I wrote this on January 1st, 2024. I originally titled it “Happy New Year,” but changed it to “New Year’s Stew” because it’s different, and I like different. A nameless woman, sad and alone on New Year’s, came to my head, and this is how she felt.
Did you kiss a girl at midnight?
You never really seemed the type.
Another year gone, and I’m sad inside
We’ve got a clean slate, you implied
Alone, I knocked back drinks
until I broke my glass in the kitchen sink
I wanted what we could have been
Another time, we would have been
You wished we had reconnected sooner
Now your memory festers like a tumor
It bubbles up like a New Year’s stew
Almost everything can link back to you
A word, a phrase,
I can hear your laugh till this day
‘Can I give you a phone call? It’ll be brief.’
Ending it was supposed to be a relief
I’m too much, I overthink
I’m inquisitive about everything
Why did you say what you said?
‘My mind wants it. My body wants it.’
‘Any chance you’d like to meet up for an half hour or so?’
I was shocked when you messaged me
‘Wherever’s cool.’
‘Wherever you’re comfortable.’
You said, ‘That conversation made it clear.’
I wanted to cry, you heard me wrong
You said, ‘We are not even having the same conversation.’
I wanted to cry, you heard me wrong
Alone, I knocked back drinks
until I broke my glass in the kitchen sink
I wanted what we could have been
Another time, we would have been
You wished we had reconnected sooner
Now your memory festers like a tumor
It bubbles up like a New Year’s stew
Almost everything can link back to you
Happy New Year
I hope you have a good one, I do
I hope you find who you’re looking for
And when the clock strikes midnight this year
A girl, who is not me, is standing near
You’ll lean down pressing your lips to her ear
And life will stop for a minute
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year
I hope you have a good one, I do
TMShivenerBooks 