I love family traditions…but with a blended family and only so much time in any holiday…we decided…when we blended…to celebrate our holidays in untraditional ways.
I believe if William Shakespeare was alive today he’d find a way to spin it…he’d say, ‘these traditions of yours be madness…yet there is a method in it.’
Take Thanksgiving for instance…it’s a holiday as a family we love to celebrate…but we don’t often come together on the exact Thanksgiving date.
Though many families will be celebrating Thanksgiving today…our celebration won’t commence until we get together Sunday…if you’re keeping track…that’s three days hence.
Shakespeare…never a playwright to shy away from twist or change…might agree by saying, ‘This is certainly different…but it is also wondrous strange.’
Come this Sunday, when our family gets together…when we open up our doors…there will be lots of sides for the vegetarians…and meat for the carnivores.
And even though we will be celebrating our Thanksgiving…not today…but three days after…our house will be filled with hugs and kisses…with stories…with smiles and laughter.
And we’ll take some time to think about our ancestors…and living relatives who for their own reasons are unable…to make it home this Thanksgiving and sit around our table.
For here’s a simple fact every parent of ever family has found…as our children and grandchildren grow up…it gets more difficult to gather them around.
So this Sunday will be giving thanks with whatever family is in the room…and with all those who can’t make it home…we’ll call…perhaps we’ll Zoom.
We’ll be giving thanks we have a family for everyone to come home to…and we’ll be giving thanks for traditions…the old ones…and the new
I imagine if Shakespeare was alive today…he’d go on Facebook, Instagram…or perhaps he’d even Tweet:
‘That which we call Thanksgiving…on any other day…would taste as sweet.’
(a waka in 7 lines)
The Shakespeare Convention
has been canceled
out
& replaced
with a kung fu/judo
matinee
featuring Bruce Lee & Sonny Chiba
Now I’m in trouble
again
for going to a museum
in New York
with a girl
that’s dating someone else
It was actually
a pretty harmless affair
platonic thru & thru
and at the risk
of plagiarizing Shakespeare
I’d say the whole thing
Is much ado about nothing
I won’t even get into
her relationship
with her boyfriend
which isn’t a very good one
which is being very kind
one thing
experience has taught me
is that when two people
so obviously incompatible
insist on being together
my best course of action
is to remain silent
and far away from the action
my words would have no impact
and I don’t really want
to get stuck in the middle of it
7-26-95
When one doth perchance to partake of Shakespeare in the park
verily he feels himself a rogue…alone…amiss
For ‘tho he hath found himself truly nourish’d by the play…
He is loathe to discover his calamity…
to speak like this.
He mayeth stop at yonder McDonalds on his journey home…
his desire: to order a quaff to quench his thirst
and fie, fie drive away with nothing but his scorn
when the stewed prune behind the counter thinks him accursed.
He, may, perchance, bite his thumb at thee
or call thee a most notable coward…a lowly philistine
He may say, “away you dried neat’s tongue…you three-inch fool”
Forsooth…without knowing what the words he spoke doth mean.
Pray, pardon he, if consum’d he be
to playeth his sweet Alexa ’til the break of dawn,
crying out in discordant harmony…
if music be the food of love
play on…
forsooth play on.
And when he finally retires for the e’en…
ready to woo so into his bed he leaps…
he behold’st the object of his affection,
his fair maiden…
the one he woos…
hath fallen fast asleep!
Fear not, when thy spy yonder person under such a spell!
Strain not the quality of thy mercy..but hark!
Alas, do not think him vile or mad…again fear not…
he is but a knave…
who forgot to leave his Shakespeare in the park.
Shakespeare
Your language demonizes
Despairs
And delights
Delicious morsels of words
Fly off my tongue
And catapult through my ears
Landing in my welcoming brain
I love your language
It wraps me in its web
Of intertwining word play
The Bard is my savior
Save me from our modern linguistic tradegy
Of abbreviations
And slurs
Take me into the cocoon
Of your beautiful verse.