Almanac Poetry: ‘Working Family Christmas’ – James Walton
Working Family Christmas
Mary says she doesn’t know
and in a way I don’t care
there are lions and crosses
an old man wipes foreheads
of apoplexy he claims a vision
wandering with the other two
so baked in delirium
the donkey shivers for warmth
among contractions in a village
excised out of three candle tiers
splinters wrought by rough hands
nothing had felt so good in years
this exhaustion beyond
fevers to make the goat milk
in such a hurry the adze forgotten
fortitude enough to push them away
a worn cloth for wrapping
stumbling out of broken dreams
a baby’s fingers clasp
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About James Walton
James Walton is published in many anthologies, journals, and newspapers. He has been shortlisted for the ACU National Poetry Prize, the MPU International Poetry Prize, The James Tate Prize, and the Ada Cambridge Prize. Five collections of his poetry have been published. He was nominated for ‘The Best of the Net’ 2019, and was a Pushcart Prize 2021 nominee. He is a winner of the Raw Art Review Chapbook Prize. His fifth poetry collection, Snail Mail Cursive, was published by Ginninderra Press in January 2023. He now resides in Wonthaggi, Australia, in an Edwardian house which was once a small maternity hospital.
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