These poems are out of order.
They are arranged thematically.
One time I was dragooned into being
Santa at a company Christmas party for
dependents. Wives and children.
No Goddamn queers. I asked a kid
what he wanted for Christmas and he said,
"For world peace, and my parents to be happy."
I said, "You wouldn't blow smoke up Santa's ass,
would you son?" His mother heard me and complained
to the office manager. I got a ding in my helmet at my next
performance appraisal. I had an attitude. I did not have
the Christmas spirit. I didn't sing the company fight song.
The Yomiuri Shimbun. That's an English-language newspaper
I subscribed to in Tachikawa, to keep abreast of the propaganda.