Sisters Poem by James P. Roberts

I have lately wondered if any of my mother's
sisters are still alive?
After her death -she was not the first
by a long shot -
for some years it seemed I was attending
funerals each summer
as if it was the Iowa heat my mother's sisters
succumbed to.

The survivors have apparently vanished
although it was more
my reluctance to use the Internet
to seek them out.
After all this time, I have forgotten even
their names:
Rita, Anna, Dolores, Dorothy, Vera, Marie,
Cyrilla (my mother) ,
Viola, Bernice, and one was called Poopdeck
in Idaho.

I remember the family gatherings in
New Hampton, Iowa
held at a park with a swimming pool
and a shell bandstand.
Running with my cousins, the food spread out
on the picnic tables.

I doubt if any are alive, but a part of me
wants to recreate the family history,
preserve it under glass.