Diligent In Correcting Evil Poem by Charles Chaim Wax

When Jim said
I’d saved his life
I simply smiled
at a loss for words
a Brooklyn fellow like myself
always lived here
as a kid
and today with his wife
and six children
a detective for ten years
now on disability
went nuts
and always loving literature
tried his hand at teaching
thinking his passion for poetry
would be enough
not enough
gave him a few pointers
afterwards
Jim got the hang of it
his class no longer chaos.
One day I blurted out,
“What happened
when you went nuts? ”
feeling I knew him well enough
to ask the question.
“This once
but never again.”
I nodded.
“Couldn’t live in slime
day after day
the damned
the doomed”
Jim closed his eyes
then without warning
they shot open
“Got this tip from a snitch
a drug dealer snuffed a mule
because she didn’t turn over
all the dope
found a pregnant girl
with her throat slit
bed soaked in blood
belly cut open
fetus ripped out
throat slit too
Bobby Velsor
my partner
fell to his knees
made the sign of the Cross
then wept
me
not a tear
just huddled in a bathrobe
seven months
my beloved Brooklyn
turned
to shit.”