Christmas Eve Selfie by Sue Ellen Thompson

Now that Christmas shopping can be ignored—
parents long gone, no grandchildren to shop for—
I find myself looking forward to the holidays,
whose significance resides in the way
we prop the phone up on a pile
of books, click on the self-timer,
and rush back to the sofa to compose
ourselves, thus creating the tableau
that has become our emblem: heads inclined
and touching lightly at the hairline,
my hand having found yours at my waist—
the two of us in the small, warm house of our age.

Sue Ellen Thompson is the author of six books of poetry—most recently SEA NETTLES: NEW & SELECTED POEMS. She has taught at Middlebury College, Binghamton University, Wesleyan University, Central Connecticut State University, and the University of Delaware. A resident of Oxford, MD for the past 18 years, she mentors adult poets and teaches workshops for The Writer’s Center in Bethesda. In 2010, the Maryland Library Association awarded her its prestigious Maryland Author Award.