Charles Chaim Wax Poems

Max Feld entered
the Teacher’s Center
angry, face red
ready for action
...

Ever since Andrew Stern’s wife
left him for guy living
next door
he couldn’t shake the blues
...

I ambled along Jamaica Bay
out towards Plum Beach and
stared at the waves
flashing in and flushing out
...

When I strolled into Mike’s Restaurant
under the Stillwell Ave subway station
at 3: 07 in the morning
I spotted Minnie Hollis
...

John Walsh wanted to be a psychiatrist
sadly he never finished high school
and could hardly read
and would go days
...

1: 47 at night, still loitering on the Pier
with the usual crew
when old Tom Duffy walked by unsteadily
and as he passed under one of the lights
...

By now the delicate falling
of a shining snowfall soothed
every inch of Brooklyn
which I announced to everyone
...

Edgar Parrott lost four fingers
on his left hand,
his left ear and left eye
when a pack of firecrackers
...

Things
...

In 1968 I landed a job in Berriman JHS
thus keeping me out of Viet Nam
but if I faltered and got fired
I’d be there swatting flies and fleeing bullets.
...