Caren Krutsinger | + Follow Poet |
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Christmas With Relatives

My happy Aunt Petootie
comes clomping over.
Your mother says you write poetry now.
Her eyebrows are angry.

Uh-huh. I admit.
She is in full glare mode now.
Why? 
Because I like it?

Diabolical laugh.
Hey, Glitzy, get over here!
Guess what Miss Funny-Duddy just said?

I inch out of their circle of hilarity,
wondering why I had allowed
my mother to talk me
into staying an 
extra five minutes.
Here in the deep heart
of all this Christmas
love and cheer?

Poetry huh?
It is Uncle Malc-wood.
Aunt Petootie's husband.
I know I am not supposed to like him.
He is an out-law, after all, married in.

I glance down at my hands, barely nod.
My trust window is rapidly closing.
I wish I was an alligator being eaten by a cheetah.

My windows are boarding themselves
up, I am ready to go!
A gentle touch on my roof brings 
my house-eyes-self upwards.
Uncle Malc-wood says, "Good for you!"

I guess I could stay another ten minutes.
My TV shows are already recorded after all.

Copyright © Caren Krutsinger | Year Posted 2018

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M. L. Kiser Date: 12/2/2018 8:41:00 PM Every family has them. I go inside of my own head and pretend to hear what they say; in my head, I'm painting, creating a poem or snowballing their house. Login to Reply Caren Krutsinger Date: 12/2/2018 9:55:00 PM I am always writing them into a poem, silently, grinning a diabolical grin that they think they understand.

Rhona Mcferran Date: 11/28/2018 6:31:00 PM You had me at "Aunt Petootie"! ;D Hahahahaha! Seriously, I think we must be related... as this sounds just like my family!! Perfectly penned, as always! Login to Reply Rhona Mcferran Date: 11/29/2018 12:56:00 PM Hahahaha! Yes- you change the name so EVERYONE else won't recognize her! ;D Caren Krutsinger Date: 11/28/2018 11:08:00 PM We probably both know her. I changed the name, but I knew she would not recognize herself even if I had used her real name.

Tom Cunningham Date: 11/28/2018 12:17:00 PM Nice one Caren, you do have a fan. Tom. Login to Reply Caren Krutsinger Date: 11/28/2018 2:16:00 PM Thank you Tom. I come from a long unhappy line of Critics, and I manage to stay away from most of them for decades at a time. In their defense, they are not half as hard on others as they are on themselves.