It began as the GODFATHER OF MATH, evolved into the GOODFATHER OF MATH. Now this. Go figure...

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The kind of humor I like is the thing that makes me laugh for five seconds and think for ten minutes = G. CARLIN...Stain glass, engraved glass, frosted glass
–give me plain glass = JOHN FOWLES ... Music is the mathematics of the gods=PYTHAGORAS ... Nothing is more fluid than language = R. L. SWIHART
I cannot live without the oxygen of laughter = DAWN POWELL ... !!! ... But laughter cannot survive without the hydrogen of gravitas = PAUL OLIVERIO
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Saturday, April 11, 2020

March 20, 1971 ... Huntington, New York

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I had never seen anything like it

From every angle, for every step
you took, there were
perfectly straight white lines
dotted with white headstones
All identical

Linda said something to me
three weeks after the burial

I don't think you had
one thought about your father
during the whole ceremony.
Your head was spinning
with architectural glee 

I could not disagree

"Freud would call it
a defense mechanism"

Entering the National Cemetery,
the lead car was the hearse

The second car had
my mother and me
in the fron
with Linda and Judith
in the backseat

Followed by four cars
of Oliverios and Anastasios
Then six cars of everybody else

When we left the cemetery,
the order of the cars
was the same,
minus the hearse

We had to pass the office building
of the cemetery again
and that was when it happened

It was a good thing
that neither Sgt. Oliverio's
widow nor any of his offspring
had to pee

There were two very visible signs
on the office building
with arrows pointing
in opposite directions:

INTERMENT INFORMATION
and
RESTROOMS
 
I pointed out the irony
of this juxtaposition
to my mother

She laughed
I laughed

My two sisters laughed
louder than both of us

My mother slid her hand
across the seat

It would be the last time
I held her hand

Seven months later,
we re-entered the same cemetery

Behind the hearse,
I sat in the same seat
with my two sisters

I could hear my father smiling
as the coffin was placed
on top of him

Linda and Judy
heard the same thing

  


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Footnote
MARCH 20, 1971
HUNTINGTON, NEW YORK
is the copyrighted property
of LCSoL
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