What Remains

[ellajam]

In some regions of China,
a dead man’s reputation
is considered proportional
to the number of guests
who attend his funeral;
strippers are often hired
to pull crowds
In Madagascar, the dead
are often pulled from graves
and carried about, body danced
above attendees, but only once
every seven years
Stoney ground in Tibet
makes burial often impossible,
so the dead are often chopped,
mixed with flour and left
to be eaten by scavenging birds
In Wisconsin, my own father
is stored in cold porcelain;
at the funeral, I suppressed an urge
to pilfer some ashes for fear
of not knowing which body part
was being placed into my hand, or
being smudged beneath my fingerprints
Yesterday, I took his herring bone sport
coat down to a charity store; hopefully,
I gave it away to someone else’s father;
five years after his death, we continue
to misunderstand each other

Hi, 71, I've been enjoying this one. I find it striking to imagine a different outcome even down to the moment of burial. I was a little confused at the end because it seemed you wanted to wish the same scenario on another child by having their father resemble yours, but I don't think that is what you mean. Maybe a small change in wording might make it clearer. Were you just saying he would have suited someone else better?

Can you tell me why you punctuated the poem with exception of the period?

Thanks for posting, interesting and touching read.