don't that beat all in poetry

on the day we got my father’s ashes
the company that killed him declared bankruptcy
a munitions factory that had held
the region hostages for years
extracting wage and benefit cuts
and tax perks from the state and
it had the village of Ilion in
an extended state of Stockholm Syndrome
the chemical exposure that accelerated
my father’s heart disease happened there
they tried to screw him out of his pension
when he had to retire at forty-nine
we have my father’s ashes now
Remington finally went tits-up
how do all these things happen together?
don’t that beat all

on the day we got my father’s ashes
his urn up on the table
the funeral director had barely set them down
when my father’s cat jumped up on the table
butted his head at it to mark it with his
scent glands
just like he always butted up
against my father’s graying beard
to say “this person is mine”
“this person is mine”
how do all these things happen together?
don’t that beat all
don’t that beat all