“Not bad, considering what can go wrong” / “I write to say we are still ourselves”
Your Luck Is About To Change - Susan Elizabeth Howe / The Christmas Letter - John N. Morris | Shiner Holiday Cheer
The Poem
“Your Luck Is About To Change” - Susan Elizabeth Howe
(A fortune cookie)
Ominous inscrutable Chinese news
to get just before Christmas,
considering my reasonable health,
marriage spicy as moo-goo-gai-pan,
career running like a not-too-old Chevrolet.
Not bad, considering what can go wrong:
the bony finger of Uncle Sam
might point out my husband,
my own national guard,
and set him in Afghanistan;
my boss could take a personal interest;
the pain in my left knee could spread to my right.
Still, as the old year tips into the new,
I insist on the infant hope, gooing and kicking
his legs in the air. I won't give in
to the dark, the sub-zero weather, the fog,
or even the neighbors' Nativity.
Their four-year-old has arranged
his whole legion of dinosaurs
so they, too, worship the child,
joining the cow and sheep. Or else,
ultimate mortals, they've come to eat
ox and camel, Mary and Joseph,
then savor the newborn babe.
The Christmas Letter - John N. Morris
Wherever you are when you receive this letter
I write to say we are still ourselves
In the same place
And hope you are the same.
The dead have died as you know
And will never get better,
And the children are boys and girls
Of their several ages and names.
So in closing I send you our love
And hope to hear from you soon.
There is never a time
Like the present. It lasts forever
Wherever you are. As ever I remain.
The Beverage
Shiner Holiday Cheer
I forgot Sunday was Sunday until Monday, and then I thought I’d write to you. I forgot again. And then I thought I’d put it off and just skip until the next Sunday. Then I remembered that I love these two poems, one new and one recycled, and I wanted to send them again. So. Here is a late newsletter or an early newsletter. I’m not sure.
Is our luck about to change in 2018? Is mine? Is it an ominous wish or a good one? I’m not sure. But I do know there are five Shiner Holiday Cheer in my fridge back in DC waiting for me. I bought them in mid-December, but I’ve been sick for ages and ages and only had one before I left town. I’m a bit better now, so there are plenty waiting for me when I get home tomorrow night.
They’re good. I’ve had wonderful wine while in Wisconsin, and I am sure there are champagne cocktails awaiting me on New Year’s Eve. But I really just want to watch a movie on my couch with a beer.