the big store

these Christmas
blues
come early
as silent night
holy
night
plays over
and over
in the stadium
sized store
where you
buy your
boxed
wine and
pound of cheese.
the garlands
swing green
and gold
over the radial
tires,
and knit sweaters,
boots
for you and me.
strings of blinking
lights
stretch around
the rafters
where birds still
fly
and the unshrunken
elves
frying pork bites
for tasting
are too jolly
for any season
or savior's birth
on this seventy
degree October
night.