BOXING DAY/KWANZA |
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Photograph by Bob Gentry 8/5/99
A Thought for Today
A gift accepted has no strings.
Happy Boxing Day for our Commonwealth friends
and a beautiful and renewing Kwanza (Best new holiday idea of the century) for African
Americans everywhere.
Today and for the next few days I’m taking time away from the Flight Plan to work on
my next book (actually two books) so I’ll make this short and sweet. Besides
it’s my beloved old friend and only literary represenatives’ birthday & I
owe her that. She thinks, as do I, that it’s about time I got on with it.
In the days and months ahead when you see a message here that says, “Rod has the day
off,” know I’m working on, revising, re-revising or thinking about “The
Books.” And, remember, the thousands of you that have been writing and e-mailing in
have nearly all been asking, “When? Stay tuned.
If you’re returning gifts or plodding through an After Christmas Sale or two today, I
hope the lines are short. Sleep warm and after yesterday if you’re thinking of
dieting, know you are not alone.
- RM 12/26/99 Previously unpublished. |
CHRISTMAS WITH THE MASSES
-The 1961 Christmas Card |
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I spent Christmas with a cinder in
my eye,
watching a priest eat a hot dog on Sixth
Avenue
between masses.
Fifth had store windows
with imitation trees and imitation holly
and imitation women walked on the arms
of men with imitation smiles.
My mother gave me five saints’ names
in hopes I’d be protected
but the enemy’s so silent
I wouldn’t know him if he came.
Smitten by the robber or the robber’s smile
I’d most likely turn the other
cheek.
Like hell I would.
But forgive me my trespasses
they’ve been few this year
(unless you count the time
I crossed Sixth Avenue against the light
In order that I might be blessed
between the mustard and the relish.)
-from “The Twelve Years of Christmas,” 1969 |
