Blue Collar New Year's
Michael Estabrook
At midnight
all of us, Mom and Dad,
Kerry, Todd, along with our
neighbors all up and down
the block would come out
of their homes banging pots and
pans with wooden spoons,
or simply
slapping the pots and pans
together like they were cymbals.
This is how we
brought in the New Year
on Northfield Avenue.
I was too young, really, to know
if Dad was drunk during this
boisterous festival of
high jinks and merrymaking,
but I'm certain it
would've helped.