Ernie Hopp Threatened To Strangle Poem by Charles Chaim Wax

Principal Tom Tartt
with piano wire
made sense
since Hopp taught music
police were called
spoke to my buddy
Officer Frank Belson
who said,
“Bernstein, being UFT Chapter Leader
ain’t no bed of roses.”
I smiled wearily, then whispered
“Pressure’s too much for any man
and Ernie Hopp’s not any man
forever writing symphonies
and screaming in the middle
of the night
Mozart eats Fruit Loops
this from his landlady
during eviction proceedings.”
“Not part of UFT duties, ”
said Belson, “yet you went—
always the generous man.”
To make a long story short
Hopp apologized
said he ate some bad oatmeal
in the morning at Clement’s Diner.
Belson must have seen
my weary face because he said,
“Need a lift home, Bernstein? ”
“In your cruiser? up front? ”
Off we zoomed
along Ocean Avenue
Well, the man never forgot
the pictures I snapped of his daughter
at her Confirmation
and not a single pimple
plundering the photograph
hours in the darkroom
to do it
this before digital
but the smile
on that dear girl’s face
staring at her own image
immaculate
and shining
like a Queen on the highest throne
and don’t you know
of course
the blemish faded
from her face
still
from my own hand
that brief bliss
ah!
felt like the Almighty.