New Years again

Today is Balinese New Year
5th New Year in recent months
for me. A few more inches of hair,
some freckles, what must soon be
called a scar from nighttime
fight with closet door.
It takes a lot to
remove freckles.

In Bali it is customary
to observe the New Year
in Seclusion.
Other religions stay
indoors in respect. A man
from Eritrea once told me
the goats they would share
on Muslim feast days, a man
from an old Christian sect
who ate to keep talking.

He gave me coffee his
mother had picked from
before they fled.
Eating keeps us talking.