How do we forgive our family
For the yearly atrocities
Forced upon us
Under the guise of togetherness

An aunt gets drunk and screams at you
For writing the words out of her mouth
Your step grandmother sings the praises
Of FOX News and Glenn Beck

How do we forgive our family
The holidays remembered
Full of booze and
Screaming and
Cold and
Screaming and
Booze

Your father tries to remind you
That he’s your father
You run screaming denials
Into the frosted barren yard

It’s too cold to hide outside
And you got hit in the face anyway
with a football

Your hair left down
So your uncle tries to hit on you
He doesn’t get his mistake
Until you shove the beer from his hand

How do we forgive our family
For forgetting that we’re a vegetarian
have been all our life
The only food offered is full of meat
You survive another holiday on cranberries
and burnt pie

How do we forgive our family
Their annual drunken stupor
Of which you must be
the sole sober witness
Confessions bottled up since the last gathering
Now see the light of day
Aunt Diane hates your cousin’s husband
Lynne thinks her children pissed their lives away
Your grandmother hates your step grandmother
Your mother sits with her salad and cries
You simply stand there
Waiting for sleep to deliver you
from your loving family