"Thanksgiving" [by Terence Winch]

Thanksgiving

Later, after dinner, we examine your uncle’s photos
of trees, flowers, waterfalls, birds
until I just can’t stand it another second.
I am not at one with nature.  Never was.
Some of the people can be fooled all of the time,
even when you yawn right in their faces.

Guests, or ghosts, have taken over the house,
lounging in the living room, watching t.v.
Ugly images of war and politics are all I see.
Cancel the rest of the holidays, please, until this
knot can be untied and our hearts released.

-- Terence Winch

An acrostic spelling out the name of a poet who has written memorably about the family romance, Terence Winch's "Thanksgiving" works rather like a sonnet in thirteen lines. The point of departure is the sort of holiday get-together that many of us secretly (or overtly) dread, though unexpected epiphanies do occur ("I am not at one with nature") as guests consort with ghosts and watch "images of war and politics" on t.v.

  -- DL

from the archive; first posted November 27, 2014

Comments

[Cindy Hochman]

This is brilliant, Terence. A lovely homage to Louise Gluck and a wonderful poem in and of itself. Thanks for sharing this, and I hope you had a joyful Thanksgiving.

[Dr. Earle Hitchner]

Terence Winch never fails to impress--make that "amaze"--me. I sometimes feel I have to remind him that his gifts are neither common nor familiar. Those possessed of these gifts are often the last to acknowledge them. My job is to acknowledge them for him and then gently deflect his demurrals.