The Post-Thanksgiving Post

I could spend the rest of my life listing the things I am thankful for, but one thing I am especially thankful for is the opportunity to talk to my younger brother last night, who recently joined the Army and is currently in basic training in Georgia. He only gets phone time here and there and I hadn't been able to speak to him since he left in October, but last night he called my parents' house and I was the one to answer. It was so great to hear his voice...it's already changed.

Of course I'm thankful for my family, small yet full; for Jason, without whom I might be clinically insane (I'm kidding. I think). For the many beautiful people in my life, even though many of them live in other states far away. For VCFA, and for poetry, a bit of which I'll leave you with:

...................I want to thank

watermelon in the summer

and Hitchcock movies in the winter, 

especially his film Rebecca

because now my brother and I say

you can never go back

to Mandalay but really we mean

I miss you, you live so far away. Thanks

to coffee beans and coffee, the warm

smell of steamed milk and people putting

cappuccinos to their mouths

so that there is a moment

like lovemaking when their mouths are covered in cream.  

--from Matthew Dickman's "Thanksgiving Poem," All-American Poem, 2008