Another Christmas poem

Holiday Season       

                 

I’ve heard the legends 
   celebrated in Hallmark Channel movies

Family friction melts away
   amid aromas of roast turkey
   and pumpkin pie

Norman Rockwell painted the scene
    so it must be true

But the words of a renowned Russian
    tell the story I know:
    Happy families are all alike,
    each screwed up family
    is screwed up in its own way.
 

For family love is a turbulent thing
    whatever the season
    more mangling than mingling
    more like a kaleidoscope
    with emphasis on the collide

Or…in those rare better times...
     a stained-glass window with mismatched pieces
     through which a few pastel rays
     still stream in

Curriculum Vitae

I am a dreamer
 in a land of doers

Scribbling’s my idea
 of a good day’s work

My vita is a list
 of the books I’ve read

My references are authors
  I’m proud to call friends

I dance to The Nutcracker
  when no one is watching

And sing Vissi d’arte
   to grandmom’s old Victrola

I’m la femme des longues patiences    
    slowly emerging from her shell

La femme gelée
    still trying to thaw

Writing to prisoners  
    and visualizing world peace

But most days you’ll find me in a cafe
     on the Place Monge

Still hiding from my parents’ nocturnal battles
     and watching the passers-by