01 January 2025

Being a Good Creature




Happy New Year!

Here we are on the first day of a brand new year, bidding the old year farewell. We are turning the page on what, this past year, was a complicated, confusing and divided time, in North America
and across the globe. 

In a time of profound change, how do we steady our feet on shifting sands? How do we navigate our personal journey, hold onto our peacefulness, our good hearts?

What are your thoughts on this new year dawning? What hopes or goals do you have for the coming year? How will you hold onto peace?

How do we keep trying to be good creatures in such confusing times?



These are rhetorical questions, pondering the imponderable, and each of us will answer differently. For me, peace and comfort always lies in the beauty of the natural world, which lives according to its own rhythm, no matter what we humans are doing.

Please feel welcome to link a poem, old or new, that arises from contemplating the year ahead. Sometimes the best we can do is write our hope - or our sadness - into a poem.




Do leave a comment after linking. Did you celebrate the new year? Did you stay quiet, light a candle, ponder peace? At What's Going On, we wish you all good things in the year to come, and look forward to another year of sharing our love of poetry.






24 comments:

  1. Happy New Year, fellow travellers! Buckle up, it's 2025. I suspect we will have lots of material for our poems in the coming year. How to stay positive in the face of it is the challenge, and we poets are always up for a challenge. We send our wishes for all good things for you in the coming year.

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  2. Thanks, Sherry, for the New Year's Day prompt. Wishing all of you a very happy new year! It is always nice to gather here with you each week and to read what you write.

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    1. Have a happy day, Mary. I love sharing poems here every week, too. A way of staying connected to poet friends across the world.

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  3. Thank you for another prompt Sherry and a peaceful New Year to all - Jae

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    1. No better way to start the year than with a poem! A peaceful new year to you, Jae.

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  4. This is Sumana. Happy New Year, friends. Thanks for hosting Sherry. My internet is not cooperating today for reasons unknown. Looking forward to reading your lines. I hope this posts

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  5. Happy New Year, Sherry and the wonderful poets at What's Going On?! I've missed our poetic Wednesdays. The weather here is atrocious, so I've been spending a lot of time indoors, and am looking forward to my swim on Friday. Contentment is the key word for 2025.

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  6. That is a great key word, Kim. Lovely to see you here.

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  7. Thanks for doing this, Sherry. Happy New Year.

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    1. Happy New Year to you and Zacky, too, Shay. So nice to see you here.

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  8. HAPPY NEW YEAR to EVERYONE! I'm thinking we'll need poetry more this year than ever---or more poetry . . . So Much Love!

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    1. Happy New Year, Susan! Yes, we will need poetry - and each other - more than ever. Some sanity and such hope as we can muster to hold onto our humanity in a very unstable world. I take inspiration from the birds, who keep on Being Birds, no matter what. Smiles.

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  9. Happy new year, everyone. Thank you Sherry, Mary, Susan and Sumana for your work on keeping this going. Looking forward to lots of poetry in 2025. Sharing an older poem today, though. See you all on the trail.

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    1. I am looking forward to poetry in 2025. We will need it more than ever. Thanks for your support, Rajani, and for being here. Thank you to ALL of our faithful members. We appreciate each one of you.

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  10. I am still chuckling over the cartoons, and that dog!

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    1. Something to make us smile. So glad you stopped by, Sara.

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  11. Happy New Year All! How to be a better creature I think it starts with a heart of change. Perhaps, it is about being a witness to the good we have seen in life a reminder that love can prevail even through grief.

    Peace & May light always find a way into your day...

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    1. No matter what, the goodness in human hearts is always greater than the darkness. I loved your poem!

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  12. Ha ...love the video! Thank you Sherry for keeping the blog open. I am sure I am not alone when I say this little band of poets is very important to many of us. Happy New Year everyone !

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    1. Happy to have you joining in, Rall. We do have a fine little band of poets, and we appreciate each one.

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  13. Happy New Year Sherry! Thanks for hosting the first day of the year.

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    1. I love your poem! Feels like we keep replanting and the garden keeps getting trampled........yet on we go!

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  14. It is lovely to see so many of you show up for the first prompt in 2025. I imagine we will have a lot to write about in 2025 and we look forward to making that journey with you.

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