A Christmas poem
By Peter Weinschenk, Editor,
The Record-Review
COVID schmovid! Ick, bleck and dreck! The coronavirus is a big pain in the neck. Masks, social distancing and too many fatalities, Economic repercussions and other dismal realities.
We miss people, fun and carefree interactions In our Zoom meetings, cell calls and internet transactions.
We tire of Purell, Sani-wipes and Plexiglass barriers All required to make sure we are not carriers Of the spiky disease that has dulled our days And made the past year a forgettable haze.
Can we get through it? Make it to a better place?
For us, as Americans, and the whole human race?
A new year with a vaccine and new opportunity?
Perhaps a U.S. that will enjoy herd immunity Once enough folks get that jab-in-the arm inoculation And antibodies rise up in people across the nation To give us an outcome so wished for, so desirous That we would kick the crown off the head of the coronavirus.
So, to better days, let us enjoy a glass of something fizzy, Something not too strong (that would make our hair frizzy) But something stout to give us courage and spunk To leap past our woes, to transcend our funk And inspire a season of Christmas and holiday joy From Hurley to Beaver Dam to the border with Illinois.
Across the fruited plain, from sea to shining sea, Let’s toast a New Year with our friends from A to Z.
That includes Christopher Rojas, his brother Jake, Ashlyn Solinsky Mandy Schnelle, Dan Jacobson, Kim Mroczenski Rebecca Larson, Sarah Baltus, Mario Friedel and Tom Harnish.
It’s time to enjoy a cheese platter with a festive kale garnish Mary Luchterhand, Angela Cirese, Alexander Robbins, Laura Thunder, Joua Her, Crazy Legs Chuck, Dale Pilgrim and Frank the Boy Wonder.
Maybe a bite of Wildcat would set the Weihnacten mood For Sara Kunze, Jason Handrick, Germaine Redmann and her brood, McKenzie Erdman, Boogs, Jamie Koehler and El Presidente, of course, The Athens Old Timers Band, Tim Blake, Butch Boris and Sarah Morse.
We wish good tidings and Feliz Navidad to everyone, both near and far, Especially Sydney Nussbaum, Kasey Hollenbeck, Judy Burrows and Donna Rozar, Larry Buchberger, Bailey Imhoff, Hunter Seubert and Mark “The Gobbler” Weiler Lucas Werner, Adeline Markman, Randy Luebbe, Claire Bargender and Sandi Cihlar.
And how about some sour cream herring and Christmas kielbasa For all our friends around here and your uncle from Wausau.
Best wishes to Corbin Gajewski, Kasey Kzanowski, Cody Murkowski Camren Sapinski, Jenna Adamski and Piper Pietrowski.
“Wesolego bozego narodzenia” to your family and youse May happy holidays chase away the COVID-19 blues.
With well-wrapped presents mounded in bows with a twist We hope you get what you asked for on your list Kevin Schmidtke, Kathy Kulas, Tianna Borchardt, Tyler Geske, Father Sengole Vethanayagam, Brenda Kaiser, Chloe Boneske, Beenzu Moono, Bruce Misna, Brad Landwehr, Cameron Ford, Sparky the Fire Dog, Peter Fromm Wade and Lisa McCord!
The winter wind blows with a wicked insistence And demands from us a set-jaw persistence To maintain our lives, our very existence While we clutch our masks and keep social distance. Some holiday merriment will get us through this desolation Until newborn tendrils of spring bring forth creation Of new hope, new growth, alive and green Helped with millions of doses of available vaccine.
