The old year is leaving through the window.
The new year waits outside the door.
I make myself tea in the kitchen
Leaving a window open.
The year is flying out
But I am not ready to open the door. Not yet.
All quiet now.
Some make a clean break from the past.
Some look at it another way – the year begins at harvest. April.
At the festival of lights. November.
But that door is knocking. I hear a bell.
Wait, I shout, not time yet.
This zone between dawn and dusk.
Every breath is a birthday.
Amlanjyoti Goswami’s recent collection of poems, River Wedding (Poetrywala), has been widely reviewed. His poetry has been published in journals and anthologies around the world. A Best of the Net and Pushcart nominee, his poems have also appeared on street walls in Christchurch, exhibitions in Johannesburg, an e-gallery in Brighton and buses in Philadelphia. He has reviewed poetry for Modern Poetry in Translation and has read in various places, including New York, Delhi and Boston. He grew up in Guwahati, Assam and lives in Delhi.