Friday, December 24, 2010

LOVE POEM WITH CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

For Christmas Eve Poetry Friday, I thought I'd share a video. Check it out! Then head on over to A Year of Reading for roundup!



and here it is in print:

Love Poem with Christmas Lights
That first Christmas without
your mother, I watched you unpack

a box marked Decorations.
First you unfurled the crumpled garland,

straightened the plaid ribbon
and worked to reshape the swag

into something resembling evergreen.
Then you set about repairing

the broken hooks on plastic ornaments,
broken plastic attached to intact hooks.

And when the Christmas lights failed
to blink, even after you removed

the busted bulbs and twisted
new ones in their place, you shook

your head and said, I can’t fix this.
Then you gently placed the lights

back inside the box, gathered wrench
and ratchet, began to build our son a bike.

- Irene Latham

from THE COLOR OF LOST ROOMS

4 comments:

  1. This one is sad and hopeful at the same time. It is the first Christmas for me with my son away. He is in the Air Force and doesn't have leave to come home this year. I am missing him terribly!! I am glad you have a hopeful note at the end of your poem. Thanks!

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  2. Love the poem! Thank you for sharing in print and in video!

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  3. And I forgot to write the first time -- Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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  4. Lovely poem, Irene. I can see it in my imagination as you read it, which makes it perfect. Thanks so much for reading it for us!

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