Charles Rammelkamp

GROOMING

"I thought I should give something back,"
Joe started his story,
"so even though Dontay had a record,
might have been considered sketchy, unreliable,
I sponsored his rehab, helped him
start his own barbering business.
I came out of the ghetto, too, after all,
  before I joined the investment firm."

Joe hadn’t heard from Dontay for a while,
then it turned out
one of Dontay's clients was shot to death
while he was sitting in Dontay's chair,
getting his hair trimmed.

No doubt a deal gone wrong.
A couple young guys in hoodies
came in through the back door,
shot the guy three times in the chest,
kept on going out the front.

"Dontay's a good man," Joe assured.
"He does good work,
and I've always got his back.
But I think I’m going to start
going to The Hair Cuttery instead.”


Charles reads "Grooming":



Subscribe to Channel 52 for first view of new videos.


Charles confesses: "I overhead this at the gym one day, pedaling away on an exercise bike. Joe was relating this to another guy, Nick, his main point being the tough life Dontay and people like him face every day, But I thought I’d inject a bit of self-interest into the story."

CHARLES RAMMELKAMP is Prose Editor for BrickHouse Books in Baltimore, where he lives. His most recent book is American Zeitgeist (Apprentice House). A chapbook, Jack Tar’s Lady Parts, was recently published by Main Street Rag Press. Another chapbook, Me and Sal Paradise, is forthcoming from FutureCycle Press.