Floating To Fame Poem by Charles Wax

As I ate tofu ravioli
at my sister’s place
the phone rang. Her daughter
Annie leaped to answer it
and a moment later
said, “It’s Navin. A shark attacked him.”
“What? ” said my sister
grabbing the receiver.
Five minutes later
she told me the story:
Her son Navin had been
zooming along on his jet ski
when he lost control
and flipped off
sadly the machine sped away
as he bobbed in the water
the current being too strong
for him to swim after it.
so he floated helplessly
screaming for help
but after ten minutes
he grew tired of howling
simply quivering and twitching.
Then the hammerhead
sharks appeared. Of course Navin
stared at the sky
because he didn’t want
to see how close they were.
This lasted a good hour,
so Navin said,
but the paper reported
the next day
he floated
for a mere twenty minutes
before a boat came
and hauled him out:
Thus he was dubbed the Shark Man
because even surrounded by
at least four,
the Captain of the boat said,
not a single one attacked.
The next day
my sister called saying,
Navin made a grand last night.”
“Oh.”
Dave Eickwort
the owner of the Banana Peel
read the article
called Navin,
and offered him a job
as a male stripper
so on stage he walks
wearing a shark skin suit
then gradually he disrobed.
He was in instant success
with women stuffing
hundred dollar bills
in his jock strap.”
“Fantastic
Navin’s gonna be famous
and he found his true calling.”
“But is there a future
in stripping? ” asked my sister
always worrying
even when
good fortune
appeared
this time
via
four
not too hungry
hammerhead sharks.