A. R. AMMONS
Christmas Eve
When cold, I huddle up, foetal, cross
arms:
but in summer, sprawl:
secret is plain old
surface area,
decreased in winter, retaining: in summer no
limbs touching?
radiating:
everything is physical:
chemistry is physical:
electrical noumenal mind
is:
(I declare!)
put up Christmas tree this afternoon:
fell
asleep in big chair: woke up at
3:12 and it
was snowing outside, was white!
Christmas Eve tonight: Joseph
is looking for a place:
Mary smiles but
her blood is singing:
she will have to lie down:
hay is warm:
some inns keep only
the public room warm: Mary
is thinking, Nice time
to lie down,
good time to be brought down by this necessity:
I better get busy
and put the lights on?—can’t find
extension cord:
Phyllis will be home, will say, The
tree doesn’t have any lights!
I have tiny winking lights, too:
she will like
them: she went to see her mother:
my mother is dead: she is
deep in the ground, changed: if she
rises, dust will blow all over the place and
she will stand there shining,
smiling: she will feel good:
she will want
to go home and fix supper: first she
will hug me:
an actual womb bore Christ,
divinity into the world:
I hope there are births to lie down to
back
to divinity,
since we all must die away from here:
I better look for the cord:
we’re going to
the Plaza for dinner:
tonight, a buffet: tomorrow there, we’ll
have a big Christmas
dinner:
before I fell asleep, somebody
phoned, a Mr. Powell: he asked
if I wanted to
sell my land
in Mays Landing: I don’t know:
I have several pieces, wonder
if he wants them all,
wonder what I ought to quote:
earth: so many acres of earth:
own:
how we own who are owned! well,
anyway, he won’t care
about that — said he would
call back Monday: I will
tell him something then:
it’s nearly Christmas, now:
they are all going into the city:
some have sent ahead for reservations:
the inns are filling up:
Christ was born
in a hay barn among the warm cows and the
donkeys kneeling down: with Him divinity
swept into the flesh
and made it real.
.
