The Watergate salad
advances now,
a roiling symphony
of hide and bone;
gelatin is as gelatin does,
and this one shall not

fade into obscurity, not when
there is someone still alive to
romanticize it, call for it,
ask its name, remember
the precise alchemy of

pistachio (flavored) pudding,
mini marshmallows
canned pineapple
Cool Whip

Oh, bring us a figgy pudding,

Oh bring us
to a sweet spot of memory
closer to when we were born,
closer to the beginning than the end.