Entangled In The Nets Of Desire Poem by Charles Chaim Wax

By now the snow a foot deep on the Pier
and still tumbling downstairs to earth
the sea and sky a vast swirling
the heart in awe, aching
solitude now welcome
yet needing a deeper solitude
until breath and air one utter moment
folded neatly into ancient stars
doing what they do
simple as that
almost eternal yet not truly so they too
eventually shifting to driest dust
floating through inconceivable distances.
“Bernstein, ” I heard, the voice of Billy Flynn
unmistakable. “Down here.”
“Where? ” I asked, almost sad to hear a human.
“Water’s edge.”
I trudged from the Pier to the boardwalk
then down the steps to his spot by the ocean.
I didn’t ask the why of his presence
probably like my own
seeking a semblance of transcendence.
He tilted the bottle of Thunderbird to his lips
took a hit, then heaved it
into the immense invisible sea saying,
“Katy created another baby
no father again.”
The cold now suddenly enough
I said, “Hot chocolate? ”
Silence until we sipped the steaming sweetness
under the orange heating coils in Nathan’s.
“My kid sister, fourteen younger than me
raised her up, after the drugs wiped my mother
off the face of this earth, did my best,
still Katy dropped out of high school with her first, a mistake
but six more, that’s total catastrophe
with no ring on her finger
no name ever mentioned.”
Outside the windswept snow
everywhere, no sign of let up.
“Why? ” asked Billy.
“Needs her belly filled
forever, ” I said, then added,
“If I were a woman—the same.”
then stared at the superb display
of ten billion unique snowflakes
so generous
with the wonder of creation.