...your noisy, snotty little kids
always asking for $ and
one toy after the other

 Thank you dad
for never abandoning us,
your noisy, snotty little kids
always asking for $ and
one toy after the other

Thank you mom
for having the awesome
strength to put up with a
thousand things you didn’t like,
for wiping our stinky tiny
butts day and night
not to mention for cooking
those countless delicious
meals

Thank you sis and brother-in-law,
brother and sister-in-law
for the loans and gifts over the
years—and know that any
outstanding balances that exist
we’ll pay gladly ASAP
(Please continue to be patient and
understanding.)

Thank you good teachers
for loving your students
and riding out the
year you started as well as
for never daring to consider
them, darling and multifarious,
a source of personal
sexual pleasure or exploitation

Thank you brother
for cheering me up when
I was down, for all those years
of play and games

Thank you precious spouse
for so many golden words
and deeds over the years
There simply is neither time nor
space available to list them

Thank you, Internet and your
sites for writers, for the magnificent
facility and opportunity
to communicate with numerous
readers and fellow writers somewhere
out there and,
far from least,

Thank you, Man
(Yes You, most wise Giver and
Taker of it all).