The Best Thanksgiving Ever

 by Jennifer L. Knox

After the meal, Sandy decided we should spice up charades

by slapping the loser's butt with a ping-pong paddle.

Whenever Ed got slapped, he farted because he was so nervous.

The ladies won, slapped all the men's butts, but then what to do?

"Take off your clothes!" I told Sean, who didn't seem like the kind

of guy who'd do such a thing—but he was, and he did. Then Jim

took off his clothes. Then John. And then the other Jim

who brought all the lovely bottles of wine. And finally Ed.

Deb came out of the bathroom and saw five big men naked in the kitchen.

They screamed, "Take off your clothes!" We all figured she would,

and she did. Then Sandy the Slapmaster, then me, then Tomoko

who kept her glasses on. We walked around the house naked,

talking about how it was to be naked with other naked people,

how none of the guys had boners, and how cold it was out in the garage.

Somebody found a big bottle of vodka. We made a no-hugging rule.

John kept trying to open the curtains and show the neighbors

what they were missing. Deb thought an orgy was imminent,

but since we'd all spent a lot of time in Iowa, I didn't think it would fly.

Jim passed out. Ed put a robe on. I passed out. We woke up

the next morning in t-shirts, ate bagels from Bagel Land, and said,

"We all got naked last night." That afternoon, on our way

to the Walt Whitman Mall, the ladies gave each other nicknames

ending with the word "Bitch." Deb was Stupid Bitch,

Sandy was Gentle Bitch, Tomoko was Fucking Bitch and I was Precious Bitch.

All the bitches agreed that slapping people's butts with a paddle

was something we needed to do every weekend, that this was the best

Thanksgiving ever, and that Ed had the biggest dick we'd ever seen.

Originally published in Painted Bride Quarterly. 

This poem is from Jennifer's book A Gringo Like Me. You know you want it.