A Funeral in Pennsylvania

The aunts have been drunk since a quarter after 11

and the uncles have been in denial since 1985

All of them parade their humor with overtones of grief

Perfuming their skin with the scent of the inauthentic

and a hint of delusion

they make complications for themselves then

praise their perseverance

perpetually the heroes of their own stories

Refried anecdotes the order of the day, for they have

nothing new to offer

Bone bags of recycled distress stuck to a cream-colored sofa

spotted with cigarette burns.

I sip a coffee and finish their punchlines in my mind

before I have to endure the forced laughter. I turn

and go play with the nieces and nephews laughing in the sun -

immune to maladies of this sort