I suffer Father\u2019s infirmities, gas, bad back,
\nhypochondriac dreams in the den of night.
\nI bear Mother\u2019s flaws,\u00a0pert indifference to
\nthe written-off, fascination with what\u2019s not.<\/p>\n
Father,\u00a0haruspex<\/i>, read doom in his dinnerplate.
\nMother herself disdained the fate of gremlin lares.
\nThe old worrywart, she thought, hadn\u2019t the least
\nnotion of how much fear he could fabricate.<\/p>\n
Full of spent\u00a0precocity, Mother never
\nknew just how much Father could surmise.
\nI make do with both their selves sprung\u00a0off within.
\nMy own divorce must someday come.<\/p>\n
*<\/p>\n
Despite myself, I’ve been influenced by the confessional<\/a> mode in 20th century US poetry. Best read in the sequence of ‘At the Zoo’, ‘Reciprocity’, and \u00a0‘Elective Affinities’, which can be found in the <\/em>Index<\/a> above.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I suffer Father\u2019s infirmities, gas, bad back, hypochondriac dreams in the den of night. I bear Mother\u2019s flaws,\u00a0pert indifference to the written-off, fascination with what\u2019s not. Father,\u00a0haruspex, read doom in his dinnerplate. Mother herself disdained the fate of gremlin lares. The old worrywart, she thought, hadn\u2019t the least notion of how much fear he could … <\/p>\n