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The Advent of Glass / GatherDead . Father

I remember The Days of The Death of My Father


My sister and I
were in Stanley Funeral Home
arranging for the burial
of our Father

I said:
             Why can’t he be buried
without the concrete encasement
The UnderTaker said it was a Health issue
and the law.

We picked out
a copper tinted casket.

He was buried at the Family area
family plot (I guess you could say)
at Saint Joseph’s Cemetery in Chicago

I remember
my eldest sister Theresa

glaring at my Mother
to make her feel guilty

But it was nobody’s fault

He had fought
with a virulent cancer
and died is all.

We ate somewhere
I don’t 
               remember that clearly.

And we went back to town
a small smooth stone
in our Autumn hands.


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