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Jason Youngclaus was born in Boston and graduated from College of the Holy Cross. His debut collection Little Planet Raisins was released by Spartan Press in 2020. His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize in poetry.

The Neptunes Send Me a Christmas Card

Every year. It’s never in doubt.
This year I’m tempted
to throw it in the trash bin.

My whimsy isn’t reared
because I suspect ulterior motives,
or that the contents might read:

“Dear J, this is the 11th year in a row but sadly—
We’re downsizing operations
And it’s a little grating that you never send us a card.

So this will be the last time.
Merry Christmas, though,
And good luck.”

My vexed impulses
cannot simply be ascribed
to the fact that I’ll never see them

in the flesh again, save by some god-shot
encounter on the metro.
That’s all the more reason to open it,

and tuck it neat as a bow
behind the state of Maine
magnet on my fridge.

Maybe it’s my inner Calvinist,
plastic and efficient, concerned
where God keeps receipts.

Five genuinely nice, smiling humans, the Xmas tree…
They don’t even need to fake it—it’s legit.
This envelope is a warm fireplace

crackling. If it were from a lawyer
or a debt collector
then I’d definitely open it.

Instead I stand here in the doorway,
ice melting off my
house-mounted mailbox;

opening it—
wouldn’t make it any purer
than it already is.

— Jason Youngclaus

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