Selected Poems
Chicken Scratch Christmas
Can't read the yellow post-it note
she left on the middle ice box door.
There is no need for a shopping list
we know what to buy at the store.
It's another chicken scratch Christmas.
Decorate the middle finger cactus with
half-shucked husks, sunflower umbrellas
and chili red pepper and shamrock lights.
Guests all arrive after sun down. The band
will sit circle, near the open picture window.
Then the button accordion and trumpet exhale
we'll two-step on the porch, by living room light.
Santa's on the roof with the snow blower and box of soap flakes.
Elvis sings White Christmas and our yard is open-sleigh white.
One horse knows, here it never snows, but if only in our dreams.
she left on the middle ice box door.
There is no need for a shopping list
we know what to buy at the store.
It's another chicken scratch Christmas.
Decorate the middle finger cactus with
half-shucked husks, sunflower umbrellas
and chili red pepper and shamrock lights.
Guests all arrive after sun down. The band
will sit circle, near the open picture window.
Then the button accordion and trumpet exhale
we'll two-step on the porch, by living room light.
Santa's on the roof with the snow blower and box of soap flakes.
Elvis sings White Christmas and our yard is open-sleigh white.
One horse knows, here it never snows, but if only in our dreams.
