July 4th Poem by Charles Chaim Wax

I trudged into Meng’s on July 4th
sweating already, not yet dawn,
plopped down next to Treasure and Mary.
”You alright, Bernstein? ” asked Treasure.
“Hmm, ” I managed to utter.
“Anyway, ” said Mary turning to Treasure,
“my sister is a moron
and her husband Larry is a bigger moron.”
“Huey, where’s the napkins? ” I called out.
“Go McDunnie, ” he replied.
“Larry got fired for stealing from the liquor store, ” said Mary,
“and he also got fired from 7-Eleven.”
Treasure leaned forward
and gently wiped my brow
I stared at her, tears almost in my eyes
as I said, “When will this end? ”
“Only six months of torture
to go, Bernstein.”
Mary went on, “He’s a gambler. It’s a sickness.
Well, that whole family
is dysfunctional anyway.
When he was dating my sister Ida they took Evelyn,
her kid from another man, she was seven,
to the motel
cause Ida didn’t have nobody to watch her,
she didn’t trust me!
and they made love in the room
while Evelyn was watching TV.
So, I ask you, how normal is Ida? ”
“How’s Evelyn doing? ” asked Treasure.
“Don’t ask.”
“I wanna hear.”
“She’s a...
I don’t know the word for it,
but she likes to watch floods.
She got transferred from two schools already
because she stuffed up the toilet with Kotex
the flushed
and held the handle and...”
I fell off the chair, quite by accident
and lay there, quite peacefully
as Mary continued, “soon there was
a waterfall as Evelyn screamed with joy
the kid unbelievably happy.”
And then the ice-cube on my forehead
Treasure smiling
happiness all my own
which but a moment before
seemed utterly inconceivable.