Robert Plath

MURDER INC.

when john gotti's
12 year old son
got hit by a car
& killed
while riding his
moped in front of
his house
the neighbor
who was responsible
for striking the boy
disappeared

years later
in a book about gotti
it says that
to purge his
anger & grief over
the death of his son
gotti had men
kidnap the man
bring him to
a warehouse where
john gotti himself
cut the man
in three
with a chainsaw

i've tried this
method of catharsis
in my poems
i've tied my father
up to the page
& sawed him into pieces
with serrated sentences
but unlike
the man who
was cut in three
my father keeps
coming back to life
to run me over


Gerald So reads "Murder Inc.":



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Rob confesses: "My father was the inspiration for this poem in two ways. He would tell stories about his days as a bookie and collector for the mob in Brooklyn. I'd overhear these disturbing tales and when I was a little older the stories it led me to read a book about John Gotti. And unfortunately, the second way he inspired this poem was the way he treated his family, especially his children."

ROBERT PLATH is a 46-year-old poet from New York. He has over a dozen books out. He is most known for his collection A Bellyful of Anarchy (Epic Rites Press). He lives alone with his cat and stays out of trouble. See more of his work at www.robplath.com.