PENTITO
In 1973
Leonardo Vitale
Gave himself up
To the Palermo police
He wanted to talk
About certain things
After finding God
He told the inspector
He burned his clothes
And smeared himself
In shit
Now he was ready
To talk
The inspector
Didn’t believe Vitale
Placed him with a doctor
Locked him away
After his cure
Vitale’s old friends
Gunned him down
As he walked home from Mass
With his mother
The inspector cried
He knew no longer
Men of honor
DEPARTMENT OF COLLAPSING BUILDINGS
The world’s largest
Consumer of concrete
Gone domes
And basilicas
Block on block
Hiding the mainline
Above a gray beach
The pizzeria plays Alessio
A woman half-frozen
Mounts her horse
If they caught fire
It would only kill
The people
You have to wait
For these buildings
To kill themselves
TONY HANCOCK
He threw back his head
And asked
Why they were laughing
STOUGHTON
Is named
After the chief justice
Of the Salem Witch Trials
No puritans live here
More rats than commuters
On the station floor
Five nail salons
A church with broken shingles
And Club Alex’s
Brockton has Rocky and Marvin
Sharon has money
Stoughton has a growing eight inch tooth
That it must grind
Or else
Die
Gnaws in the morning
Devours at night
END
BIO: Max Thrax lives in Boston. His stories and poetry have appeared in Bristol Noir, Versification, Shotgun Honey, and The Daily Drunk. Find him online at www.maxthrax.com or on Twitter @ThraxMaximilian.
