A Lousy, Christmas Sestina

[dcmarti1]

A lousy christmas sestina without ghostly visitants or redemption

Discarding the creche was easier

than switching to silver and blue.

A fake, white tree is just as amenable

to silver and blue as it is

to green and red, or, for that matter,

as it is to purple and gold.

He sits at his desk with his gold

coins: the yearly Mint sets are easier

to collect, as there is less matter

to read and study – a strain on his blue

and aging eyes. Life is what it is.

No tree will make it more amenable.

The silence, though, is amenable,

so too the leather folio of gold

coins, embossed with the year that is

2016. This makes it easier

to file with the others, while the blue

lights blink, thinking that they matter.

Far more than the lights is the matter

of his life: a more than amenable

permanent vacation in the blue

eyed, blond haired, futures market in gold

contracts trading class where it's easier

to dream what isn't than ignore what is.

Our deskbound numismatist shuns what IS:

hunger, thirst, exposure, sickness. What matter

are they to him when it is much easier

to ignore them and be amenable

to those who make the law, who own the gold?

His hair will still be blond, his eyes still blue.

Yes, switching to the silver and blue

with a fake, white tree certainly is

a gift worthy of the Infant! Not! Gold,

frankincense, and myrrh: such solid matter

was not asked for by the amenable

Babe; just that Love be made easier.

No easier, more amenable matter

than Love: shunned by blue eyes whose God is gold.

[badger11]

Nicely done Marti. The form is apt for that sense of being locked within a mindset.

[Benjamin]

One of the most difficult and restrictive of forms: however, your subtle choice for the rolling end line words and coherent enjambments are highly readable and anything but lousy. An admirable sestina indeed. G.

[dcmarti1]

Thank you, and Merry Christmas.

 

Nicely done Marti. The form is apt for that sense of being locked within a mindset.

[dcmarti1]

Thank you, and Merry Christmas.

 

One of the most difficult and restrictive of forms: however, your subtle choice for the rolling end line words and coherent enjambments are highly readable and anything but lousy. An admirable sestina indeed. G.

[dr_con]

Enjoyed the illustration of a miser. Nice work, finely wrought.

 

Season's greetings to you!

 

Juris

[dcmarti1]

You, too, as well. And thank you.

 

Enjoyed the illustration of a miser. Nice work, finely wrought.

 

Season's greetings to you!

 

Juris

[David W. Parsley]

Hi dc, getting my greetings out later than usual. Yours has the tart smart of the unpenitent version of Scrooge. Some never move beyond it. Thanks for the haunting vision.

 

Best Regards,

- Dave

[dcmarti1]

It's amazing how much Dickens still influences this holiday. Oh, and thank you!

 

Happy New Year!