Hosting a Holiday Party

 (there are gathering you want to have, and then gatherings you more or less must have)

So: so-so society came by my abode

to socialize, leastwise that was the alleged

point of it-all. It-all included greetings,

seatings, standing, talking, offering, listening,

thanking, pleasing.   Things deeply in our minds

stayed deeply, did not venture into air or other

minds by any means.  I socialize because I

pretend it’s pleasurable and play, not

measurable and work.  Socio-lie-zing

is a good thing, if only because solitude,

my preference, needs points of reference

and departure, and departure is what society

undertook after it looked at its watch

and said, This has been but we must be,

thanks for your hospitality, see you

later, thanks again, goodbye.  Sighing,

breathing, much relieving—guide me

to my quiet lair.

Hans Ostrom, 2012