Jokesgiving

my family has claimed thanksgiving.

it's our holiday, you know,

the one we do the best,

and so it must be ours. we're joking,

mostly, but it's true we do thanksgiving very well

probably overdo but it's better

to have too much turkey than too little, right?

better for my dad to cook

for his favorite holiday and me to follow a recipe

to bake dessert (so as to avoid too much of a mess),

better to have the people you love around your table,

eating your food, than ones that speak stiffly

through their teeth & don't share your sense of humor,

cause we've made thanksgiving into Jokesgiving

with a capital J. on Jokesgiving,

(which is in fact thanksgiving but sillier, and isn't it better that way?)

we do a Joke as a family: last year was wearable shark blankets

that were as hilarious as they were hard to walk in,

this year matching blue crewnecks

printed with a line from a dumb movie my dad made us watch

that we quote so often it's both lost all meaning

and gained some new ones,

like a holiday called thanksgiving that we've declared for our own.