Poetry of Issue #7        Page 21

Artie Waldorf

I was 9 when Artie Waldorf got out of prison
and grabbed my mother and kissed her
I know he just got out because
my sister stayed up late and listened

That winter his wife Frances wore lots of jewelry
                                         and mink coats
his son Jacky gave me my first kiss

Once he put his fist through my mother's dumbwaiter
when my uncle Sammy's friend Cream Cheese
came on to Frances

It was the winter Frances wore all the jewelry
                                               and mink coats
or maybe it was the next one
that Artie got shot to death in a barbershop chair

Daddy said he probably wanted too much.

  ©Lois Michal Unger 1999