Christmas poetry collection
We offer you three fresh new poems from local writers, filled with the varied emotions of the season, and delightfully varied in style.
Home is where the heart is
(but not literally because that would be weird)
by Matt Otey
The beat of this place:
—may it reverberate!
sincere and in good faith.
Giggles, laughter, guffaws
even tears fall with purpose;
irregularities abound here
murmurs revealing quirks.
Ham on Plates
by Allison Riechman-Bennett
This will be our last Christmas as children.
Crinkling tinfoil drapes off a chocolate orange slice,
the last one left on a dining table, cluttered with stocking stuffers
and forgotten pooping cows.
Stain peels off the table peeking out from under a prime of red paint.
It’s 3pm, the boys are out playing, and here I am in the fridge.
A bowl of orange jello stations grapes and celery,
green and studious and crude in grain.
This will be our last Christmas as children, warming ham on plates hovered over candles
instead of the microwave which I’ll heat your last meal in next to a hole punched in the wall next
to the tie I marked for you next to a pile of somehow moldy laundry next to your hot wheels wall
next to her CPAP and under stale dog treats but above two generations of photo albums.
This will be our last Christmas as children.
Cardboard
by F.C. Shultz
Your sister is due in eight weeks
and her room is not ready so
we bought an industrial storage shelf
which came in a huge box that became
a racetrack,
a waterslide,
a rocket ship,
and a cave.
With the cardboard covering
us completely, head to toe,
me lying on my back,
you nestled into my side,
a rare thing: laid still.
In the next moment I was transported
to a life turned slightly on its axis,
where snowflakes dusted the brown exterior
and the cardboard became our only protection
on the cigarette butt asphalt we called
home.
Then, you laughed and pushed the box
off and warm winter sunlight filled our
cozy Midwest home, your mother smiling
from the couch, your sister kicking from inside,
and I all I could do was say a prayer thanking
God for that cardboard box.
Matt Otey
Born under unusual circumstances, Matt Otey springs into being as an elderly man in a New Orleans nursing home and ages in reverse.
Allison Lee Riechman-Bennett
Allison Lee Riechman-Bennett is a student and their most recent publications can be found in upcoming issues of Unfiltered Zine, Unapologetic Zine, and previously in Potted Purple Magazine and Same Faces Collective. Their debut collective cookbook is expected in early 2022, published with @saaltpress. To consensually stalk Alli, you can find them almost anywhere @allirichyb and on their website, allisonleeriechman-bennett.org.
F.C. Shultz
F.C. Shultz writes stories that place one fantasy element into an otherwise realistic world. His books are about dragons and sea people and honor and family. He also writes poetry. He loves Ray Bradbury and pop tarts, and lives in the Joplin area with his wife and two kids.
You'll find him at fcshultz.com