Thanksgiving 2025

Poem by Maria Mar

Photo by Ted Balmer, in Unsplash

What could I ever freaking be grateful for this terrible year?

Surrounded by extreme cruelty and inhumanity,

facing a fascist coup intent on stealing our freedom.

My nerves on edge. My heart in sorrow.

What. Could. I. Possibly. Be thankful. For?!

SILENCE.

In the next breath, I am grateful

for speaking my truth out loud.

It has returned me to myself—to my center.

SILENCE.

In the next breath I am grateful

For my center, my self-loyalty,

My capacity to face chaos, destruction and cruelty

And remain in a space of clarity, creativity and kindness.

I am not my enemy.

I am not trapped in the circumstances

That tyrants build for me.

I am a creator and I transform myself

Anew to meet and change those circumstances.

SILENCE.

In the next breath I am grateful

For the millions of Americans

who are courageously defending our democracy,

who are fighting for our freedoms,

who are standing for our diversity

who are preserving our humanity

with their bodies and their voices,

with their rapid responses and nonviolence,

with their feet pounding the streets,

marching to say NO KINGS,

facing the cruelty of the ICE gestapo

with bravery and strategy.

Turning the dream of a tyrant,
the dream of absolute dominance,

into their nightmare

of People Power rising to defeat them.

Rising in our dignity, preserving our empathy.

Rising in our kindness, preserving our values.

Remembering who we are

and who we choose to be.

SILENCE

In the next breath I am grateful

For this deep cleansing of our national karma

From patriarchal dominance, imperious prepotency,

Misogyny, bigotry, white supremacy,

Arian arrogance that despises the different,

The vulnerable, the disadvantaged,

Craving only money and power.

Hoarding all the money and power.

In the out-breath I release those Power Shadows

And any remnant of these Shadows

Still embedded in me.

We are meeting the conditions that our government

Has made others inhabit in the past.

We are meeting the consequences

Of rising greed and alienation.

We are facing the chains that we must break.

We are facing the Shadows that have been hiding

In the dirty, dark corners of our culture.

I am grateful for this cleansing,

Painful as it is.

For if we have kept on kicking these Shadows

Beneath the rug, our democracy would have died of inertia.

Now we have a chance to heal it, to evolve it.

I am grateful.

SILENCE.

In the next breath I am grateful

For the spaces of freedom that we still have,

And for our courage and wisdom to defend these spaces

With the intention of evolving these liberties

For We, the People.

For the evolution of humanity.

For the reparation of the Planet.

SILENCE.

In the next breath I am grateful

For this beautiful natural world.

For the sun that warms my skin in fatherly embrace.

For the trees that whisper songs

That the birds joyfully spread.

For the flowers that make me smile

And make my heart burst out in blossom.

For the crystals that rise my vibes.

And the stones that teach me presence

While they silently share ancestral stories.

For the earth that feeds my body.

And becomes my body.

I relish the delights of the waters of life,

And avidly receive the breath of life.

I rejoice in the fire that cooks our meals

And dance with the fire that warms our bodies.

I celebrate every star that shines in the night

And every grass swaying gaily in the fields.

I raucously cheer every creature

That walks the earth, enriching life.

I am in awe of the perfection of this world;

Honored to be a part of such beauty.

SILENCE

In the next breath I am grateful.

At peace.

Being present with all that is.

Grounded in the goodness of life.

Breathing easily with the breeze

That brings new possibilities today.

Breathing deeply, opening spaces within me.

Back home to my Soul.

Grateful.

I Wish you a

Joyful Thanksgiving!

Maria Mar

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By Maria Mar© November 2025

New York, New York

You are free to share this poem with others as long as you keep the credits. Or you can send them to this page, so they can enjoy more of my writings.

We Ain’t Buying It.

Join the Thanksgiving 2025 week boycott
to Target, Amazon and Home Depot
From Thanksgiving Day to Tuesday 2.
Do not buy from these companies
on Black Friday through the weekend or in Cyber Monday.

We ain’t buying it if they betray our people, our democracy or our freedoms.
To find out more: https://weaintbuyingit.com/

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