[Editor’s Note: Dr. Hoult is Culver City’s poetess laureate.]
 
If you look at signs on store fronts it’s hard to find a turkey

Or a pumpkin pie displayed without a jack o’ lantern lurking

The goblins and the witches now wear garb that’s red and white

They look more like Santa Claus…a much less frightening sight
 
But even yet more frightening is the shifting of our focus

For we seem to move directly from Hallowe’en to Christmas

Now our Thanksgiving holiday is spent shopping in the malls

Buying toys and gifts for Christmas and things to deck the halls
 
We should give thanks for all we have in this land we call our home

For we know that it will welcome us wherever we may roam

It did so many years ago for the early Pilgrims

Who were fleeing homes in Europe to find religious freedom
 
This year let’s stop a moment and give thanks for all our blessings

Before we gobble up our turkey with the cranberries and dressing

For it is up to each of us to find an answer to the question

Then make sure Thanksgiving Day remains important to our nation.

Dr. Hoult may be contacted at HOULTight@aol.com