I tried to print Armondo Valintinetti <br />last night but failed once again <br />At twenty he joined the Navy <br />and stayed two decades <br />then arrived at Spinoza HS <br />teaching for twenty-two years <br />and all that time <br />a perfect gentleman. <br />At sixty-two he retired <br />but the Principal <br />hired him to return three days a week <br />to mentor new teachers. <br />As the union guy <br />he asked me questions like, <br />“As a retiree <br />how many times a year <br />can I visit the dentist <br />for a cleaning? ” <br />“Once every six months, Val, ” <br />I said to him <br />then for some reason <br />perhaps the word clean setting me <br />off, I said, <br />“Can’t do my laundry <br />can’t even pick up dirty garments <br />from the floor, just step over ‘em.” <br />He said, “I wash my clothes every day <br />in my apartment.” <br />Slowly <br />couldn’t remember the exact day <br />I noticed Val had become slim <br />emaciated <br />others also witnessed the change <br />and after Christmas Vacation <br />he was dead <br />buried alone <br />ten days <br />in his apartment on Parrott Street <br />before his brother found him <br />and I wept <br />the solitary coffin time <br />more than I could imagine <br />never married <br />and for twenty years at Spinoza <br />no girlfriend every mentioned <br />or sad secret passion <br />but I knew: life without intimacy <br />and a penis wrinkled <br />even before the grave <br />would do its terrible work. <br />Dr. Irving Lebowitz <br />an almost Orthodox Jew <br />said he feared AIDS <br />the cause of Val’s death <br />“I hope so, ” I said.<br /><br />Charles Chaim Wax<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-christmas-poem-2/
