<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">For those of you interested, the 2016 version of our annual holiday poem is below. This is number 27 in the series, which started in 1989. If you would like a PDF of all 27 of these things, please email me OFF LIST at <a href="mailto:simmons.johne@gmail.com">simmons.johne@gmail.com</a> and I will send it along.<br clear="all"></div><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><b><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">St. Entropy Takes on Interior Desecration</span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">‘Twas that Night afore Christmas. (Yeah, heard it. Move on.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">The museum folk had partied; now most were long gone. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">The curators fêted too much; all the aisles</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">Were clogged with them, sleeping it off, with big smiles. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">The trophy mounts hung side by side on the wall,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">Each topped with a nightcap. (Now who is that tall?)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">A fruitcake was stowed on an archaeology shelf.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">(No, wait; that belongs there. Not the work of an elf.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">As I came ‘round a corner, glumly pushing a broom,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">I stopped short and stared at the sight of the room. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">I saw tinsel on cases, bows and ribbons on jars, </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">Glitter on all of the ‘gators and gars. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">LED lights pulsed and twitched all around the collection,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">Color-coded just so for each separate section. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">The cases were plundered, above and beneath, </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">And someone had glued up a huge coral wreath.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">Everything glistened with solvents and glues</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">And more glitter. All over me, head down to shoes.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">Fake snow (or moth crystals) lay in lumps, bumps and heaps.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">The docents had done this. The scoundrels. The creeps. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">I knew that this needed an investigation:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">Someone was committing felony decoration.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">Away to the fume hood I flew like a flash,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">But, due to the fake snow, could not lift the sash.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">When what to my watering eyes should appear</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">But a miniature forklift and eight hulking reindeer.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">Most amazing (even now, a sane mind just boggles),</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">They were all dressed in Tyvek and wearing splash goggles.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">And the little old driver, I realized much later,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">Was decked out in gloves and a full-face respirator.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">And then, in a twinkling, as I waited, expectant,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">They set to work cleaning, using much disinfectant.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">They rubbed and they scrubbed and they sorted in bins</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">Recyclables, decipherables, a few study skins.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">I stood there in awe as they zipped station to station,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">Tidying up every eyesore violation.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">The tinsel, the ribbons, the bows, and the glue</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">Vanished in seconds. (The glitter went, too<sup>1</sup>.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">The dioramas were scoured, storage furniture polished,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">And each decoration completely demolished<sup>2</sup>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">Then laying a finger aside of his mask</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">(And with one last gulp from his glittery hip flask)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">He called to his reindeer, and, as everyone knows,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">Clanking back up the air vent, old St Nick arose.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">He sprang to his forklift, to his team gave a cheer,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">And away they all flew like…a bunch of reindeer.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">But I heard him call out, going down his checklist,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">Making sure that no reindeer was idling or missed,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">“On Nitrile! On Spillkit! On Hardhat and Screen!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">On Face Shield and Eyewash, Absorbent, Visine!”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">And I heard him exclaim, ‘ere they flew out of range,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif;color:black">“Merry Haz-Mat to All! That museum is strange!”</span></p>
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<p class="gmail-MsoFootnoteText"><span class="gmail-MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif"><span><span class="gmail-MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif">[1]</span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif"> <i>Mostly</i> gone. It still surfaces, once in
a while, on a curator’s shoes. Always gives me a smile.</span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif"> </span></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoFootnoteText"><span class="gmail-MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif">2</span></span><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif"> We
deaccession by skeet shoot. It makes our hearts full. Object to an object? Just
wait to hear “Pull!”</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><i><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:"franklin gothic book",sans-serif">Sally
Shelton and John Simmons wish everyone a glittering, glittering holiday.</span></i><i><span style="font-size:10pt"></span></i></p>
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