Your chestnuts may not be roasting on an open fire; maybe, wetted and placed on a cookie sheet in the oven; just don’t let them pop. If that happens be prepared for a mess and the task of cleaning up!!!!

So, depending on where you live, Jack Frost may not be nipping at your nose. However, you may be using an umbrella or boat to maneuver around your neighborhood. And I am sure some folks may wish they were in your situation. So, if you are in peril, do what you need to do to be safe. And know there are collective wishes for your return (quickly) to your sense of normalcy. {In peril? Reading this blog?! Duh.}

For most Americans, we are denied yuletide carols being sung by a choir, just for safety reason. Possibly in your house of worship before or after (maybe during) service, choir members will lift your spirits as their voices soar, swoop, and settle in your spirit.

I am not sure if the majority of us are dressed up like Eskimos; we do what we have to do in terms of outerwear so far this season. (Winter did sneak in on December 21st.) So…

Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe helps to make the season bright (well, if you are vegetarian or vegan the turkey may be a plant-based derivative, but I guess, mistletoe is universal regardless of dietary preferences, if there are no religious or social restrictions. Does DEI teach us these nuances! (Smile to my fellow consultants.)

Well, as I merrily bypass the chestnuts, turkey, mistletoe, and in-person carols (though I must admit I enjoy holiday music on one of those all-Christmas music FM radio stations,) there is a rewarding sublime comfort in the enchanting words and themes as manifested by an aaduna contributing poet.

Monique Harris

Monique Harris defines herself as an emerging poet. She received her MFA from Indiana University and is currently a community college teacher. Residing in Raleigh, NC, she was born in Virginia and raised in many geographical regions of the USA.

Looking for a glimpse of her work?

OK.

Here is a little teaser from her poem, “black woman at ER midnight”

Oh, what the heck, here is her poem in its entirety.

Happy Holidays!

The pain turns

Like an invisible wheel

tell me how to rate it

i want to say the top scarlet emoji

but then they’ll say I’m .truly crazy

too little, too much, too little, too much

all pain is negotiation in this body

but the writer in me is innocent

it

feels

like

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The next aaduna issue? Later this month…maybe New Year’s Eve before or at the transition to a new year?!

AN ONLINE ADVENTURE WITH WORDS AND IMAGES…

~ A globally read, multi-cultural, and diverse literary & visual arts journal established in 2010.

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