there have been so many
holiday dinners
starting at the children’s table
mistaking whipped turnips
for mashed potatoes
& having to eat them all
once they hit my plate
smiling past my throat closing
on that hated taste
I like turnips now
but this is about
much more than those
& that jellied cranberry
that pinks a plate
like faint bleeding
but this is about
more than jellies
& bread & butter pickles
this is about family, together
not my mother’s turkeys
not all the way cooked at the hip
that had to go back into the oven
a time or two
& maybe that turkey
my sister dropped hot on the floor
her first, burning her feet
the limp salads
the mashed potatoes with lumps
over-starched gravy
clinging to my tongue like glue
or his turkey this afternoon
I said would have soft, greasy skin
if it was cooked that way
& it did. I choked
on how right I was all through dinner
it is not about what you eat
but who you eat with
sometimes
it is better to be wrong
than have to eat the dry proof
of rightness
served up pretty
on your plate
Susan Daniels Poetry 
I’m surprised you didn’t write about the mourners day aspect of thanksgiving. This is a nice evocation of family though, sounds lovely and warm and familiar – hope you enjoy your turkey 🙂
Thanks, Mike, I did! Was nice to spend time with family.
I have never heard of whipped turnips!
…it was a mistake I learned from. Eek!
“it is not about what you eat
but who you eat with” – so true !!!
🙂
Yup, it is. And in fact, being wrong is an important thing in life, *providing* one sees the wrong, acknowledges it, and learns from the experience. Anyone claiming perfection need not sit at the table, put on a halo and head for etherea.
Hahaha–too true. Hope you had a wonderful time with family/friends.
Thank you, and you as well.
Very nice. Hope you had a lovely weekend.
Thanks, C, I did 😉 Hope you did too.