The Ghost of Chuck Wong

Bart Edelman

The ghost of Chuck Wong

Appears at your kitchen door,

Bargaining for your soul.

You’ve been expecting him.

He wears a nasty bowtie,

Radiates a Newmanesque glow,

And is, indeed, quite eager

To complete this transaction,

Because he has other clients

Up and down the boulevard.

After all, I’m afraid,

A ghoul is a ghoul is a ghoul—

No three ways about it.

Oh, yes, he’s sweet on you,

Promising confections galore,

If you’ll simply abandon

This paltry essence of yours—

Weak in spirit, slow in limb.

And since you’re sugar depleted,

Why not just fold,

Collect the goodies offered,

Beat it into the next life.

Yet where is it written

A soul is even required?

Best to depart on a high note.

Get what you can claim,

Before he has no use for you.

AUTHOR BIO

Bart Edelman’s poetry collections include Crossing the Hackensack, Under Damaris’ Dress, The Alphabet of Love, The Gentle Man, The Last Mojito, The Geographer’s Wife, Whistling to Trick the Wind, and This Body Is Never at Rest: New and Selected Poems 1993 – 2023. His work has been anthologized in textbooks published by City Lights Books, Etruscan Press, Harcourt Brace, Longman, McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hall, the University of Iowa Press, Wadsworth, and others. He lives in Pasadena, California.