It's a prance not a 

gallop and a joyful shout

not a growl or groan 

They never wanted 

the Christlike, preferring Cain

and his bloody hands 

Another year fades

and new dates arrive bringing

the unexpected 

The fog rolls in to

remind us nature always

has the upper hand 

 

The doors are locked and

the windows barred but inside 

a light glows warmly 

Torn and discarded 

wrapping and mangled ribbon

are all that remain 

Capote's Christmas 

Memory always chokes me

up with its beauty 

Pagan rituals 

for the gods have become a 

paean to profits

Give the world AI 

hallucinations and a

few more emojis 

The fake tree has been 

dragged out, set up, and adorned 

for its yearly chore

Words sent into the 

ether like grains of sand blown

across a vast beach 

 I woke thinking of

a friend with a breathtaking 

smile, dead so long now

 Even the haikus 

have been commercialized (this 

is a sponsored post)

Everyone loves a 

simile like a surprise 

gift on Christmas morn 

Blindly grope looking

for the lost path you were meant

to take long ago 

Through the shrouding fog

a doe stood motionless til

startled as I passed 

Mass hysteria 

for fun and profit is the 

newest gameshow hit 

 Wake up at four, the 

starkest hour, take stock and 

find time's been squandered 

The word I want is

just out of reach, so close, but

I've run out of space 

The sunset comes too 

fast again forgetting that

we wither without 

The rivers flood and

the forests burn, but somehow

they have never met 

Arms and legs pumping

furiously to outrun 

the fixed finish line 

Slate skies darken the

interior of both the 

room and my dazed mind 

The holiday lights 

keep darkness at bay and fend

off the cold doldrums 

Spotty memories 

of late nights and brutal dawns 

that swept time away 

The water swirls down

the drain along with any

sense of certainty 

Let the oligarchs 

quiver on their sacks of gold

as flames build from sparks  

As the sun rises 

the stars fade back to reveal 

a fiery dawn sky 

Snow devils dance and 

sing a wicked winded tune 

like shattering ice 

Digging for treasure

but halfway down you will find

you have dug a grave

Grackles for robins 

and snow for sunflowers til

Earth goes round again