John Walsh wanted to be a psychiatrist <br />sadly he never finished high school <br />and could hardly read <br />and would go days <br />speaking a strange language <br />only he understood <br />finally returning to English <br />nevertheless he studied <br />the human mind <br />and asked if he could be called Doctor. <br />I had no desire to dash <br />any man’s hopes and dreams <br />so when I walked into <br />Meng’s Restaurant in Coney Island <br />I sat at his table and said, “Doctor, <br />a guy I know is drinking heavily <br />and the doctor said he gotta quit <br />or he’s gonna croak, <br />plus he got Hepatitis C <br />and can’t control his bowels <br />thus he’s soiled <br />the couch innumerable times <br />and every chair in the house <br />thus his wife is going through hell <br />watching him drink himself to death, <br />to say nothing of constantly <br />disinfecting fabric. <br />He went away to dry out <br />but as soon as he came home <br />he started in again.” <br />Without a moment’s hesitation <br />the Doctor said, <br />“Bernstein, the man’s on a suicide trip <br />like in my home town a guy was on <br />the same booze journey <br />but he was strong as an ox <br />In fact we called him that, Ox. <br />‘Hey, Ox, lift that car.’ <br />and he’d do it. <br />Eventually he hung himself <br />from a pipe on the ceiling <br />cause it was taking <br />so long for him to die.” <br />“Why’d he want to do away with himself? ” I asked, <br />“The man was strong on the outside <br />but weak on the inside <br />from a trauma <br />like when your old man <br />smashes you in the head <br />with a 2x4 cause you dropped <br />his favorite tea cup. <br />See maybe this guy <br />got thumped twenty times, <br />and that’s the magic number <br />cause five bashes <br />a man can recover from <br />but twenty wallops <br />no way.” <br />He paused, closed his eyes, <br />sighed, then said, <br />“A lousy teacup <br />and if not that <br />any old thing <br />to bang away <br />on <br />brains <br />so scrambled <br />sometimes <br />I forget my own name.” <br />“Doctor, ” I said, <br />“you’re the Doctor.”<br /><br />Charles Chaim Wax<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/dueling-with-memory/
