Charles Chaim Wax Poems

Mary McCall
one of my students
raped
in an abandoned building
...

“Some folks ain’t never gonna make it, ”
said Willie Benney, “don’t ask me why
but that’s the truth
so if they can’t live in this world
...

I dragged myself to the train station
and when I arrived
I was surprised to see
five police cars blocking Sheepshead Bay Road,
...

When I arrived in Mike’s under the Stillwell Avenue
subway station I spotted Abie drinking a Bud
two empty cans already on the counter
surprised to see him at eleven in the morning
...

“Just ask Navin to ask, ” I said to my sister, “I’m his uncle
anyway down there in Florida they give pills out like cotton candy,
also have him ask his wife Sarah to try.”
“My brother, the drug addict.”
...

daylight crumbled
and the vast sky shifted endlessly
with flashing snowflakes
as wind howled unbreakable bits of sand
...

The wind turned about
and blew the keen squall into
my glasses. I started to count the snowflakes
on the left lens but it was an impossible labor
...

“Zobel Gibbs
jumped off the roof
in my home town, ” said Treasure.
“I’ll never forget his body
...

As soon as I entered
the Atlantis Bar and Grill
Lolli spotted me, took my arm,
and said,
...

the entrance to the Surf Hotel
a prostitute but more than just that.
“Bad night
to be walking the cold ground, ” I said.
...