My family’s my all
Under one roof
That could cave in soon
Still, no time to ponder
Time exhausted its quotas
Naught left but laughter
Laughter’s our chief cover
Our survival kit
Strength in numbers
Mom’s third in line
Now abandoned for dad’s fifth
All said, now twenty-six
Not to mention Hannibal
Fred, Maria, Elena, Danilo
Joshua, Norma, Marco et al
All first cousins
Not counting their own
Our distant ones
They’d come all merry mingling
With the crowd of jolly bodies
Chuckling, no time for gloom
Misery loving company?
Ain’t the reverse true?
Still, laughter aplenty
Imbibing the local brew
The only one we afford
To boost the joy in the splurge
Jeff, Cedric’s distant uncle
Became more distant
After being voted to the council
Touting his bulge between his legs
Nicknamed him “ostrich eggs”
Diagnosed with hydrocele
From some blood worm
Ballooning his scrotum
His frippery swiftly unhinged
Later incarcerated
For robbing public lands
Making his pockets inflated
Bro Fred, with no front teeth
From his taste for sweets
His liver gave way to the booze
Burying him was the last straw
Mitch his younger sib
Took over his dray
Vending bananas in the hood
Unsold leftovers made our do
Little Joe took to picking pockets
Our dog absconded
Eloping with a bitch
He’d go bananas at the sight of Mitch
Mom often said, keep laughing
No deliverance in sight
No poetry nor whining
Could save you gang
Making laughter more vital
Little hope for change
Happily ever after
Ain’t no fairy tale exclusive
But for folks like us, Mom was right
© Alwi Shatry, All Rights Reserved