Another Life 6
“Then there was another Fetish
who lived in the old Lido Hotel.
He had a scar from the side of his mouth
to the tip of his ear, with chains in his room.”
“Ain’t that always the way, ” said Candy.
“What’s that mean? ” I asked
Not responding, either one, Frances continued,
“I was young and didn’t know
he was a Fetish
till I gave him the blow job.
At the time I slept in an empty building
but didn’t like that, so when be said
he’d take me to the Lido Hotel
I expected something wonderful
but the Fetish smell only made nightmares.
He drew everything out of me
with his strange laugh
like a fake Coney Island clown.”
Candy said, “Bernstein, bring over the food.”
I spread it on the bed.
Frances ate her sandwich quickly,
then gobbled a Danish.
saying, “I like good food, especially cake
that’s why I’m round.”
And then they stared at each other
quiet, content, the seeing enough
dreams reflected
back and forth, the past also
there
impossible to drift far from
one foster home to another
where Candy had spent her youth
cast away
my arms a shelter
of sorts
but not the final home.
Frances talking fast now,
“When I did the blow job
I threw up.
I was very much disappointed.”
“There’s always that, ” said Candy softly.
poem by Charles Chaim Wax
Added by Poetry Lover
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