"Sir?" asked the head elf, Pippy Punkrocking.

"Yes, Pippy?" answered Santa.

"Sir, it’s about our NICE list. Last month someone from the NAUGHTY list was transferred over to it. I don’t remember authorizing that." Pippy held a tightly rolled-up scroll. Santa waved his fingers, indicating Pippy should let it roll open, spilling out onto the floor, which it did.

"Who?" Santa asked.

"Here, sir," the elf pointed out.

"Donald...J...Trump," Santa read slowly and deliberately. "Oh, that was me. I made the transfer.”

Pippy frowned, which if it were to continue for too long, could be life-threatening to him, as an elf.

“So what?” Santa argued. “What's the problem? I made the switch. I put him on. Don’t I get to vote?"

"Sir, you rigged it. He's naughty, not nice."

"That’s a matter of opinion, don’t you think? The people thought otherwise. And consider, Pippy, what it takes to be a leader. Some see naughtiness as leadership. You can't lead nations without being stern—even mean sometimes. You've gotta make tough choices. It’s hard. The free world is too important to leave it to someone nice."

"Well, sir, then, leave him on the NAUGHTY list, where belongs.”

“Oh, Pippy, you tricked me with our sharp-tongued little elven doubletalk. No, he’s naughty but, by our standards, he’s nice and stays on the NICE list.”

“But it's his choices that put him on the NAUGHTY list. Where do I even start?"

"You don't, you little Democrat runt!" Pippy's mouth dropped open in disbelief. The frown had only been the beginning; he felt pressure in his chest and began to feel faint. He had never seen Santa like that. He began to cry.

"There, there," Santa cooed, attempting to assuage him. "You have to be a little naughty to send out Seal Team 6, right? Or change regimes, right? Everyone thought Obama was nice, but he did some very naughty things, it turned out. Y'know, Pippy, I've never been elected anything. I'm Santa, because...well...just because."

"Because you're St. Nick! And Jolly. Jolly St. Nick. You're a saint, for goodness’ sake! You don't need to be elected.” Pippy clutched his chest and rubbed his left arm. “But Santa, what you just did wasn’t jolly or saintly. Not at all. It was naughty!"

Santa's assuaging countenance stiffened, becoming severe, even angry. He had a very dark moment.

"What did you just say?" he seethed.

"Oh! Oh! I didn't say you were naughty. Just what you did."

"You want I should put myself on that NAUGHTY list, do you?" Pippy was beside himself. He coughed on his sleeve and saw specks of blood. The animus in the room began to melt the snow outside the door, and some water began slipping over the threshold.

"Of course not, Santa. You? On the NAUGHTY list? Hahahahahahahaha! Never! But him? It's a mistake putting him on the NICE list. A big mistake."

"Not really. I’ve gotten a lot of letters from children asking for their very own Chia®Donald Trumps. And they’re asking me to bring their Dads Trump coins and watches and their Moms a Crystal Trump 2024 Memorabilia Lapel Brooch. I can’t break the hearts of over half the parents’ children out there."

"But," the elf said, "I think it is a mistake. I mean, there's a whole list of things that he's—"

"Pippy, Pippy," Santa cajoled him. "Do you think anyone's above forgiveness? Republicans? Democrats? Pyromaniacs? Remember little Jimmy Nubbins? Set his sister on fire but was really sorry after. Remember?"

“Yes…I remember.”

"Remember the uproar at the list-assignment conclave when half you little guys thought he should stay on the NAUGHTY list? And what did you say? Remember?"

"Yes, Santa..." Pippy answered, swinging a loose foot back and forth.

"You said, 'Don't judge someone by their past…but by the promise of their future.' Your eyes even teared up when you said that."

"I guess so..."

“And you said, ‘Give the little misunderstood tyke another chance. Was it really his fault? Is anything really anyone’s fault anymore?’”

“I suppose…”

“So moving, Pippy. And remember you said, ‘Aren’t we better than this? The NAUGHTY list is written in pencil for a reason. Have we forgotten what erasers are for? Things change. People change. And even if they don’t, who are we to judge? We’re not walking in their official Donald Trump footwear! We don’t know what can make someone choose anything on the spur of the moment. Inclusion means everybody.’ And, ‘Who are we to judge? Give ‘im another chance’—well said! You were such a persuasive and woke little elf—so persuasive that little Jimmy ended up on the NICE list again. He got that PlayStation 5 Pro last Christmas morning, along with his sister getting those finger extension splints. So, waddaya say now about Mr. Trump?"

"Pardon him?"

"Oh, no-no-no-Ho-Ho-Ho! He doesn't need me for that.”

“A nice fruit cake, then? Or better yet—the annual subscription—a new fruit cake arriving every month!"

“That’s the elf I know! Now, off wit’ ya, Pippy. Those Chia pets aren’t gonna grow green hair by themselves!”

The Word has been co-opted

So that lesser dare attempt

To lift a pen or flag a train

Without feeling exempt...

Corners of the convent

Where the goblins hide their face

Are empty now as church and state

Have let them in with grace...

It's the devil that ye don't see

That's the one that does ye in

So greet all dark and dismal fate

With the passions of yr kin...

It's the devil that ye don't see

That keeks ye in the glass...

So when you ken, make of it well,

Or it will nary pass...

The black as earl waters call,

But if ye dodge the tide

They'll wet you 'til the yappy dogs

Have dragged all rivers wide...

That swindler lass ye judge so harsh,

Both lives and breathes alike...

She knows her numbers up too soon

Does jigs around your spikes...

It's the devil that ye don't see

That's the one that does ye in

So greet all dark and dismal fate

With the passions of yr kin...

It's the devil that you don't see

That keeks ye in the glass...

So when you ken, make of it well,

Or it will nary pass...

12/10/24

Edit#2

oh blocker of me

what wrath hath mine words

encumbered upon thee

that mine presence should render

invalid thy glee

was it chiding thy stories

as cheap gilded pee

or razzing thy poems

with wow golly gee

oh blocker of me

regardless thy cause

henceforth thou art free

to post AI scat which

i shan't ever see

now harness thy tech

thou most wretched wannabe

12/9/2024

Four times, four times I nearly died. Once I think I did, watching myself from a distance, but came back.

Cars, violence, birth...the question is why?

Why am I here?Why is anyone here?Why?

Every soul has a choice, good or evil I believe, and I chose good, light, but I could have gone the other way.

Remember this..choose.

We've always thought pain was when we lose someone or an abstract close to us

But is that what it really is...

Different opinions on what pain is got me thinking

Have anyone really be in pain as what we are being told isn't really what it is

I came to the reality of what the feeling is like

At the first hit it gave me I felt lifeless slowly floating to the sky

Just as humans narrated pain I lost all in search of none

Endlessly losing my purpose in the search of me

But yet I got used to the feeling

Never could I get a sleep without the feeling of my newly found acquaintance creeping to my mind before drifting away to another world of fantasy

The life we live in became void to me.

The woman in the red dress

Stepped off the stage

Twin Heels

Fashion victims

To the guilouttine

Of wild sound

Each step an indication

That while life could be cruel

And marred by a burning fire

The scars that clung after the last dying flame

Were servants

And volumes

Where wisdom and beauty

Sit with love.

on the road

between

all my yesterdays

& the promised

tomorrow

I discovered

the graveyard

of 1000 dreams

so many

have failed to follow

Instead of picking up my phone

I pick up my pen and write about

what happened

You said you’d come after me

You said you’d take me to

the spring

I wonder what your hair looks like glistening in the daylight

Above the water, blue and green

I imagine you

Holding me in the depths of the chilly chasm

My legs wrapped tightly

around your waist

Chills from your touch intensified by the brisk aquifer

Would take away my breath

And warm my longing soul

How harrowing— it’s just

a dream:

A nightmare living with

a false memory

of that time at the spring

My pen can’t right the wrong

that’s in my bosom

The ”what if’s” the “could have been’s”

A spring of affliction.

I am Vexing

November 27, 2024

I am vexing

Discover why

Come nearer

Much nearer

Permit me to discover your scent

While I permit you to discover mine

Lose yourself

Become engulfed

Forgo any aspirations

Of struggle

You have become mine

When we have become one

Don’t despair

Don’t worry

You may not enjoy your fate

I do not care if you do

My color is blue

Now it is your color also

Consider it a branding

For the pain will come later

Then forever

For I am vexing

And you are now vexed

A pain no one

Understands

Like an itch

You can’t scratch

A problem no one

Wants to face

Yet I must deal with it

On a day to day

Minute by minute

Unrelenting basis

It’s my own fault

Good decision

Bad decision

That’s inconsequential

As the years pile on

The self inflicted

Soul crushing pain

Only I can feel

I have become

Devoid of hope

One would think

There is no

Foreseeable solution

Other than escape

But I’m no coward

And as Camus said

“…in the end

one needs more courage

to live than to

kill himself.”

Within the lucidity

Of my existence

The only logical choice

In an absurd life

Is to suffer

The consequences

Of my choices