High Holy Day Deconstructed (Easter 2018)

We bagged all the traditions---
the bunny, ham dinner, egg dying,
sunrise service and the risen Christ.

No one woke early.
Instead we did brunch and a movie---
steak hash, pannu kakky, deviled eggs.

Sipping mimosas and picking at banana nut
muffins was our Eucharist,
The Last Jedi our sermon for the day.

At the table, my wife, my son,
my daughter and her girlfriend---
a communion at which all were welcome.

Our new tradition
left the old tales behind.

The rain transfigured briefly
into snow, no rising, only falling.

Then the sun came out.

Eric Lochridge is the author of three chapbooks: Born-Again Death Wish, Real Boy Blues, and Father’s Curse. His poems have appeared in DIAGRAM, Slipstream, Mojave Heart Review, Hawaii Pacific Review, and many others, as well as anthologies such as WA 129 and Beloved on the Earth. He lives in Bellingham, Washington. Find him on Twitter @ericedits.