New Year Poems

I could never get my Chanukah and/or Christmas cards out in time, so I started sending cards for the new year instead. Then I decided I liked it better—non-partisan, metaphorically rich. In 1980, I drew this picture, and used it as my card. The next year, I wrote a poem, illustrated it, and that became the card. Over the years, these yearly missives have become very precious to me, the emotional read-outs of my year in poetry and picture—the closest I’ll ever get to one of those xeroxed "what I did this year" letters.