\n<p>In\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/freemindsbookclub.org\/changing-ways\">http:\/\/freemindsbookclub.org\/changing-ways<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Dawn after an early snowfall\u00a0 Nov 22, 2015<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2015\/11\/First-Snow-Nov-2015.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1622\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2015\/11\/First-Snow-Nov-2015.jpg\" alt=\"First Snow - Nov 2015\" width=\"979\" height=\"734\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2015\/11\/First-Snow-Nov-2015.jpg 979w, https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2015\/11\/First-Snow-Nov-2015-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 979px) 100vw, 979px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Monday, January 4 \u00a0&#8211; &#8220;just average changes&#8221; Mary Ann Buckley, a soul friend of 40 years, wrote me on December 31 to introduce me to this lean and understated poem written by \u201ca young Afro-American man in prison.\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0A &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2016\/01\/04\/dec-31-poem-for-the-turning-of-the-year\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1684"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1684"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1685,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1684\/revisions\/1685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}