The fractured family celebrates its holidays sequentially.
The gaiety, such as it is, arrives and then recedes, like
Waves. The mother comes. The father leaves.
The mother's lover oozes in. He faintly smells of gins
And tonics as he gives the kids their gifts. Awkward
Patter follows suit. He eats some fudge, and then
He helps the mother to put on her coat. They leave.
On cue, the father's back, his own new paramour
In tow. More gifts; the kids are soon asleep. She
Says that she must go, and does. The father
Wades through wrapping paper, bent on something
Stiff to drink. His parents pick up cups and dishes,
Reconciled, at this point, to Christmas shattered,
Pieces spinning past sequentially.