Still Alive Poem by Charles Chaim Wax

Twilight in Coney Island
blue descending into deeper blue
at last obscurity
indicating
Universal Fate—
a bit of turmoil
then eternal darkness
well, I’d had a Pint of Jack Daniel’s
hoping for release
but only a spongy depression
seeped in
so I stood with the boys
in Nathan’s
keeping an eye on
the great matter.
Ralph Goldberg,67,
penniless after a lifetime of gambling
watched gusts of wind
swirl
and sipped tepid coffee
he’d been clutching
for the last hour
a coffee I’d bought for him
Vinnie T said, “There’s sharks
out there.”
“If they had to
they’d sell their own mother, ” noted Goldberg.
For some reason he asked Vinnie T
“Are you a shark? ”
“I ain’t in the class of
the real sharks
a real shark would
eat me up quick
those guys—
the ultimate
way beyond sharks
sharks see them coming
they go behind a door
don’t come out.
see that fly over there...”
I saw no fly,
but remained silent. “Them guys
when they kill you
to them just like
that fly
they took two rat bastards
to a barn Upstate
went and bought a new ax
then stripped both guys naked
and tied ‘em to chairs
next gagged ‘em
chopped off the toes
of the left foot of one guy
afterwards put a bullet
in his head
no way the guy’s still living, right?
but they chopped the toes off
the right foot anyway
other guy swallowed his gag
cause he seen what was happening
too much for him
choked himself to death
the ultimate them guys.
Then Vinnie T
studied his watch with care
finally asking
“Got any spare change
for the subway?
getting late
and my mom’s all alone.”