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My New Year’s Resolutions

posted by Kate Good on 01/02/11 at 08:14 PM

I'm a pretty pragmatic person, not given to sudden shifts and swerves, but each December, I start kicking around ideas about what I want to improve in my life in the New Year. Normally it's mid-January before I decide on my resolutions and early February when I abandon my plans. But this year, I started early. I hope these resolutions stick because I kinda like them. Here they are in no particular order:

1.   I want to buy dog food the day before I run out, rather than the day after I run out. Sam, my 100-pound Golden Retriever, can only eat so much white rice and egg drop soup, even though he loves it. A lot.
 
2.   I want to read at least one poem a day. Alan, my advisor in graduate school, suggested this as one of the best (and easiest) disciplines for improving my writing. Want to figure out how to use language? Check out the verbal acrobatics in any good poem. 
 
Someone recently reminded me about Good Poems, a poetry collection by Garrison Keillor. He recommended Keillor's foreword as one of the best pieces of writing about poetry. He's right. It's fantastic and worth the price of the book. The collected poetry, a mix of both the unexpected and the classic, is also well-chosen and a wonderful companion as you start the new year.
 
Keillor also put out a collection called, Good Poems for Hard Times. I have long hoarded Scripture and poems to keep me going during a rough patch and this is a gold mine. Having a bad day, week, month? Pick up this gem. Bly, Auden, Sandburg, and that curmudgeon, Bukowski, become your compatriots, leading you through the hard times as you share laughter and tears.
 
I admit that I had no time for Robert Frost until Alan introduced me to The Poetry of Robert Frost: Collected Poems. Think Frost is only about fences, paths, and neighbors? You've barely scratched the surface. Frost reminds me of the gray days of winter, and I plan to dip back into this collection over the next few months.
 
And then, of course, there's Yeats. I spent a semester muttering his poem, "Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven," under my breath as I walked across campus or shelved books in the library.
 
               Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
               Enwrought with golden and silver light,
               The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
               Of night and light and the half-light,
               I would spread the cloths under your feet:
               But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
               I have spread my dreams under your feet;
               Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
 
The sentiment is, of course, stunningly beautiful. But I love his words and rhythm almost as much. I can’t stop repeating "Of night and light and the half-light," the echo in the line tripping over my tongue.
 
3.   I am chronically 10 minutes late. It's not intentional. In fact, I hate it. But I either miscalculate what I can do in the final few moments before I leave the house, or I lose track of time. 
 
When I realize I'm going to be late, I drive as fast as I can, trying to make up the lost time. I generally arrive sweaty and winded. So, I'm determined to improve this year. I might not be early, but I will be on time.
 
4.   Amy's Mushroom and Olive Frozen Pizza is standard Friday night fare at my house. It's sinfully easy and remarkably good considering it came out of a box. But this year I want to learn to make my own pizza.
 
I've loved pizza since lunchtime at Wickersham Elementary School where the lunch ladies served it every Friday in a white cardboard box. I couldn't get enough of the strings of cheese, the spicy sauce, and the slightly burnt crust. As I grew older, I discovered that some pizza is better than what I got in the cafeteria. I've become a bit of a connoisseur.  
 
Right now, my favorite is the buffalo margherita at Trattoria Dell'Arte, my favorite restaurant in New York City. The crust is flaky and crispy, almost like a cracker. The sauce is chunky and tangy, while the cheese is perfectly creamy and spiked with fresh basil.
 
But I also love a thick crust that's soft and chewy and slightly salty, a little like a soft pretzel. I was reminded recently about Jim Lahey's delicious pizza dough while rereading Ruth Reichl's fantastic book, Garlic and Sapphires. She discovered Lahey's crust while reviewing restaurants for The New York Times, and her description suggests his crust is unbeatable. I have Lahey’s book, My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Bread, that shares his famous bread recipe, as well as the one for his thick crust pizza dough. It's the first recipe I'll try.
 
5.   As a kid, I was happiest flailing around the swimming hole on my uncle and aunt’s farm each summer. I still love the water, and while I can stay afloat, it’s pretty ugly. So, I’m signing up for swimming lessons at the Y. Do I feel a little silly learning how to swim at this age? Sure. Do I care? Nope.
 
Happy New Year, Everyone! May your year be full of hope, peace, and joy.
Good_kate Kate Good lives in Lancaster City, Pa.  She is a member of Blossom Hill Mennonite Church, Lancaster. She is assistant publisher at Good Books.