the ball of christmas lights

who hasn't struggled 

with

a ball

of wires, christmas

lights

in the box.

searching to find the one

dead bulb

when the whole string

won't light up.

all of them

unraveled from the tree

a year ago,

come new years

week.

and there you sit on

floor,

beginning to weep,

giving up

and going to the store

for more,

a new string,

a state of the art string,

to hang on the plastic

tree.