Stephen J. Golds

CALL ME MORBID, BUT...

I’ve never once sat in a barber’s chair for a shave and a haircut,
the barber’s cape around my throat without thinking about
Albert ‘The Lord High Executioner’ Anastasia.
A twisted kind of red, white and blue. October at
The Park Sheraton Hotel, faded black and white.

There’s something smoking romantic
in a death like that. Iconic. Unyielding and dogged.
A piece of nostalgia wrapped
in celluloid for the mass
consumption of the twentieth century.
 
Immortalized, bullet riddled, like Jesus splayed covered
with sheets of white while the fedora tipped press men gagged
on the smells of blood, hair tonic, shit and pomade.
They said he attacked his own reflection in the mirror
when the bullets hit home. A final self-evaluation

But what a way to go out? Hollywood scripted for the bad guy
everyone loved to hate. If I could choose, I’d like to catch death
like that. Fast and hard, in public with people gasping shocked
exhalations.The good die slowest and alone it seems,
it’s always better to leave those you love with a slammed door.

The barbershop where he finally caught it
is a Starbucks now. People sip at lukewarm soy lattes and
chat inanely about writing the great American novel on
their overpriced computers made in China.
I think about that sometimes too and it makes me a little sad.


Steve reads "Call Me Morbid, But...":



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Steve confesses: "I’ve always been fascinated by 1950’s and 1960’s Americana. This period in America’s history is so iconic. The music, the people, the events. It’s a period that gave the world a lot and still does today. The American Mafia was at its pinnacle during this time and even those black and white crime scene photos of hits are epic and iconic and add a grim sense of nostalgia to the period."

STEPHEN J. GOLDS was born in London, U.K, but has lived in Japan for most of his adult life. He enjoys spending time with his daughters, reading books, traveling, boxing and listening to old Soul LPs. His novel Say Goodbye When I’m Gone will be released by Red Dog Press in October 2020 and another novel Glamour Girl Gone will be released by Close to The Bone Press January 2021.