Best Christmas Ever (in response to a writing prompt)

Best Christmas Ever 

                        Like asking which of your children you love the most

There was the first Christmas

when I was the prince

unknowing head of the grand-kids brigade

There was Christmas in Maine

warm house         a turkey

a small model train

There was grandparents Christmas

loving old man         silvery woman

polished wood floors        light in the windows

There was growing boys Christmas

with pairs of real skis

endless days in the snow for my brother and I

There were years of dark Christmas

not too many I guess

sitting in quiet and counting the losses

There were Christmases      children

my wife’s loving tree

home-made decorations placed to cement

our hearts to our family

to ancient ancestors 

to dim winter evenings

to bonding of campfires

after a low-passing

sun has gone down

now Christmas is lights

strung up on the houses

ornaments carefully tended and hung

and after all of the parties have passed

along with the crowded living room mornings

Christmas comes as it will            year after year

and rests on our shoulders     a dusting of snow

© Frank Kearns 2016 

Christmas: Orono 1956

Sometimes poems keep changing and changing. Here is an update to a poem a started a long time ago ...

Christmas: Orono 1956

We would sit on the bank and feel the tremble

of the southbound passenger train

as it rolled across the Pine Street grade

trailing a lone red signal light

that beckoned us south to Bangor Maine

down to New York and way out West

but for now we were grade school boys

Christmas pajamas and a model train

stopped on a flimsy oval of rails

all waiting on the vagaries

of electric circuits in a little house

taxed to the limit by the chill

of winter air against the cracks

fuses blowing at the demands

of Christmas lights and electric oven

glowing just above the tracks

© 2015 Frank Kearns

Christmas: Orono Maine 1956

The trains would roll

The streamlined F3 locomotive

would pull the Bangor and Aroostook passenger train

across Pine Street and over the Penobscot River bridge

head out of the small Maine town

and like a magnet pull us along

west across the Mississippi to

New Mexico and California   

But for now

the model train laid out in an oval

of flimsy track on linoleum floor

would have to wait the vagaries

of electric circuits in a little house

taxed to the limit by the chill

of winter air against the cracks

and fuses blowing at the demands

of Christmas lights and electric oven

glowing just above the tracks

© 2014 Frank Kearns

Off The Grid

I really like Carol's short story "Off The Grid." We are excited to say that it was recently published in the latest edition of The California Writers Club Literary Review.

Off the Grid

by Carol Kearns

Teddy nodded his thanks without missing a note as the young woman dropped some change into the open saxophone case. As he anticipated, foot traffic was heavier than usual in front of the Dollar Store this Friday, and people were feeling excited and generous about the beginning of the holiday season. It was the day after Thanksgiving, with many people already in the mood for Christmas.

Today Teddy’s playlist of recognizable pop/rock and occasional jazz tunes was salted with songs of the season. “Feliz Navidad” was a big favorite in this neighborhood, and most of the families recognized “Rudolf” and “Frosty the Snowman.” This mini-mall was not the most profitable location on Teddy’s circuit, but the high volume of steady customers gave it a measure of reliability. The Dollar Store was a modern-day Five-and-Dime, with only the name changed to reflect the inflation of the past sixty years. The store offered simple things that people would always need – household items, certain packaged food, hair care products, stationery, costume jewelry. People came to shop, buy lottery tickets at the liquor store, and dine on Chinese take-out. Teddy lived within walking distance himself, and he worked this strip at least several times a month. With clouds looming from an offshore storm, Teddy felt he had been prudent in postponing the long bus ride to Best Buy until tomorrow.