Contributor: Bruce Levine

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(for my friends in Santaland)

Prisoners of runaway elves
Hostages in Santaland
Christmas recapitulation

Drowning in Christmas cheer
Overdose of red and green
No more speculation

Halloween forgotten
Witches transformed to Santas
North Pole evacuation

Fifth Avenue parade
Start of the Christmas season
Without equivocation

Life-sized candy canes
Like gaggles of geese
Marching in toy formation

All for girls and boys
Good or bad – naughty or nice
During school vacation

Happiness abounds
Festive days and twinkling nights
After hour rumination

Santa in his sleigh
Annual round on Christmas Eve
World-wide culmination

Milk and cookie trays
Left for Santa
Children’s hopes and expectation

Toys and party games
Festive food and Christmas carols
Brightly colored tree sensation
Christmas realized
Spinning threads of joy and laughter
Happiness without hesitation

Annual reward
For all good boys and girls
Without fear or consternation

Children in their beds
Dreaming dreams remembered
Christmas season invitation


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Bruce Levine, a native Manhattanite, has spent his life as a writer of fiction and poetry and as a music and theatre professional. His literary catalogue includes four novels, short stories, humorous sketches, flash fiction, poetry, essays, magazine articles and a screenplay His works are published in over twenty-five on-line journals, over twenty-five books and his shows have been produced in New York and around the country. His work is dedicated to the loving memory of his late wife, Lydia Franklin. He lives in New York with his dog, Daisy.