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Feature Poet:
Ted Jonathan
These Words Are of No Help
to Holly
At 51, Holly is the oldest
resident at the Bronx
homeless shelter for women. Her barn owl face--features
large circular glasses in a brown plastic frame, resting--
low-- on the bridge of her nose. Flabby but healthy--
with grayish-brown hair--she is the only white resident.
Tomorrow will be Christmas. Her first in 12 years without
Pumpkin and Rhett-- her two mixed-bred dogs. She used to
celebrate Christmas with them, in her tiny Washington
Heights apartment that the three of them shared.
At the foot of the small fresh tree would be three care-
fully wrapped gifts. Every year, the dogs would knock
the tree down, and Holly'd go through the motions of
scolding them--inwardly, delighting in their traditional
mischief.
Within the past year both dogs
died. Alone--she'd sleep
most all the time. The temp-agency stopped calling altogether.
She lost her tiny apartment. Under her bed at the shelter--
and always-- within arms reach, is a 4 ounce Maxwell House
instant coffee jar. The red plastic lid-- of which-- has
been twisted shut tight. It contains the ashes of her dogs.
It is a small glass jar-- with a red label.
What Goes Down Must Come up
buried by the buried boy,
beneath the mudslide of miles
of noise,
climbs a punctured heart that will
not die, and when it does reach
the top,
before it topples back,
blood leaks warmly out my eyes--
never am I more alive--
Son of Sam
Clapping, he'd look around; at the other
boys on
his side of the volleyball court who were clapping.
When they stopped, he stopped.
Burly, friendless, and blank,--
Berkowitz. In black dress socks, gym shorts, and
sneakers. Back in high school gym class.
Spent a couple years as a peacetime soldier, and moved
on to become a nighttime postal worker; before he got
busted for being--
Son of Sam. Girl hunter who'd thunder them bloody with
his 44. A self-described, "chubby behemoth." Who
heard
his killing orders in the--
Barking. Out his window. In the alley. Sam Carr's dog--
BARKING BARKING BARKING BARKING--
Berkowitz. Showed you. Chose to. Show you.
KILLING KILLING KILLING KILLING--
BREATH-ING!
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