[Newspoetry] Monster Day

[Robert Porter]

Greetings all--

    Tomorrow is day that means more to some of us than others.  It's the
anniversary of the Christian Savior's birth (speculatively), or it's an
ancient Pagan Solstice coopted by younger religions, or it's an excuse to
get together with increasingly attenuated families, or it's just a big
bummer in the most light-deprived part of the year.  Whatever it is, in this
country it's impossible to ignore, even if it isn't part of your belief
system.

    For me, it's mostly a paid day off, after what is always a stressful
month for those of us who work in the world of retail.  But I admit to some
vestigial sentimentality.  If nothing else, a holiday which is celebrated
with light, food and warmth seems eminently sensible at a time when all
these things are in short supply.  It's sort of like standing next to a
roaring fire after being outside in the freezing cold.

    Now I've certainly had my share of crappy Christmases.  In fact, I'd
have to say that the number of genuinely "merry" Christmases I've had since
I became an adult is vanishingly small.  One feels such pressure to feel
good this time of year that anything less than utter joy is a source of
guilt and disappointment.  It can be a desperately unhappy time.

     That said, I can still think of one reason why I kinda like Christmas.
One of the central messages of this holiday is the hope of peace and good
will.  It gets buried under a mountain of consumer come-ons (when did we
decide that this was supposed to be a celebration of capitalism?), but it's
still there, if only faintly.  Peace and good will aren't easy goals, in
fact they're difficult as hell, but there are still some of us who think
they're worth working toward.

    That's where Newspoetry comes in.  Everybody who takes the time to write
a newspoem is adding to a reservoir of hope for something better.  Even the
frequently angry and frustrated messages that appear on the site are a
statement of the belief that this world is improvable.  Why be angry with
the status quo unless you feel things could be better?  Why write a newspoem
unless you feel that your vision is worth sharing?  I continue to be amazed
that so many of us contribute to the list so regularly, despite the lack of
material reward for doing so.

    This becoming quite the epic, considering that I had intended to just
shoot off a few quick lines.  The point I'm trying to get at here is that
I'm feeling very warm and fuzzy about all you newspoets out there, both the
ones I know personally and the one I've never met.  You're all aces in my
book, and whether Christmas means anything to you or not, I want to send out
my good will to you all. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, I hope
you're well and warm.

                                -- Bob Porter

ps:  My jaundiced friend from Madrid just grunted at me when he read this,
but I thought I caught him smiling, just for a second...