Gingerbread Houses, Alice Smithee [ebooks online reader txt] 📗

Gingerbread Houses

It starts this time of year,
Everyone builds them way up high,
And forget to take them down,
Gingerbread houses touching the sky,

No one gets past those sugared walls,
Protected by poisoned gumdrops,
And Thoughts of,
"It's you or me,"

Wishes of goodwill,
And peace toward men,
Are only around,
As long as it suits them,

It starts this time of year,
They build them high as they can go,
And forget to take them down,
Then they cry when they crumble down.


Material

Red stockings hung on the chimney,
Candy canes hung on the tree,
Presents under it,
This is what we imagine,

Sugarplums don't exist,
Just ask any kid,
And no snowman will come alive,
Even with some imagination,

Jack Frost is illogical,
In California he's a dream,
Just ask any kid there,
He'll know what I mean.


California Christmas

California isn't the life for me,
It never snows there,
In the ghetto cities I mean,
And even Santa is afraid there,

Fresno is where I live,
I couldn't point to it on a map,
It's big or small,
I couldn't tell you which,

We have Christmas Tree lane,
Because a little boy died on it,
So now everyone drives down the street,
And tries to forget about it,

We go to the snow sometimes,
The rich ones I mean,
But the snow there is tough,
no snowmen for us,

When I grow up,
I'll move far away,
From ghetto cities,
And this big or small town.


Frost

Wake up! Wake up!
We squeal,
Though it's not Christmas,
It's still a big deal,

On our lawns,
And decorating the car window's with care,
Is frost,
Oh, glorious Jack Frost is here,

We run on the grass,
Leaving little footprints,
Gather up as much as we can,
Into a tiny snowball,

After we've thrown them,
One or two times,
We doodle on the glass,
oh, how sublime,

Little snowmen and people,
Igloos and rabbits,
Drawn with care,
By frostbitten fingers,

When we're all done,
And before our fingers start bleeding,
We put on some gloves,
And wave goodbye to the frost retreating.


Santa Claus

What language does Santa Claus speak?
My teacher told me that at important things,
We speak french,
And at home German,

But what would Santa speak?
Does he speak like the Eskimos?
Or in dutch?
Does he have a heavy accent?

What language does he speak?
It can't be English,
Neither England or America got him first,
Maybe German?

I've asked all around,
But nobody knows,
Except for one little girl,
Who told me bravely,

"Santa travels the world all around,
He knows every language,
And can write it all down,
That's what Santa Claus speaks."


Candy Canes

Every Christmas,
I get a box,
Delectable and insightful,
Everyone knows I love them,

Every Christmas picture,
Of me since five,
I have a mouthful,
They keep me alive,

I can't get in the Christmas spirit,
Without two or three,
Gladly,
Mom's provides twenty.

Cartoons

The week to Christmas,
Is filled with Cartoons,
Jack Frost, Frosty the Snowman,
Rudolph, and Santa Claus,

We watch them,
With a brave face,
Try to summon up,
All our holiday cheer,

It's for the little ones,
We tell each other,
The twelve and seven year old,
The five and three year old,

I watch with them,
Holding my baby sister,
And try not to gag,
At sixties dialogue.


Baby Face

My little sister,
This is her first Christmas,
We have a big age gap,
But I still play with her,

She likes Candy canes,
So do I,
She can't walk,
But my shoulder is good transport,

She likes to pull my hair,
With her sticky fingers,
I don't mind so much,
She's just a baby,

She's got four teeth,
All in the front,
So I can't have her sing,
"All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth,"

She sings a lot,
She likes Christmas carols especially,
I sing with her,
Except when she glares at me,

She likes to hit the presents,
And tug at their wrappers,
She's unwrapped two of her own,
She's just that smart.


Christmas Carol

You can't sing a Christmas carol by yourself,
But the only time you hear carolers is in the mall,
In Fresno at least,
But I got an idea,

One day, I'm going to dress up my cousins,
In their jackets and mittens,
Then take him around,
Caroling,

We live in apartments,
And we've sold Chocolate before,
Why can't we walk around,
Singing holiday cheer,

Mom says it's cause the cousins can't sing,
But that can't be true,
Because one of them won a pageant last year,
So why?

Grandma tells me,
Voice firm and angry,
No nonsense,
That's it's to dangerous,

No, it's not,
I want to argue,
If we can sell chocolate,
Why can't we sing?

My uncle, he's the one to tell me,
Whispering in my ear,
So no one will hear,
"It's too embarrassing,"

I want to scowl,
Say I'm brave,
But in my heart,
I know I'm just naive.


Christmas Dinner

On Christmas we eat like kings,
Chicken or leftover turkey,
Cranberry sauce,
And turkey rolls,

Yum, yum,
I've been waiting all day,
Just for this,
I even abandon my candy cane for it,

I fill my plate,
To the brim,
And never stop to think,
Of those who don't have this.


School

School in Winter,
Is the best time of the year,
The sky is gray,
It rains a lot,

I love every moment,
Of school in winter,
When silence is a new fad,
And everyone has a coat,

When you race through mud,
And PE gets canceled,
The mornings spent,
in nice warm classes,

This is my favorite time of year,
In school time at least,
Where everything is painted,
A new shade of gray.


Plastic Tree

For Christmas this year,
We're not allowed to have a tree,
Manager says,
Real trees are messy,

We have a plastic one,
It's so tiny,
If you blink,
You'll miss it,

We decorated,
The children and I,
but none of the adults,
Only us,

Grandma says,
The tree belongs to the children,
Says it belongs to us,
So only we can decorate it.


In Between

My parents have me decorate the tree,
With the children,
And bake cookies,
With the children,

They tell me to watch the Christmas specials,
And laugh at the right parts,
And be merry,
Believe in Santa,

I don't believe in Santa anymore,
I just kept pretending until last year,
When they told me,
And thought I would cry,

I told them,
"I know,"
They weren't surprised,
I say it a lot,

I said it,
When Mom told me she was pregnant,
I saw the pregnancy test,
Two months before,

I'm not a child,
Nor an adult,
I'm in between,
But nobody cares.


Trips

I told my papa,
Who is really my grandpa,
That I want to go to the snow,
And he promised me,

He called my mom,
Told me to get dressed up,
He was coming,
So I got into my huge coat and boots,

I waited by the door,
Two or four hours,
Just waiting,
I might have taken a nap,

I got mad at papa,
Who never showed up,
And took off my coat,
Threw my boots,

I didn't find out until,
The next day why,
Why he couldn't take me then,
Or ever again,

He drove in his Tow truck,
No seat belt to see,
One drunk driver,
He never saw,

Papa was pastor,
And that women was a drunkard,
The women was only paralyzed the waist down,
Papa the neck down,

He can't walk now,
All he can do is lay on a bed,
And tell me about the snow,
And how God would heal him.


Dad

Dad left when I was six months old,
During the Summer,
Didn't come back,
Til I was seven or eight,

He had a step wife then,
I didn't like her,
And a step brother for me,
He poked me with sticks,

For Christmas,
I got a CD player that never worked,
And soap,
My step brother told me,
"Dad likes me better,"

I don't like my dad,
And I don't like my step mom,
And I really hate my stepbrother,
But I tell them "I love you" a lot,

It's my secret,
Just me and mine,
That when I say that,
I really mean,
"I hope you die."


Snow Angels

Aunt Nella,
Whose is Papa's wife,
And always wanted a baby,
But can't have anymore then she already has,

She took me to the snow,
I went down in sleds,
And got snow in my boots,
And loved every moment of it,

We spent the entire day there,
Just hot cocoa and us,
I tried to make a snow man,
But my fingers almost cracked,

Aunt Nella told me,
When it was late at night,
We had to go home,
I was so tired I left,

But as we were leaving,
I remembered something I had to do,
I know she wouldn't stop,
Just for it,

I lied,
Said I had to go potty,
So she took me back,
And I made snow angels.

Hot Cocoa

Dad makes the best hot cocoa,
He makes it with milk,
But when ever I try,
It doesn't taste good,

Probably cause I use soy milk,
Cause I'm lactose intolerant,
Dad never remembers,
He never remembers anything,

We sit by the Bar-B-Que,
And he smiles at me,
And makes jokes,
Cause he's drunk,

He's always drunk at night,
But never when he should be,
When he's drunk,
I can talk to him,

One time he had me make the hot cocoa,
So I put some of an open can of beer,
In everybody's but mine,
Cause everybody there drinks but me.

Different Christmas

One time my aunt and uncle,
Said they weren't going to have Christmas,
Cause they were broke,

We felt sorry for my cousins,
So we bought a lot of presents,
And went over Christmas eve,
Out of pity,

Only to discover,
In shock and dismay,
Just why they had made their decision,
To have no Christmas that day,

The cousins had found their presents,
Ahead of time,
So every present was opened,
And set out to play,

They pounced on the new ones,
And so we left,
Right away,
Aunt Annie threw all our presents away.


The last day of Winter

On the last day of Winter,
I feel like I could cry,
Or maybe even die,

Winter is my best friend,
As close to me as my books,
I adore my Christmas stories,
And tell-all looks,

My grandma hates winter,
She says it makes her depressed,
But Winter makes me happy,
And gives me inspiration,

Why would I write,
About dumb green grass,
Or a red sparrow,
When I could show you heaven?