A Spirit Broken Loved By None Poem by Charles Chaim Wax

Celene called at 8: 20
said she read my letters
and cried
said she was tired of the whole drug thing
just tired
but needed $20 now
and could I please give
her the money.
In the background
I heard Billy boy’s pimp voice
still I said, “OK,
I’ll give you the money
be down to Atlantic Avenue in an hour.”
Two minutes she called again
said she wanted to come here
and that if she took a taxi
would I pay for it.
OK.
So she came over
and had peed in her pants again
also shot dope
because as soon as
she flopped on the couch
she nodded off
awake asleep
this went on for eleven hours.
Finally asked me to give her
$10 extra for her mother
already gave her a $20.
It came out she had another
fight with her mother
about a new step father.
Celene said,
“Everything’s for him
I feel like an outsider.”
Then she began crying
I handed her a tissue
staring at her naked body
20 years old
but still a baby
soft and vulnerable
needing only a mother’s love
to flourish
not in this life
the love
long gone
if ever
felt at all.