Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Turkey Attack!

And the painful poetry continues with yet another Christmas Saga:

 Turkey Attack


The day that the turkey
Attacked us at dinner
Came in an ordinary
Christmassy winter

Grandma had taken
The plates to the table
Dad had been fixing
A leg that’s unstable

He folded a napkin
And stuffed it beneath
The wobbly leg
With a bow from the wreath

My young cousin Annie
All dressed up in lace
Was kicking poor Fanny
As she tried to say Grace

She said “bless this turkey
And pies in the oven”
And then there was a shudder
And all of a sudden

The turkey rolled over
Dad checked the table
But found when he looked
The leg was quite stable

The turkey was moving!
There wasn’t a doubt!
It climbed from the plate
And stumbled about!

Big chunks of stuffing
were flying around
that were eagerly grabbed
By the dog off the ground

Fanny was howling
Mom all a flutter
Annie was scowling
As the bird squished the butter

Granddad nearly stabbed Dad in the eye
With a steak knife
While keeping the bird from the pie

Then Grandma stood up
And with a great sigh
She took hold of the bird
By one meaty thigh

It wriggled and jiggled
And put up a fight
But Granny held firm
And to all our delight

She carved up the bird
As it struggled and shook
No match for this
Octogenarian cook

It stilled at last
As she finished the carving
To the relief of us all
For we were quite starving!

So after that day
We moved on to goose
Or ham or a duck
Or even a moose

But never a turkey
They were too messy
And Fanny refused
To say dinner blessings!

-December 18, 2013