PAD Chapbook Challenge Day 23

Today's prompt from Poetic Asides: Write an "instructional" poem.  This subject came to mind because I officially began to play Christmas music today - I figured, Thanksgiving is late, Christmas is only 32 days away, and I have an extensive holiday music library to get through before then. (By the way, I recommend Los Lobos' new holiday album - sung mostly in Spanish, but it's terrific, as they usually are.)

When to Play Christmas Music

First of all: never, ever, before Halloween.

That should be illegal.

I don't care if you already have

Christmas trees up in your store.

Rudolph was never destined to be friends

with the Werewolf of London,

and you can't do the Monster Mash

with jingle bells.

The two holidays are not meant to mix -

the lone exception being

The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Once you're into November, it's a toss-up:

those soft-pop radio stations

have special dispensation

to play it nonstop from November first,

but you don't have to listen to it.

Thanksgiving is a good benchmark,

although if it snows where you are

before then, all bets are off.

As soon as you've digested your turkey,

you can have free rein -

play the sacred or the secular,

the sublime or the silly,

the Hallelujah Chorus or

Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.

Just promise you won't drive your musical sleigh

crammed with holiday cheer

over your long-suffering family.