Mrs. Scrooge: A Christmas Poem »

CAROL ANN DUFFY is a poet, playwright, and freelance writer, and was made Britain's poet laureate in May 2009. She is the author of numerous volumes of poems, including Standing Female Nude, Feminine Gospels, Rapture, and Answering Back. She won the TS Eliot prize in 2005 (for Rapture), as well as the Dylan Thomas award, the Whitbread poetry prize, the Somerset Maugham award and the Forward prize. Duffy is a Professor of Contemporary Poetry as well as the Director of Creative Writing at the Manchester Metropolitan University. She lives in England.

With her husband, Ebenezer, now "doornail dead," the coldest Christmas Eve on record finds Mrs. Scrooge outside the supermarket, protesting consumerism and waste. "Spoilsport!" shout the passersby as they load up their shopping carts with Christmas goodies. Just as Ebenezer did, Mrs. Scrooge keeps to her frugal ways...but in the present economy, with loads of meaningless material goods bought on credit, maybe Mrs. Scrooge has the right idea.

That night, alone in her bed with Catchit the cat beside her, Mrs. Scrooge is visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. As each in succession takes her by the hand and sweeps through the scenes of her life, Mrs. Scrooge learns not only what the "Christmas Spirit" really means, but the nature of the real gifts we give and receive.