By Fred Moramarco

It’s December.
It’s Christmas.
It’s the Yuletide.
It’s the Holiday Season.
It’s Kwanzaa.
It’s Chanukah.
It’s the Winter Solstice.
Ramadan has come and gone.
It’s St. Agnes’ Eve.
It’s the New Year.
It’s the birthday of
Sagittarians and Capricorns,
Of Anwar Sadat, Jimmy Buffet
and Conrad Hilton,
Not to mention Humphrey Bogart,
Cab Calloway, Ricky Henderson
Rod Serling, Sissy Spacek and
Robert Ripley, all of whom
(Believe it or not)
were born on Christmas Day.
It’s the anniversary of
The Boston Tea Party and Pearl Harbor,
And lots of other things as well.
So whatever it is you’re celebrating
This December, we send you our love
From San Diego, and our wishes
That the New Year brings Peace
To a world that sorely needs it,
And a bundle of beauty to your life,
And those of your family and friends.

 

 

Dr. Fred Moramarco (1938 – 2012) was a poet, actor, author and professor emeritus of English and comparative literature at San Diego State University. He founded Poetry International, an SDSU-based literary magazine that works to support and express an international community of poets.