Adam Stemple
Adam Stemple is an author, poet, musician, and web designer, roughly in that order. He can be found online at adamstemple.com.
Fatherless Christmas
Adam Stemple
Winter 2020
It rained
on Christmas day,
snow's absence
apropos of the nothing,
the void
on the red velvet couch—
pale and frayed
now, but still there—
where he'd always sat.
"Tradition,"
he said, piling on
every robe,
every sweater,
every hat
he received. Warmth
was our most common gift
as he faded
into old age.
But Christmas past recalls
a towering man
in camouflage and bold beard,
buck knife slitting open
presents almost as easily
as the turkeys he shot
and hung
from the garage
for Thanksgiving.
Blood and memory;
love and time.
I wish it would have snowed.