after Ellen Griswold in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

So let’s cry out our pine needles into the carpet. Take advantage of the longest night of the year and swap our conscious for shadows—who can tell God from a devil in the dark? The stars blink out. A mouse stirs just to prove a point. Roaches scurry to the bulbs to subvert the plot. No heartbreak’s killed me yet, but morning might if I don’t take the snowy path home and dilute my dreams with fire— my unconscious the only safe place to keep a flame burning from dusk to dawn. I would dampen my clothes and succumb to the cold if it meant I could escape the slow agony of a mall store’s ten-track Christmas playlist, become a ghost, and haunt you year-round with Mariah Carey and Wham!. If you’re not miserable, are you even whole? I am a sleet storm of sorrow, and it’s not even the solstice. The best of myself is yet to come.

Prompts used (tags are the poets’ IG handles):

@theconstantpoet - “making the most of the shortest day of the year” @imandq + @m.mecham + @laur_enough - “a mouse stirring just to prove a point” @kaytpoems - “I would dampen my clothes if we could become angels” + “November’s slow agony” @alexismromo - “the best of myself is yet to come” @chris_kads + @alinakay66 + @esb.poems - “the snowy path home” @maryoliversdrunkcousin - “‘I don’t what what to say, but it’s Christmas, and we’re all in misery.’ - National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” @itsashenelthing - “I’m not crying, it’s just pine needles” + “diluted dreams” @angelealowes - “no heartbreak’s killed me yet”