top of page

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

Grinthal_edited.jpg

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.

bottom of page