Season’s Denial 

​

The first year it happened, I wondered will I outgrow dreaming of the dead by night and going through the motions of duty by day. The eggnog’s circulated, and I know what an egg is, but what is nog? Fun was had, or, at least, impersonated. It’s Christmas, for Christ’s sake.
Ribbons undone… 
Gifts swapped… 
Turkey knifed – someone’s absent. 
She’s cited briefly during grace, but only then: This day is about sugar plum ferries, not protoplasm.

​

Allison Whittenberg is an award-winning poet, short story writer, playwright, and novelist and a teacher for the Indiana Writers Center. Her novels are Sweet Thang, Hollywood and Maine, Life is Fine, Tutored. Widely-published, she is a five-time Pushcart Prize nominee.