My New Year’s Resolutions

Every day caress my cat.
Brush him to a golden sheen.
Surf the Net and tour the world
Here on my computer screen.
See that every single meal
Features cookies, pie, or cake.
Resolutions on this list
Surely I will never break.

“My New Year’s Resolutions” first appeared in The New York Times Metropolitan Diary.

The Guest Selects Her Own Indulgences

with apologies to Emily Dickinson

The guest selects her own indulgences,
Then fills a plate
With sweets whose sheer deliciousness
Brooks no debate.

Unmoved, she notes the carrots waiting,
Then turns away,
Unmoved, until her eyes alight on
The pastry tray.

I’ve known her from an ample table,
Choose four,
Then set the force of her attention
On more.

“The Guest Selects Her Own Indulgences” first appeared in The Emily Dickinson International Society Bulletin.

Felicia Nimue Ackerman is a professor of philosophy at Brown University and has had over 280 poems published in a wide range of places, including twenty in past issues of Sparks of Calliope.