at least she waited it out.
stacking and labeling resonated well with the tone of voice the key phrase
conjured.
the red ribbon and bow are killer.
On Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 11:05 AM, Judy Prince
<[log in to unmask]>wrote:
> HIS BEST SHIRT
> Jurgen's spleen rejected waste
> the sort that his children and otherwise
> frugal wife quietly ordered online
>
> these substitutions for chronically ill
> but working computer towers, keyboards
> mouses, printers, cellphones, refrigerators
> mattresses, and eyeglasses
>
> insulted Jurgen who mantra'ed aloud
> "If it ain't dead, don't replace it," whilst
> Kelsey and Jane and Frances unboxed
> sleek grey metal electronic cubes and cords
>
> and Jurgen refused to sleep on any sheets
> younger than his daughters, could be depended
> upon for pieces of string
> as well as both local newspapers
> dating from the day they'd bought their home
> all which he carried to Dad's Room in the basement
> and gently stacked and labeled
>
> this living library of his life which his daughters
> [to themselves] called Dad's Mausoleum showed
> family and friends that which made him proud--
> his singular focus, healthy philosophy
> gentle triumph, his reassuring insistence
> on a conflated pragmatic aesthetic
>
> Discourageless, K, J and F put a shirt box
> beside his plate of birthday cake on 2 October
> their candle-blowing puckers especially energetic;
> Frances handed him his eyeglasses
> held together with paper clips, and he read
> their accompanying card assuring him
> it'd been 30 years since they'd first
> given him this white Oxford cloth button-down shirt
> so he could wear it now
>
> "But I already have white shirts I haven't worn;
> therefore we can keep this one for perhaps Christmas
> dinner with your cousins," Jurgen smiled with
> his happy solution, adding the red ribbon and bow
> to his careful collections
>
> at his funeral in November his wife
> remarked to her lover as they appraised
> the coffin'ed Jurgen in his splendid new shirt:
> "If it ain't broke, don't replace it."
>
> -------------------------------
> jbprince
>
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