Perfection Wasted

by John Updike

And another regrettable thing about death
is the ceasing of your own brand of magic,
which took a whole life to develop and market-
the quips, the witticisms, the slant
adjusted to a few, those loved ones nearest
the lip of the stage, their soft faces blanched
in the footlight glow, their laughter close to tears,
their warm pooled breath in and out with your heartbeat,
their response and your performance twinned.
The jokes over the phone. The memories packed
in the rapid-access file. The whole act.
Who will do it again? That's it: no one;
imitators and descendants aren't the same.

more or less useless new year's resolutions

Because it's the new year (woo![?]) and making resolutions is something people do around now, here are a few things I'd like to do or improve upon in the coming year. The list is in no particular order and is off the top of my head:

1. Finish more stories. I was going to put "write more" but that part is okay, I just have issues with the completion part.
2. Update more. Whatever I have to update, be it a blog (did you notice my posts seem to halve every year? Not 2009!), a comic (which shouldn't be too difficult), or...something else. I think those two things are my only updating responsibilities.
3. Who wants to exchange poetry via postcard? I just thought of that, but it sounds like it could be fun? Until we get tired of it, of course. (Flash fiction is also possible here.) I've also wanted to try my hand at a collaborative story. Yes, even before this.
4. Graduate. This one is fairly terrifying, but it looks like it'll happen. Eeek!

Well, that's about all I can think of right now. Do you have any new year's resolutions? Do any of them involve listening to as many live MG shows as is possible?

Oh! 5. Finish The List. I actually haven't worked on it for a few days or a week. I hope to finish it.

Happy New Year!