The Unwanted Gift - a reading (on YouTube)
I am the unwanted gift,
The last present beneath the tree.
The one you knew you should have opened earlier,
While you could still conceal your disappointment.
I am the tie you’d only wear to your boss's third wedding,
The perfume you’d only use to fend off a blind date,
The umbrella you wouldn’t even take out in the rain,
The toy as a child you abandoned for the box.
Someone somewhere thought I was a good idea.
Someone designed me,
Someone constructed me,
Someone carefully picked me out,
And then gave me to you.
Who stuffed me to the back of a closet,
Then tossed me in the garage after cleaning me out,
Before packing me up with the discards from the attic,
Then heaping me atop a holiday donation pile.
Someone hoped you would
Treasure me for a lifetime.
Now I linger on a secondhand shelf,
Waiting for a better you.
© 2015 Edward P. Morgan III
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ReplyDeleteNotes and asides:
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Meant to be read with the voice and intonation from the Allstate Mayhem ads.
Picture Notes:
ReplyDeleteEach year at our office Christmas party they hold a Secret Santa gift exchange with the point of the exchange being a gag gift, a cheap trinket, or a re-giving of that special unwanted gift. I set up this picture using this year’s wrapped gifts as my subject, by an outside door in the main conference room at work to be able to use natural light. I shot the single gift between several of the others, to give it the feel of being set apart from the wanted presents. The green fabric it is sitting on is one of the USGS’s green table cloths, which worked to give it that Christmas tree skirt look.
I like this one.....we just had a white elephant gift exchange with a bunch of ladies. Yes, there was even a white elephant and many other previously unwanted things went home to happy endings.
ReplyDeleteSometimes the best gifts are those that come to second homes. Always fun to see who takes what with them.
DeleteMerry Christmas to the better you.
ReplyDelete