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 © | Year Posted 2018

Poem

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Kiser Avatar
December 2, 2018 at 8:41 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.
Krutsinger Avatar
December 2, 2018 at 9:55 PM
I am always writing them into a poem, silently, grinning a diabolical grin that they think they understand.
Mcferran Avatar
November 28, 2018 at 6:31 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!
Mcferran Avatar
November 29, 2018 at 12:56 PM
Hahahaha! Yes- you change the name so EVERYONE else won't recognize her! ;D
Krutsinger Avatar
November 28, 2018 at 11:08 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.
Cunningham Avatar
November 28, 2018 at 12:17 PM
Nice one Caren, you do have a fan. Tom.
Krutsinger Avatar
November 28, 2018 at 2:16 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.
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