Write a poem based off of this one: “Burning the Old Year”
by Naomi Shihab Nye

Letters swallow themselves in seconds.
Notes friends tied to the doorknob,
transparent scarlet paper,
sizzle like moth wings,
marry the air.

So much of any year is flammable,
lists of vegetables, partial poems.
Orange swirling flame of days,
so little is a stone.

Where there was something and suddenly isn’t,
an absence shouts, celebrates, leaves a space.
I begin again with the smallest numbers.

Quick dance, shuffle of losses and leaves,
only the things I didn’t do
crackle after the blazing dies.

ASSIGNMENT:
Write your own poem inspired by “Burning the Old Year.” Your poem should have the following characteristics:
- be four stanzas and have lines of similar length to Nye’s.
- use a central image (such as fire) both literally and figuratively.
- focus on leaving something behind (beginning) and embracing something in the new year (end).