’The rhyme of the festive season

1. ’The rhyme of festive season ’.

There is a certain rhyme
To our festive season
Starting with Halloween
Ending with New Years

And here in Korea
Starting with the Chusok
Korea’s Thanksgiving Harvest
Festival in the first full moon
Near the end of September
Ending with Lunar New Years

All the festive holidays
Share the same basic pattern
Families and friends

Gather together
To share a feast
And time together
Trying to get along
For that one day
At least.

My favorite was Thanksgiving
The last commercial
Of all the major holidays

My Mom is from Arkansas
Did Thanksgiving right

It all started with a big bird,
a Turkey, of course,
stuffed with stuffing.
We never did Goose,
Cornish game hens,
or God forbid Tofu Turkey
-although being in Berkeley
that was a common alternative.

But not in
“The World according to Mary Aller,”
for my Southern-bred traditionalist mother,
it had to be Turkey and that was it.

The stuffing
consisted of a commercial stuffing mixture,
bread, and herbs.
I added to the mix apples,
bacon bits,
carrots,
ham,
and a little orange juice.

One year I added bamboo shoots, chestnuts,
mushrooms, walnuts,

My Mother looked at me
as if I were out of mind,
but afterward said,

“that was good”
and we added that
to our family stuffing recipes.


The sides were great

Two kinds of cranberry sauces
– smooth and chunky

Green beans with bacon bits, garlic, and onions,

Greens southern style

Either collard or spinach. turnip, kale,
or all four, boiled with bacon, brown sugar,
ham bits, molasses,
with bourbon for flavoring

Grits with ham and cheese.

Gravy cooked in bacon grease

Garlic mashed potatoes.

Salad

Sweet potatoes with marshmallows.

Wild rice and white rice are served separately.

And pecan pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert

Wine, and bourbon, for the adults,

Leftover sandwiches for days,

Bacon, eggs, grits, and potato pancakes
for the next few breakfasts.


A pair of subjects will be given on the first day of every month.
You write poetry based on that subjects.
The form of the poetry may be any. You have to mention the form with your subject. Even the free-verse form should be mentioned.
The number of lines between three and fifteen. lines.
There will be a winner. The poet will get 1000 GPs.(It is applicable from the contest of December 2022)
Other good writings(If any) will be on the mentionable list. The poet(or poets) will get 200 GPs.
Judge/ Judges will select the subjects.
Judge:---
1. Rupali Goswami
Any donation will be accepted gratefully. If you donate at least 20K GPs, you will get a Merit Badge.
Kind Donors ▼
As a Judge, I got another nice experience at WDC. First, I want to give thanks to all participants. Without them, the competition does not have any value at all.
I observe different participants of different have their unique shades of ideas. It makes the competition successful.
There is no bad performance.

The system is slightly changing from the round. It will start on the first day of the month and the end date will be the last day of the month. The subjects of this round are
1. ’The rhyme of festive season ’.
2. ‘Nothing is permanent except him’.
You can submit both poems.
It should have at least three lines. But it should not cross fifteen lines.
Any form of poetry is accepted.
Please mention the form of poetry and the number of lines.
Please post in b-item format.
Last date of submission:- 12/31/2022.
1 month 2 hours
With Thanks,
Rupali