December

The last few weeks have been hectic, in good ways, bad ways, all the ways. I really want to create a thoughtful essay, and I have a long list waiting in the wings that I hope to tackle in the next few weeks. But since it is the season of giving, I will give you another poem. It is from my collection, Catching Dusk With Our Teeth, available for pre-order here. It is also currently available in Kindle format if you don’t want to wait.

“Hola” she replies, in a

half-whisper and half-interested

a word she has spoken from her porch

more days than she cares to admit.

Her age on display in wrinkles-

deep and tan,

but soft, not leathery;

a face that has watched mornings arrive here from her stoop

for decades

but because its December and close to Christmas, she follows with

“Feliz Navidad,”

still only in a half-whisper still only half-interested, from her chair,

her version of festive.