5/30

Uncles I didn't have / Poetry

Your crazy uncle whose entire house

is like a basement, with the wood panel

and every 'Gansett beer tray they made.

Your gay uncle who loves Daffy's

and soaps. The armchair uncle

that had a 12-to-6 curve

in college and tore an MCL in A-ball.

Your uncle the professor, born

with a licorice pipe clenched

and tweed diapers, whose library

is better than yours. Your other uncle

the professor, and all that means.

Your uncle the former priest.

Your uncle who never got over

the divorce. Your uncle

the rocket physicist, calling the stars

by number rather than feed you

zodiac lies. The uncle who somehow

managed not to turn out so terribly

like your parents.