runs in the family
by Garnet Juniper Bennet
broke Nellie Biggie
married Dorris Lane
tho nobody rlly knew why
maybe cus the big war was won
& fireworks become endemic
or prohibition had begun &
people were desperate
for distraction
the product was Robert
who didn’t cry when Dorris left
but did at the alter as he married Luilla May
& most folks figured they knew why
but for the first time papers grew
fixated on nazis—no time
for rural wives’ gossip
or edges starched fine
who knows what horrors
he encountered or committed
in Europe or Japan he lived
but came to see the act of retreat
as preferable to risky engagement
so gave his son his stepfather’s name
& retired w/out destination in mind
to drown deep in a rehoboam by ‘79
the year my donor turned nineteen
ma 'n he married at twenty-three who knows
what horrors were committed—she
divorced him after two years’ time
in seven more her second conjugation
didn’t prevent that man's advance. am i
the product of a bad country song they’ll blast
down on Music Row wherein great-grandaddy walked
on grandad & my daddy walked on me & ma
worked harder 'n she should’ve til her quietus she made
barfly knocked my lights out half the family addicted
brother begs for cash again i lay up by the tracks all day
dog died in the hurricane—more bills
than one life can pay
Garnet Juniper Bennet is a poet & writer corrupted in the American high desert who now attempts redemption practicing their craft in the Pacific Northwest. Their work has been included in publications such as Rattle, Lunch Ticket, Salamander, Waxwing, Poet Lore, Ninth Letter, & Salt Hill.