The Visitation at St. Vincent's
by Michael Grinthal
See the unspeakable
Was right here behind you
The whole time. Soiled
Bed, quiet
TV, sea glass
Vase and everything
Is mechanical. Today
Willingly breaks
Through your beautiful
(sayeth Edwina
Phlebotomist of
Jamaica) veins. Aliens
Are leaping from
My chest will we call them
Breaths. And what did our fathers say
About death
For us to use. Nothing
Other than follow us
Idiot so, follow
Me then
To the window at the end
Of the hall and stand
With your hands
Full of glucose and your ass
Full of working
At keeping you
Standing. Your memory
Of another window
With rain in it and Grace
And June is as good as any
To lose. Later
The parking lot
And the park you say
Were the biggest things I’ve seen
For days. Looking away
You say
I think I prayed
To them a little
Bit accidentally, I mean
Peed
Michael Grinthal’s poems have appeared in Jubilat, Queen Mob’s Tea House, Realpoetik, Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, and other publications. He has worked for 20 years as a community organizer and lawyer in the racial justice and tenants’ rights movements.