Santa Has Tattoos Now

My husband, Pete, filling the tree with lights

Is this sight
a skimmed surface
mirage, this dump
of contents mimicking
post hurricane havoc
on my living room floor?

The fleck
of yellows, reds
blues and greens
on wiry ends
a secret code held within
letters A through K
as one by one
the children sort,
form piles
of likened sizes,
branches big and small
(no surprises, I hope
after a year in the garage).

The kids now old enough
to load the broom
handle base, fill the holes
as limb by limb
an assemblage begins.

Pine needles
sway, leave
remnants in a heap
of green beneath the tree,
a winding of white lights
(still your job)
until you’ve had
enough.

I prepare the ornaments
for their display, open
boxes marked as fragile~
a scent of cinnamon
lingers, nips the air
with sentimental nostalgia
after all this time…

and Santa has tattoos now,
it’s the thought that counts.

*
Prompt inspirations-
dVerse Poetics: Preparation is the Key w/ Mary
The Sunday Whirl 84- still, scent, sight, fell, fleck, sway,
load, heap, skimmed, held, end, fill

*
Yes, we’ve been putting up the Christmas tree… and Santa with tattoos has double meaning, one being that in a movie we saw yesterday, Rise of the Guardians, Santa had tattoos of “naughty” and “nice” on his arms.

About these ads