"best of" poem of the day 12.18.15

santa claus is coming

santa claus is coming to town

only not for a few more weeks

but you wouldn’t know it

by the looks of this house that i pass

on my way home from work every night

it has more lights on it than a detroit freeway

there’s this fiberglass latticed santa

with a gift in one hand, waving with the other

while a reindeer of the same ilk

bends slowly, eating fake hay off a dogshit lawn

the place is truly an abomination of the spirit

but i think its worst offense

is the large loud green and red music box on the porch

it plays christmas music in that tinker-box tinny way

that makes the songs all the more tedious and annoying

you can hear the music half-way down the block

in both directions

the whole scene is enough to make you realize

that they put drug addicts and alcoholics in rehabs

tax evaders and government whistle-blowers in jails

but they let sick fucks like these sick fucks

sit in front of their television set

watching christmas film after christmas film

stuffing their faces with hot chocolate, candy canes

and their own good cheer

wishing every other face on the street

a merry christmas

NOT

a happy holiday

while holding a neighborhood captive

day after day and night after night

for twenty-some days a month

until santa finally sails his fat ass back to the north pole

and the regular avarice can begin again

it shakes a man’s faith in decency

to see a display such as this

i don’t even live in the neighborhood

but my heart goes out to the sad, blackened homes

that surround this monstrosity

that can never get a break

from this joyful and triumphant misery

i wish that i could do something for these people

to spread a little cheer

maybe decapitate the santa or topple the reindeer

string a couple of elves up in a noose

of multi-colored, twinkling lights

take a rusty mallet to that music box

and swing away like henry fucking aaron

until this beast of burden

smashes into a thousand green and red pieces

shout ho ho ho on the lawn, like a crazed killer

scaring some sense into that family of yuletide terrorists

until they call the cops to come take me away

finally giving everyone a silent night

peace on earth for sure.

                                                            12.04.13