for Eve

Even though I know that this day, New Year’s Eve, is
just like the others, I can’t help but hope with shaky conviction
(everyone does) that this year will be different.
I look different: evening gown to the floor
for a much classier affair than last year,
evergreen folds of velvet swaddling the curves
of an ever-aging body. Even so
some things never change—
the straightened hair, the mascara, the everlasting
fear that no matter how many resolutions we make nothing ever
changes. Eat an apple a day, look good naked, keep him coming back for more