How It All Works

Consumer spending makes up 70% of the U.S. economy, and 50% of all retail profits occur at Christmastime. That's what keeps the whole thing going economically. Those who make it through the dark-and-depressing Winter-solstice holidays, drunken revelry New Year's Eve is the reward. That's when the next generation is conceived, keeping the whole thing going biologically (October 5th being the most common U.S. birthday).

Toward the Winter Solstice: New Poems