Thanksgiving

Welcome to the family table,

Gather everyone all around.

If you listen, you’ll be able

To take note of the noxious sounds

Of self-deception with a smile,

Eating your heart out with shame,

Forgetting your sins for a while,

Finding something else to blame.

Pass the heaping bowl of lies

With the steaming tray of corn.

Grab the turkey’s legs or thighs,

And ask why the hell you were born.

Look around, they all chow down,

In a state of fattening bliss,

Behind the food’s a hidden frown,

caught up in their dim abyss.

Is the chest tightening only heartburn

Or the guilt rising up my throat?

I shuffle fear, to await my turn,

Around the potatoes’ gravy moat.

I leave the table to take a huff,

Away from them, I’ll be okay.

If I didn’t have enough,

There'll be leftovers the next day.