What to Do with Nine Twelfths–Accepted in San Diego Writers, Ink: A Year In Ink, Anthology, Volume 8, 2015

At the time it seemed a good idea
Dividing his ashes
One half—then another divided in sixths
For each child, his brother
And me, always trying to please everyone

But he’s probably not pleased
Lurking in plastic bags, in cardboard boxes,
In the garage

Oh, one part of him is in Yosemite
Another in the surf at La Jolla
A third is in his brother’s garden

But what to do with nine twelfths?
The house?
There are already too many ghosts
Dragging their vaporous selves out from between
computers, cell phones, printers
and vast quantities of unlabeled chargers

Not the vegetable garden for the confirmed hater of spinach and broccoli!
His kids said Disneyland, but now they rarely visit
Afraid I may say,
“Just a minute, I need to give you something from the garage.”
They are wise to me
Our family of indecision, denial

So there he sits
What will I do with the nine twelfths in the garage?