It’s different this year, no matter how much we wish it wasn’t. How has the difference been for you? What revelations have you had? This is after all, the season for revelation! Jesus is a revelation. We forget that. He came to change everything. How are you going to celebrate that?

Give

A small woman —
all courage
probably younger
than hardship permits
her to appear
comes to my house
every month to collect
bottles for refund
I save them now
expecting her arrival

this month I added
a bonus in a card
equal to three bags
of bottles maybe
but not equal to
he dignity —
that makes me wish
I was a heavy drinker
that she’d find a windfall
because of my depravity
an avalanche of bottles…

she thanked me
and we tried to talk
but our languages
didn’t match
I need to learn Italian
Santina is her name
meaning Saint she said

Jesus still comes
of course disguised —
with us
to help us
to give

© 2020 Laurel Archer (all rights reserved)