Autumn Night Window by Lady
Christmas
(after we all get time machines)
Time machines, when they finally get invented, will be a real disappointment.
Turns out, you can’t go backward
— no trips to see Lincoln or the first Christmas
Only forward.
Soon they will be novelty items in the Sharper Image catalog,
then Spencer gifts
then K-mart
On sale this week only
(batteries not included)
Hiding Christmas gifts became a snap:
No worry of junior sniffing out the hiding places.
Wrap it,
put it where the tree will be and
/zap/
to December 24, 11:59 pm.
Cleaning up Christmas decorations will be easy.
No need for a storage closet for sleds and lights and holiday socks
the paperweights with Frosty and Rudolph
aim your time-zapper, and
/zap/
/zap/
/zap/
they’re gone,
back next December
reuse your wrapping paper,
/zap/
Day after Christmas
/zap/
your tree is already decorated next year.
the hand-blown crystal creche
/zap/
(Don’t move the furniture!
That table had better be in the same place next year!)
Snow? Why shovel?
/zap/
the kids will love it in August,
Christmas gypsies
/zap/ themselves
to Christmas season, when there’s always work in retail.
Christmas over, Christmas layoffs,
/zap/
and they’re gone
And Christmas is nothing without the family
Grandma and Grampa, getting along in years,
won’t be here too many more Christmasses
but
/zap/
Besides, once a year
it’s sure cheaper than a home.
And some of us,
weary of cheerless cheer
tired of malls
sick of Christmas lyrics ringing in our ears
will,
at last,
escape.
/zap/
~ Geoffrey A. Landis
December 22, 2011
Click of contracting metal
as heat fades
cat asleep on tabletop blanket
to my left
wife asleep too early
few feet in front
sweet, perky
good looking woman
stretched easy on couch
too much much inside her head
me awake in chair aware
I know naught of either
or any other
or me
yet suspect
she got more flavors
than I got neighbors
a whole hood inside her house
where I but roustabout without
standing, steadfast
stout
safe harbor
depth determined
no matter ice
of winter solstice
this longest night of year
~ Steven B. Smith
Solstice Night
Dusk descends muting the light of day
Autumn waves her languid arms
Settling a twilight blanket of snow on the rolling hills
Whispering her farewell
Snowflakes fall tatting a layer of delicate lace
Atop the whitening landscape
Hushed evening, stillness won
Clouds drift
Shadow dancing on the darkened sky
Revealing the Mona Lisa moon
The shifting haze enlists moon and earth
To engage in hide and seek
Playful moonbeams awaken the billowing hillside
Flakes sparkle geometrically
Here then there
Sporadic glimmer,
Stars glisten a response
Answering their now earthen sisters call
Dispersing spirit’s message
Snowflake twinkles to the south
Northern star sparks a return
Orion releases his bow
Igniting a quick gleam below
Ursa major sparkles
Coldscape east then west glint in reply
Heaven and earth speaking in crystalized Morse code
On this the longest night
They sing a prism verse
Without voice
Converting light to faith
Solstice speaks
Through the silence of the night’s dream
~ S. Renay Sanders ©