William Chaplar (August 18,1961 / Trenton, New Jersey)
My Brother's Mother
If I looked at my family tree,
I wonder where on it you'd be.
Where should I put the natural mother
of one who is my foster brother?
Would it be a familial flaw
if I called you mother-in-law?
Or too much like a bad sitcom
referring to you as step mom?
Does Hallmark even have a card
to make this inquiry less hard?
Has this question come up before
and prompted others to explore
the proper title for the one
who bravely found her long-lost son?
And how does such a one relate
to he who was her son's roommate?
I wonder, though, if it should be
a matter of concern to me.
Because regardless of the name,
my brother's mother just became
someone I'd like to get to know
so that our family trees might grow.
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