Orchids for the turning of the year.

For most people, the approach of the New Year (whether according to the Gregorian or Lunar calendar) signals a time to reflect upon our habits and to make lifestyle changes in order to have a “fresh start” in the coming year.  The traditions surrounding New Year’s celebrations are filled with rituals celebrating transition and fresh hope, and also with traditions that remind us of our roots — our connections to family and beloved friends.  Whether toasting to Auld Lang Syne or visiting our elders to exchange New Year’s greetings and receive gifts, our traditions engage us in a rhythm of return and renewal — each year, we come home or look back at what’s familiar and beloved in order to move forward again.  Lunar New Year rituals, in particular, are rich with symbolic resonance.  Cleaning out the house, donning new clothes, consuming foods which are meant to stand in for one’s hopes for the year, celebrating with firecrackers and tree blossoms — these are actions which can remind us of the fleeting nature of what’s past, but which also evoke a sense of hope for the new experiences we anticipate in the coming season.  It’s with these things in mind that we give you this week’s prompt

Prompt: Write a poem about a personal or familial ritual for the turning of the year.

If you need help getting started, here are a couple of links to some beautiful New Year’s poems from the Poetry Foundation’s archive:

“Burning the Old Year” by Naomi Shihab Nye

“New Year” by Bei Dao (trans. David Hinton and Yanbing Chen).

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Happy Lunar New Year!

- The Editors

Atlanta

Heather Christle (poet) and Oindrila Mukherjee (fiction writer & trans. of Bengali poetry)
Emory Reading Series
February 15 | 6:30 PM
Joseph W. Jones Room, 311 Woodruff Library
Emory University

Boston

East Meets Words Open Mic (feat. Payal Sharma)
Presented by the Boston Progress Arts Collective
February 12 | 8 pm
East Meets West Bookstore
934 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge
Suggested $3 Donation

New York City

Making Friends with Your Writing: Poetry & Fiction Workshop with Ken Chen
Thurs, Feb 11, Tuesdays, Feb 16-Mar 2, 7-8:30pm (4 sessions)
Asian American Writers Workshop
16 West 32nd Street Suite 10A
Between Broadway and Fifth Avenue
$160 General / $140 Members
$40 General Deposit / $36.00 Members
Register here.

Poetry & Prose Reading feat. Kazim Ali, Tao Lin, and Maaza Mengiste
NYU Creative Writing Program Reading Series
February 12 | 5 pm
Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House
58 West 10th St. (btwn. 5th and 6th Ave’s)

“Love, feat. Kelly Tsai” (Open Mic at MOCA)
Feburary 12 | 7 pm to 8:30 pm
Museum of Chinese in America
215 Centre St.
Admission: $7/adult, $4/students & seniors, free for MOCA members and open mic performers.

Mouth-to-Mouth Open Mic (Hosted by Jen Kwok and Ed Lin)
Presented by the AAWW
February 12 | 9 pm
16 W 32nd St, 10th Fl (btwn Bwy & 5th Ave)
$5 suggested donation
Open to the public

Shab-e Sher Featuring Aida Shahghasemi and Shabnam Piryaei
Presented by World of Poetry and PAF
February 17 | 6 pm
Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery (btwn. Houston and Bleeker

San Francisco Bay Area

SFIAAFF DIY Music Video Launch Party
Hosted by Kearny Street Workshop
February 11 | 8 pm to midnight
111 Minna, SF
$10 | FREE for CAAM members
This is a 21+ event only.

2nd Saturday Poetry & Prose (feat. Clara Hsu, Bill Mercer, Richard di Grazia)
February 13 | 7 pm
Frank Bette Center for the Arts
1601 Paru Street, Alameda

Sunset Poetry By the Bay (feat. Lucille Lang Day, Kathryn Takara, Karla Brundage)
At Studio 333
February 17 | 7 to 10 PM
333 Caledonia St., Sausalito

Washington, D.C.

“Call + Response” (16 visual artists & 16 writers – incl. poet Gerald Maa) at the Hamiltonian Gallery
Closes February 13!
Hamiltonian Gallery
1353 U St, NW, Suite 101