Joey Nicoletti

The Family Hitman

(RE: Chuckie “The Typewriter” Nicoletti, 1916-1977)
 
I am a pistol, filled
with water, squirting my brother in the eyes
when he falls asleep watching The Brady Bunch.
I am the mustard-stained, red nylon, textured
Mo Cheeks jersey in the cheap seats
of Madison Square Garden.
I am the name and date written
in chicken scratch, on the card
of the overdue library book.
I am not the gold horn, dangling
from the 14 karat chains on the thick necks
of my uncles and cousins.
I am not one of the mechanics
who fired at JFK
from behind a picket fence in Dallas.
I am not alone, not the recipient
of three bullets to the back of my head while waiting
in a sedan, before it catches fire,
keys rattling against the lacquered dash.


 


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Joey Nicoletti is a graduate of the Sarah Lawrence College MFA program and New Mexico State University, he is a former poetry editor of Puerto del Sol and currently teaches at SUNY Buffalo State College.