"Taking Down the Tree"

Christmas poetry with Jane Kenyon

Hello, Poetry Friend

Jane Kenyon wrote copiously, elegantly about depression. In her hands it is somehow a beautiful thing. The time of year I feel most depressed is when I take down the Christmas tree. My house suddenly feels so cold, empty, dark. I want to scrub away all traces of the holiday, or else, rewind and put it all back up and leave it up so I don’t have to feel so sad.

Christ has come. Nothing has changed. Each Advent,I can’t help thinking, This is the year everything will get better. But then Christmas comes, and it it’s all still the same. This is what I think about as I am taking down the tree.

Taking Down the Tree

"Give me some light!" cries Hamlet's
uncle midway through the murder
of Gonzago. "Light! Light!" cry scattering
courtesans. Here, as in Denmark,
it's dark at four, and even the moon
shines with only half a heart.

The ornaments go down into the box:
the silver spaniel, My Darling
on its collar, from Mother's childhood
in Illinois; the balsa jumping jack
my brother and I fought over,
pulling limb from limb. Mother
drew it together again with thread
while I watched, feeling depraved
at the age of ten.

With something more than caution
I handle them, and the lights, with their
tin star-shaped reflectors, brought along
from house to house, their pasteboard
toy suitcases increasingly flimsy.
Tick, tick, the desiccated needles drop.

By suppertime all that remains is the scent
of balsam fir. If it's darkness
we're having, let it be extravagant.

–Jane Kenyon

I cannot tell you how much I love that Kenyon begins her Christmas tree poem with a reference to Hamlet and murder. Perhaps my new de-decorating ritual should be a screening of an adaptation of that tortured Dane. Because, my sweet prince, I know what it is to need a little extra light.

Poetry Journal

• Read the poem about taking down the tree.

• Jot down what you notice, what you like, what you don’t, what questions you have, and at least one way in which the poem speaks to you.

• Read the poem again, aloud (if you didn’t the first time). Is there anything you notice this time that you want to add to your journal?

• Write your own poem about decorating or de-decorating. If you like, email me what you write. Mine is at meganwillome.com.

Happy poeming!

Megan