turning stucco bungalows rainbow colors,
winking Santa hugging a fake chimney.
Christmas is dwarf palmettos draped
with twinkling lights, bougainvillea
and red hibiscus stuck with plastic holly.
Christmas is terrazzo patios
with aluminum trees, grass littered
with inflatable elves, pipe-smoking
snowmen and cherry-nosed reindeer.
Cardboard cutouts of snow-laden firs
with Mickey Mouse in a Santa outfit.
Christmas is singing
Jingle Bells in flip-flops and bikinis,
until some guy with a refrigerated
truck dumped piles of the white stuff
in the Winn-Dixie parking lot. It cost
$3 a head to jump around in it.
Cousin Pam got all excited because
she’d never seen snow before,
but it melted pretty fast, so we snuck
into the Deauville and went swimming.
© Nancy Scott
Poet's note: Nancy Scott remembers one earlier Christmas when snow was trucked from Orlando to Miami Beach. Having grown up in Chicago, she knew hardpack snow from November until late March.
Nancy Scott is author of nine books of poetry. Many of her poems deal with social justice issues.
She resides in New Jersey, USA.
She resides in New Jersey, USA.
