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Auntie

So Uncle John's two years behind
on property taxes
his sister discovered
pilfering through the desk drawers
in his guest room

and as Jackie shares this gossip
there's no hint of shame for snooping,
after all look at what she found!

She was engaged forty years ago,
but the one time her mother was right
he got another woman pregnant
before the wedding

and her piano went to the nephew
though without her consent
"You have no one to pass it on"
her mother hissed when confronted.

Now Jackie wants us to sell the damned piano
then give her the money,
and she's biding her time to say
she knew all along about anything
that might go wrong for my marriage

so when she visits I lock our mail away
and prepare to defend
dust mites, childlessness, and a liquor cabinet
against the judgement
of a woman with no reflection.