The Crucial Trait

Flat feet,
nearsightedness,
an utter lack
of aptitude
for anything mechanical –
my chromosomal legacy
includes a cartload

of propensities
and liabilities
to rue, and ponder,
hereinafter.
But I will claim
as mine
genetic proof

my antecedents
were divine:
my brother
and my father
and my mother were
all hopelessly susceptible
to helpless laughter.


.