What Remains

[71degrees]

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

This poem actually is not too bad. However, the missing stops do nothing to benefit the poem or the reader. You're sayin "poetry is open", but imposing a so-called stylistic choice upon your readers, even when it serves no purpose but to confuse and irritate, is a rather ridiculous and close-minded concept. Think about it. I'm hesitant to offer any more crit because it seems doubtful that you would even take it in to account.

Thanks for the "….not too bad…" comment. Appreciate it. I think about all comments. Some more than others. FYI: People who hesitate are lost.