I killed Santa
I killed Santa
and then I broke
your heart.
I couldn’t lie.
I thought you knew.
This was the day
he died.
I told you,
he was a dream
to gently wake -
I whispered this
was part
of growing
up.
Yet still
the tears rolled
and you sobbed
and you cried again,
not foolish at all -
forever like,
a child.
December 11th, 2006 at 8:17 pm
Perhaps this incident really was derived from “family,” like the tag says, but I suspect it’s something more than that (although, how much more straight-forward can you be than to say simply “I killed Santa”).
If we take it as symbolism, then we must wonder what Santa represents; the most obvious answer is “childhood,” since ultimately the poem ends on a note of contemplation of what it means to cry “like/a child.”
A word about this poem’s format seems in order. This one is atypical for Stonepoem; it seems more stream-of-conscious, less crafted. These are first impressions.
The pace of the poem flows brisker than usual. Notice the two and three word lines? It might read ever faster, like a stretched-out sentence, but Stonepoem employs some punction “tricks” (i.e., the dash, lines 10 & 19). He slows the pace and suddenly we are at its conclusion, the crying child.
Again, if the poem is symbolic, then the child and Santa are about betrayal and loss, and perhaps about regret (from the speaker’s point of view). However, in this post-Pulp Fiction world, it seems so blatant to come right out and say “I killed Santa,” as if conjuring the murder of Santa is cause for celebration on its own; and so I must award style points just for being twisted.
December 12th, 2006 at 7:50 pm
Thanks. It’s symbolic of a regretful father, who is only slightly twisted.
December 12th, 2006 at 9:35 pm
Thank you for indulging me.
After your comment, I have changed my opinion. I now take “I Killed Santa” to be the story of a regretful father who does indeed kill Santa.
An accident.
The father did not mean to kill him; still, St. Nick is now dead.
This poem must have been taken from real life. My feeling about it now is that it is more intimate. It is about the poet himself…an expression of his life, what he cannot say any other way.
(Sorry to have rambled. For the record, I am not trying to be right about poetry. I just find it interesting to interpret poems. Most of the time I am far off the mark. But I don’t think it matters. You can still enjoy a poem even if you have no idea what it is about. I really like Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy,” but I’ve yet to investigate its backstory. Still, I like the style, the strange symmetry and rhyme scheme; I like everything about the poem. I don’t get the “exact” meaning though. I attempt interpretations in much the same way a person will talk about a movie he really liked. What was it about? That’s all.)
December 13th, 2006 at 12:55 am
Dude. Whatever you say and however you want to say it, is fine by me.
December 19th, 2006 at 3:07 am
It is a necessary passage from childhood to reality
Santa has died many times in many lives in many ages
but as long as we have children he will continue
to die and be reborn. I liked it.
December 20th, 2006 at 9:32 am
I agree with rickey…
As parents, it is we who create Santa and we who perpetuate the myth. And the killing of these myths as children grow is the start of the painful process of letting go.
The parent and child who are happy in retaining the foolishness and the delight, who are happy to believe in the myths, they are the ones who never have to say goodbye to each other.
Sure it’s symbolic. It is now, even if it wasn’t when it fell out of your pen. :o)
December 21st, 2006 at 11:19 pm
I like this view inky. Retain a delight in foolishness! Ye! But it’s not that simple is it? Wow. All these comments have been very illuminating for me - thanks all.
December 24th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
Just like Frosty the Snowman, Santa will never die, he just goes back to the North Pole to refrigerate.