The first year I won the Slush Mush contest
I was shocked as my grandfather read a long, official letter
to everyone else around the Christmas tree
about how my entry into the Slush Mush Breakfast Cereal contest
had been the best one received that year.
I didn’t remember entering.
In fact, I was sure I had not.
Yet I won a puzzle.
Another year my brother won.
Or my mother. Or my cousin.
And each Christmas morning, my grandfather read
the long official letter
which always ended “Eat more Slush Mush.”
It was many years before I understood
how the contest worked.
And for the last twenty years
since he’s been gone,
I carry on, buying puzzles, writing letters,
appointing unsuspecting winners.
Part of me thrills in this annual ruse
because it reminds me of him.
Part of me thrills in remembering
how strange and wonderful it felt
to be chosen not because of how hard
I had tried, but because I was part
of a circle of love. It’s a malnourished world,
he would write every year. Thank you, Papa,
for the Slush Mush.
Posts Tagged ‘Christmas’
Eat More Slush Mush
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged breakfast, Christmas, family, play, slush mush, tradition on December 25, 2020| 1 Comment »
Ode to Lighting the Candle
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged advent, candle, Christmas, flame, ode on December 14, 2020| 6 Comments »
Tonight when we light
the third candle,
the candle of joy,
I remember
I am a girl
sitting beside
an evergreen wreath,
giddy with advent,
and I breathe in the scent
of spruce and wax
and fall in love
with the growing
of the light—
how each week
the tapers burn brighter—
and such a surprise
to find I am also
in love with the unlit candle,
in love with the wait,
in love with the part
of me that even
in darkness
knows itself
as flame.
Taking Down the Tree
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Christmas, emptiness, poem, poetry on January 3, 2020| Leave a Comment »
the room so bare
where just hours ago
there was light—
remembering now
how to celebrate emptiness
Into Your Stocking
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Christmas, color, gift, poem, poetry on December 25, 2019| 6 Comments »
I slipped some magic markers
for coloring the world—
the leaves, the river, the moon.
You can write messages
in the sky and the wind
will blow them where
they need to go.
You can color thoughts—
give them stripes or polka dots.
You can change the hue
of a mood with a few broad strokes.
There’s one that will make you
invisible. Some markers I
don’t know what they do.
One is the color of laughter.
Another the color of forgiveness.
Don’t be surprised if other people
can’t see them. Don’t be
surprised when they graffiti
the walls around your heart.
Don’t be surprised when
you start to think in color—
when you start to believe
every idea, every word,
every dream can change
the shade of the world.
I’m Thinking of an Ornament
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Christmas, mom, mother, parenting, poem, poetry, questions on December 16, 2019| 2 Comments »
The rules are simple. One person chooses
an ornament on the tree. The others ask
yes/no questions until they guess it correctly.
It was my mother who taught me.
I taught my own children. It’s a ritual
as important as the tree itself. Is it red?
Is it round? Is it cloth? Handmade?
So many questions we never can answer.
So many questions elude yes or no. But here,
in the soft glow of Christmas tree lights,
we share moments when every question
leads us closer to a treasure, where
the moments are treasures themselves.
One Return of Friendship
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Christmas, death, friendship, tree on December 15, 2019| Leave a Comment »
First Lie
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Christmas, lie, magic, parenting, poem, poetry, Santa on April 26, 2019| 4 Comments »
inside the lie
was a beautiful truth
that grew a white beard
and a giant belly
and though it preferred
to go barefoot
it stepped into shiny black boots
and moved north—
so far north that no one
could find it—
and buried itself
in snow and surrounded
itself with elves and candy
and increasingly elaborate stories,
stories so lovely that for a while
the lie began to believe itself,
until one day
a girl walked right up to it
and said to it,
Tell me the truth
and the snow melted
and the beard fell out
and the elves turned back
into evergreen trees
and the boots did their best
to erase their tracks,
and the truth stood there
naked and said,
There is so much joy
in giving,
and the girl cried
and cried,
longing for the lie.
I just want there to be real magic,
she said.
And the truth
held out its
beautiful hand
and said,
This, too, is magic.
It was years
before the girl
could listen.
One Curiosity
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged cat, Christmas, curiosity, poem, poetry on January 6, 2019| Leave a Comment »
One Persistence
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged belief, Christmas, poem, poetry, Santa on December 26, 2018| Leave a Comment »
One Wrapping the Gifts
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Christmas, gift, love, poem, poetry on December 25, 2018| Leave a Comment »