I’ve been alone with you inside my mind

and in my memories

I’ve missed your Turkey lips a thousand times

Sometimes I see you waddle in your yard

Hello?

A turkey I look for

I saw you with my eyes

And it makes me smile

The hug I’ve always wanted

And my arms are open wide

Cause you know just how to gobble

While my memory has to do

I remember you so much

I miss you

I long to see the sunlight in your feathers

And write about you every year because I care

I really do feel my heart will overflow

Hello!

I want the world to know

‘Cause we wonder where you are

And we wonder what you do

If you were somewhere feeling lonely

Or is someone eating you?

Tell me with a beating heart

Because I haven’t got a clue

But let me start by saying I miss you

Hello?

A Turkey I look for

I wonder where you are

And I wonder where are you?

Are you somewhere feeling lonely?

Or is someone eating you?

For I haven’t got a clue

But let me start by saying I miss you

The regulars may remember this annual tradition but to those mystified the legend begins here:

https://portlandorbit.com/2015/11/26/the-turkey-of-st-johns-part-1/

Of note:

This year’s tribute was going to be a homage to Old Yeller by Fred Gibson. If you don’t know, the book is about a boy and his dog. I haven’t read it or seen the movie but the ending was the stuff of school yard legends. I tracked down an ebook version and swiped to the last pages searching for that key paragraph, the one that detailed the deed. I was let down. There was little to work with from the short, blunt description of that certain action–nothing I could use as parody for my annual Turkey of St. John obsession tribute. It was Thanksgiving Eve, late for me to have no back up plan. I had thought about adapting a song lyrics but I’d been drawing a blank. A few minutes after the Old Yeller paragraph fiasco a song popped into my head, a song a student of mine had been singing years ago. Maybe it works.

If none of this makes sense to you, you’re not alone. It makes no sense to me either. As I’ve recently heard, drawing a turkey is exceedingly difficult, missing a turkey, well that’s the same degree of difficulty. Oh and for what it’s worth, have a great Thanksgiving.

Special thanks to Ronna Craig and Cindy Couling for their illustrations.