1 Poem by Joe Balaz

 CHRISTMAS TALE

Gaddah dress like wun layered cake

and walk like wun penguin—

 

Dats da way to be foa da South Pole.

It must be da Christmas season

dough wun misplaced Santa Claus

in wun sled

being pulled by wun visiting polar bear

looks kinnah strange to me.

Da famous fat man in his holiday suit

lights up his corn cob pipe

wit wun blowtorch

and exhales

wun kaleidoscopic cloud

dat floats out ovah da ice fields

and rains down green and red snow boots

on da distant mountains.

Too bad dere wuzn’t 

any indigenous Antarcticans around

to benefit

from all da different shoe sizes.

Santa must be losing his touch

wit his gift giving dough.

Maybe he’s going senile

and da amyloids in his brain

are clogging up his good intentions.

Rudolph Valentino

realizes someting is not right

and he appears upon da scene

wit wun ruby glow searchlight

dat cuts through da confusion

to help Saint Nick make his way

through da unseen blizzard.

All da silver bells

on da silent screen

are ring, ring, ringing,

as Jimmy Stewart

jumps up in da theater audience

and lets everyone know

dat it’s wun wonderful life.

Dere’s hope back in da toy factory

wit his announcement

while wun necessary operation

wuz being completed.

Wrap it up

and put wun adhesive ribbon on it

cause da procedure wuz successful

and Santa is making

wun full recovery.                    

Dats wat all da brain surgeon elves

are saying

aftah dis story is said and done.

Bionote

Joe Balaz writes in Hawaiian Islands Pidgin (Hawai'i Creole English).  He is the author of Pidgin Eye, a book of poetry.  NBC News featured the book for Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, as one of the best new books to be written by a Pacific Islander in 2019.  Balaz was honored in July, 2020, with the Elliot Cades Award for Literature as an Established Writer for 2019 for his many literary works through the years  The award is the most prestigious literary honor in Hawai'i.  Balaz presently lives in Cleveland, Ohio.