Best Thanksgiving Day Poems
Alas, hordes of ravenous relatives from very far and even near,
Won't be celebratin' at dear old Grandma's bountiful board this year,
Since the corona virus pandemic has spread an ominous cloud of doom.
But hold on! Perhaps you can celebrate via the miracle of Zoom!
You can enjoy from afar your green bean casserole and punkin pie,
Not havin' to tolerate obnoxioius Uncle Clyde sloppin' gravy on his tie!
Clickin' a button will mute Grandpa's interminable prayer of grace,
And spinster Aunt Alice's spewin' inane babble at a furious pace!
The mute button will silence any brawls about politics and religion,
And silence cousin Cletus crowin' about his thrivin' stocks a smidgen!
It won't be the same savorin' pleasant aromas from Grandma's kitchen,
But won't the mute come in handy to silence all the bickerin' and bit..... in'!
(The censors at Soup scrubbed the last word in the last line but I think you get the point!!!)
This is a terrible time of year for Turkeys
How many innocent lives are going to be lost?
All their friends and relations are in for the chop
No turkey is spared; their fate is sealed
Killed and then cooked in kitchens all over the US
So people can enjoy a traditional festive feast
Go vegetarian or vegan and spare these poor birds-
I understand nut roast is a very tasty alternative
Voting turkeys would ban thanksgiving if they could
I imagine they must dread this time of year!
Now, let me be serious… I hope you all have a wonderful time
Get together with family and friends and celebrate your special day
11-22-17
The horn of plenty
on my grandparents’ table
as we sat feasting . . .
the thought of being apart
never entering our minds
though the years have fled
from my cornucopia . . .
new fruits spilling out
My cup is overflowing and
I brim with happiness because
of every blessing that I have
and every one that ever was!
Nov. 15, 2017 for the Cornucopia Contest of Kim Rodrigues
An oddly-shaped Thanksgiving bird:
quirky
turkey
What we call Grandma's mashed potatoes:
dreamy
creamy
How she adds volume to the main side dish:
fluffing
stuffing
What I always do first:
eat Gram's
sweet yams
Grandpa always slices the Thanksgiving turkey:
Harvest
carvist
Dad always brings a former Monkee's recipe:
Davey's
gravies
Aunt Natasha brings her vegan side dish:
Tash's
squashes
...as does cousin Reginald:
Reggie's
veggies
health-conscious Uncle Theodore is happy:
Ted eats
red beets
Cousin Jeannie brings her specialty:
teen Jean's
green beans
rustic Vern brings gourds from his farm:
bumpkin's
pumpkins
Great Aunt Esther sings an ode to the delicious greens:
salad
ballad
we all love her aesthetically arranged grains:
wild rice
styled nice
Brother Andrew provides chocolates for dessert:
Andy's
candies
Mom is always the last to finish eating:
savors
flavors
What I have after eating too much:
gummi
tummy
Written 20 November 2022
I had a friend with a unique way of looking at the world
(although I once thought she was misled)
because when the rest of us said ‘Happy Thanksgiving’
‘Happy Thanks-given’ is what she said.
It is a day we come together
and give thanks for all the ways we have been blessed
for our health
our happiness
our friends
our family
all the treasures we possess…
For years we’ve come together
we’ve flown
we’ve taken trains
we’ve driven…
to celebrate not only this Thanksgiving
but years of thanks already given…
So as you sit down for your feast this year
as you’ve done so may times before…
to give thanks for this years blessings
remember all the years you’re thankful for….
Remember all the thank yous
over the years you have amassed…
and how our thank yous of today and tomorrow
are linked to thank yous of the past.
I guess my friend was right all along
so allow me….If I may
to wish you not only a Happy Thanksgiving
but a Happy Thanks-given day.
Today, dear Lord, we gather here
In fellowship and love,
Mindful of the wondrous gifts
That come from thee, above.
For this feast, we thank thee, Lord
For health, that here abounds;
The love, that fills and warms our hearts-
For children’s happy sounds.
For shelter in our cozy homes
For freedom of this land;
The right to live the life we choose-
For nature’s bounty, grand.
These blessings you bestow on us
Outshine all want and strife.
We thank thee, Lord for this day,
We thank thee, Lord, for life.
Time to foster your relations
With thanksgiving celebrations.
With family reminisce past,
All our love now remembering
Come together watch our hearts sing.
Nothing earthly will ever last,
Time to foster your relations
With thanksgiving celebrations.
If stumbling stones stand in your way
Remove them this Thanksgiving Day.
With family reminisce past,
Nothing earthly will ever last.
Time to foster your relations
With thanksgiving celebrations.
10.06.2014
Sonnetina Rispetto
Today it is Thanksgiving Day
For all dead turkey’s I do pray
That you had a good life
Now you’re carved with a knife
Served on a plate as the entrée
Have a great Thanksgiving folks!
26th November 2015
Around the grown up table bowed in prayer
Familiar faces etched upon my mind
Back then, I never thought the love we shared
Would be so rare, to be one of a kind
How blessed we were in fam'ly fellowship
When kids would play outside 'til called to eat
We held our backyard football championship
While moms and aunts swapped recipes for sweets
And then we'd form a circle holding hands
Each one would say what they were thankful for
As faces disappear I understand
The love we shared will last forevermore
Thanksgiving Day we'll gather once again
I'll say I'm thankful for my time with them
In late November every year
there is a time we celebrate.
These days of bounty we revere;
with family and friends relate.
There is a time we celebrate
with joyous feasts of food and drink.
Near end of Autumn, there's a date
that we address to make us think.
These days of bounty we revere;
the fire aglow, sweet scent of food.
With family, we gather near
for prayers of thanks and joyful mood.
With family and friends relate
our joys of honoring this day.
The same next year, we will await
Thanksgiving Day again, we pray.
Sandra M. Haight
~4th Place~
Contest: Shall We Retourne
Sponsor: Debbie Guzzi
Form: French Retourne
Judged: 11/21/2015
Form: French Retourne
Four Quatrains, 8 syllables per line. The second line of the first stanza becomes the first line of the second stanza. The third line of the first stanza becomes the first line of the third stanza and the fourth line of the first stanza becomes the first line of the fourth stanza.
Soon the leaves will begin to leave their homes,
like floating portraits from the autumn sky.
Lovely random colors the wind has blown,
piles of art at the artist's feet doth lie.
The warmth of Summer's kiss soon fades away,
the chilling embrace of Fall takes it's place.
The long enjoyed hours of the sunny days,
are now shorter time for our clocks to face.
Smell of pumpkin spice fills the autumn air,
and memories of home entice the mind.
Thanksgiving a time that family share,
the bounty that God has given so kind.
As we gather with loved ones on this day,
find a sweet memory to take away.
10/14/18
Fall
will start
It is near
Is in the air
Now
Say
Good-bye
To summer
Hot weather is
Gone
Air
Crispy
Starts to cool
No more burning
Sun
Birds
Migrate
Butterfly
Will return next
Year
Trees
Change garb
Leaves transform
From golden to
Brown
Day
To thank
God for all
Thanksgiving Day
Is
Good
Food on table
Family
Gods blessings for
All
Pies
Turkey
Cranberry sauce
Apple cider
Sweet
Fall
Season
Of wonder
Enjoy rich change
Smile
Praise
Thank God
Fall is great
Serenity
Brings
Mild
Weather
Azure sky
Togetherness
Nice
Fall
Brings calm
And repose
After summers
Storms.
Dorian Petersen Potter
Aka ladydp2000
Copyright@2014
10.11.14
T aking a revered bow, I convey my Gratitude
H IS grandeur, blessed are we together or in solitude
A ll days HE is omnipresent, bestowing Bliss
N ailing the sinners, hailing pious with peace
K eeping the equilibrium between Good and Evil
S ilently guiding Soul to see HIM piercing ignorance's veil
G oing rarely berserk with Natural Calamity
I ndicating HIS Orders are breached with impunity
V ery benevolently sharing HIS treasure
I n joy and sorrow always there to share
N ever ignoring prayers when need arises
G ranting wish when spiritually one rises
D evotion to HIM, Soul liberates for all times
A theist gets trapped in Life-Death cycle for crimes
Y elp one may, HIS way remain same for ALL, at ALL times
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poem Featured on November 7, 2010
( Entry for Members Contest - Thanksgiving Day by Danne Ann Smith-Johnsen)
Every November, Harlem hums
coquito chilling, collards cooking,
a holiday approaching
that never sat right with me.
Before the parades, the plates,
my mind slips past the pretty lies
we paint over pain
and calls it “Thanksgiving.”
I think about Columbus
the way they crown him a hero
when really
he sparked the unraveling
of my whole bloodline.
Taino shores stained red.
Africans dragged into ships.
A continent bent under the weight of his footsteps.
And every year,
I whisper the same wish:
“If only I could turn back time…”
That’s when the sand rises
lifting out the sidewalk cracks,
spinning into an hourglass storm.
Suddenly I’m in 1492,
staring at the moment
everything went left.
Columbus stands on his deck,
smug, boots tapping out the rhythm
of centuries of sorrow.
And my whole soul wants to stop him
one push,
one word,
one shift in the timeline.
But the sand flickers
and replaces him with worse.
A conqueror history hid
because his cruelty
couldn’t fit on clean white pages.
He doesn’t want gold.
He wants erasure.
The sand darkens.
Across the ocean, Africans fade
not freed,
just gone,
executed on their own soil
before they could ever become ancestors.
The Caribbean I know
Bomba drums,
Taino caves,
abuela’s laughter in Loíza
collapses into dust
so fast I begin fading with it.
I reach for Harlem
its stoops,
its music,
its cultures braided like my own DNA
but my hand slips through the city
as if I’m a ghost
in a world that never had a reason
to make me.
If I change the past,
I erase myself.
I erase my people.
The sand spins like it’s teaching me
with every grain.
Then suddenly
a softer shimmer.
The scene resets.
Columbus steps off the boat humble,
listening.
The Taino greet him without fear,
teaching him how to walk the land
without breaking it.
Years later, Africans arrive
not in chains,
but in hope.
By choice.
Bringing rhythm, language, strength,
building a true America
with the Taino
side by side.
The hourglass rights itself.
Harlem returns
alive, loud, imperfect,
but real.
And I breathe.
I can’t change the past.
But I’m the proof
that my ancestors made it through
anyway.
The table's bounty is piled high
Family's poised to dig in and try
Mama's turkey, special stuffing
And sweet potato pumpkin pie
When a knock at the door freezes us all
Who can it be who's come to call
The wind is howling; let him in fast
There's room for one more at our repast
He enters shivering and shaking
His bony frame twitching and quaking
He opens his mouth as if to speak
Then collapses to the floor in a heap...
The ambulance summoned, we wait aghast
Silent and anxious, when at last
The ambulance arrives, but it's well past too late
The poor fellow's soul has fled to its fate
The Thanksgiving meal sits now uneaten
As our tears reflect the depth of man's plight
These sad tidings fortune cannot sweeten
~ Death has extinguished a light