Just like the famous

Welsh singer Tom Jones —

my dad fancied himself

the hardest-working man in show business.

***

Except he wasn’t

in show business

***

But that was of

little concern.

***

And when dad would

grill burgers

in the backyard.

he’d gather us all

together nearby

and we’d throw

panties at him.

***

“Thank you, thank you,” he’d say.

“I’ll be back soon. I gotta chop some onions”

In grammar school

all the kids

called me,

“Fancy Pants”,

but they

weren’t wrong.

.

2.

3.

A lot of people say,

“Go, Google it”

when they want to

look-up something,

but I am from an

older generation,

so, I still say,

“Go, Funk & Wagnall it”.

absent-

mindfulness

skips a

generation,

by accident.

6 a.m.

House-mate awakens,

feeling violently ill.

***

6:15 a.m.

Woken by his

cries, I

immediately

fall back to sleep.

***

6:30 a.m.

Woken again by his cries,

I run to the kitchen, and

fix myself a heaping

burlap satchel of waffles.

***

06:45 a.m.

Call the doctor.

***

07:30 a.m.

Doctor arrives, and is

immediately ushered to

the kitchen, where he

fixes himself a heaping

burlap satchel of waffles.

***

08:30 a.m.

Doctor goes to

House-mate’s room.

Sends in a canary.

***

11:59 a.m.

Canary returns

with a renewed

sense of pride,

an olive branch,

and a heaping burlap

satchel of waffles.

***

12:01 p.m.

Doctor administers medicine

***

12:02 p.m.

House-mate feels better

***

12:03 p.m.

House-mate dies.

***

12:30 p.m.

Doctor composes the Magic Flute

***

12:45 p.m.

Austrian Deluxe singer

Falco records

“Rock Me Amadeus”.

***

1:00 p.m.

George Raymond runs out of

ideas for this time-line piece.

***

1:03 p.m

George begins working on next bit.

***

finis

.

.

.

My wish this

Holiday Season

is for

Peace on Earth.

***

—Earth, or, some

other planet.

***

Whichever is easier

***

Just so long

as there is

finally peace

***

And, so, from

all of me, to

some of you,

***

I wish a Merry Christmas,

a Happy Holiday,

and a Peaceful New Y’ar

2.

Why would

I be bothered by

visits from

the Ghosts of

Christmas Past,

Present

and Future,

when I am

all ready

being visited

by

the Ghosts

of

Every-Single-Day

I had always

suspected that

my sister was

a changeling,

***

Each time our mother

would go out to 

collect wood, my

infant sister would

suddenly stand up,

dance about,

play the bag pipes,

drink boiled oil,

spin straw into warm gold,

and place empty

walnut shells around

the fire.

***

When our mother

would return,

she’d ask,

“Who drank the boiled oil?”

***

“Who do you think?!” I would say.

“Come on, mom, wise up!”

.

.

2.

“I want It To Rain on Christmas Day”

written & performed

by George J. Raymond

Copyright © 2020

3.

Recorded by my father on an iphone with guitar and drum machine during Christmas of 2020

4.

I want it to rain this Christmas Day

I want the rain to

wash my tears away

***

To all the people I love

who are so far away

I want it to rain on Christmas Day

***

To all the people taken away

from their homes

So afraid of dying alone

***

To all those people

 I would like to say

I want it to rain on Christmas Day

***

Oh, if I could only find

Some peace of mind

This Christmastime.

I saw an animated cartoon

about a horse who was

a paleoclimatologist

and had to say I was done.

Because, man,

I can only accept so much.

.

2.

In life many

things will seem

impossible to you.

***

Then you will

attempt it and

discover you

were right —

it was impossible

***

But, at least, now

it will no longer

“seem” that way.

*

2.