-Tell all the gang at the corner of Bedford and Stinziano..—

I thought I’d take the Metro

Then realized there was no such thing

So I boarded the Bedford and County

To the stop at Columbus Park, home-field advantage,
Where I disembarked and walked into the house at 1017.

This poem is commissioned by the consortium

Chaired by Ray Parese, vice-chaired by Joe Cinquini,

Rose Sasso and her husband Vincianto Sasso

Commemorating the death of their friend, my father,

Assassinated by Liggett & Myers on June 1, 1982.

In appreciation for their support of poetry,
Although each of them ignorant of doing so,

I’ve incorporated their names into this exposition.

All had labelled me
At one time or another, "A chip off the old block"

And they called him

A “Hot-shit” during much of his lifetime.

But I’m not always the chip off the old block as reported

And my father wasn’t the "live-wire" as defined by them
When at home or on the tedious, recurring weekday road.

It took another half century for the last of them
To strike-out at the plate of life.

In remembrance, herein are their names in print:

Ray Parese,
Who rejected me out-of-hand from playing
In the Columbus Park Little League,
Ignoring the impassioned pleas of my grandfather
As I stood-by, my right hand slipped into the leather
Of my new oversized glove, paid for by the hard-earned money
Shelled-out my father; the five-finger, olive-oiled and ready to play.

Joe Cinquini,
Who got stink-faced drunk one afternoon
At the "Club Marconi," then "bumped" a kid on a bike
With his heavy DeSoto near the church
But wasn't charged because the official police report
Proclaimed it to be an "unfortunate accident death resulting".

Crazy Rose Sasso,

Who had "a million bucks stashed away someplace"
And suffered from

A mouthful of hideous false teeth
Which slipped from her gums on occasion

And her husband,

Vincianto Sasso,
Who in his twenties

Reluctantly enlisted in the Army
In lieu of serving hard-time on a "morals" charge

When the judge offered him the option.

An early photograph of the gang
(Including my sharp-dressed, "double-breasted" father, sans Rose Sasso)

In striking visual imagery indicating their individual physical characteristics,
Is hereon attached to the publication of this poem which was commissioned by them.

 Quequechan