Happy Thanksgiving!

Raindrops dripping down
From tree branches to puddles
-rings ripple outward.

Copyright 2008

Aunt Kristen
By Edward S. Gault

According to the family lore,
Aunt Kristen (six years my senior) announced
At the Thanksgiving table
That she didn’t like raisins.
I immediately stated that I too
Hated raisins.
Now Aunt Kristen did like raisins-
She simply wasn’t in the mood
For them at that time.
Up to that time,
I had liked raisins quite a bit.
But being the impressionable young lad
I then was, her statement
And my reiteration of it
Must have taken hold in my mind
Even at the neurological level.
From that time onward
I have never enjoyed raisins.
All these years later,
As the bills come each month
And pile up the way they do-
Far outstripping my ability
To pay any of them-
I wonder why Aunt Kristen
Could not simply have announced
At the Thanksgiving table
That she was going to be a millionaire
By the age of twenty.

Copyright©2008

Holiday Food
By Edward S. Gault

Holiday leftovers are a tricky business
I can never get away
With raiding the fridge at night.
So I have to wait
For all the others to leave
Before I can begin
To rustle in the fridge
To get at the Turkey.
Here is the tricky part-
How to eat just enough
So that nobody knows
That anything was ever taken out.
When supper is being prepared,
There is just enough.
Factor in that everyone in the house
Is going to be doing this
-Picking, then leaving just enough.
We had all done such a superb job of this
That when my wife pulled out the container a week later
It was still three quarters full.
The question was:
Could we still eat it?
It didn’t seem too bad-
But as I was retching over the sink
I began to pine for a coffin.

Copyright©2007