Thanksgiving 2022

The roast beast is resting quietly

crisp green beans melt with garlic

pork stuffing broods slowly

onions and celery seethe

edging ever so closely

to battered mashed potatoes

salad slides

rolls are slashed

candied yams recoil

cranberries drift

memories of corn stalks melt

talking faces flutter

in the hazy late afternoon

wining away a Petite Sirah sloshing

violently at the edge of your mouth

you don’t notice

you never do

pass the patience

load up on guilt

taking your personal trip

as you gaze hollowly at the view

gnarled Frazier firs

swaying bending undulant

and for a brief moment

your eyes hit the sunlight

and then nothing

as you stare into the mac and cheese

melting

as you fade into the haze

noshing chewing

pistons pummeled

mumbling your guilty lies

despised shunned

sitting on the last step

laughing

as you shred the last drumstick

and fling it into the forest

dark and deep

lots of miles to go

until you finally sleep

catatonic

final waves

so we wait and suffer

you

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Mark writes poetry and fiction. He holds a BA in English from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and a BS and MBA. He began writing in grade school and has contributed a number of poems to literary journals over the years and has been published sporadically. He is a lifelong resident of the Chicago area and currently lives in a northern suburb near the shore of Lake Michigan and in Naples, Florida. His current work will be appearing in: Calliope, Former People Journal, Sincerely Magazine, Mignolo Arts, Blue Lake Review, Naugatuck River Review, East on Central, Grey Sparrow Journal, Griffel, Wood Cat Review and The Rockvale Review.

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