Mary Elizabeth Birnbaum

Without the Needle of Pain There Is No Healing

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The day’s shining mitten picks me up
like a doll, and I feel my stitching;
what I thought was muscle,
is only soft, aching stuffing.
My fingers convulsed for a second in another’s.
I am nowhere near the gradual silk of love.
Death is when the envelope is opened,
the letter unfolded, the reading shines
through translucent words
to explain what is fragile, tattered.
Sometimes a dark bearded face turns, hearing,
no matter to whom the prayer is addressed,
eyes shadowed with an old passion.
Deep is the wound that speaks to wound.

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Mary Elizabeth Birnbaum was born, raised, and educated in New York City. Mary’s translation of the Haitian poet Felix Morisseau-Leroy has been published in the anthology Into English (Graywolf Press), and in And There Will Be Singing, An Anthology of International Writing (The Massachusetts Review, 2019). Her work has appeared in The Massachusetts Review, Lake Effect, J Journal, Spoon River Poetry Review, Soundings East, Barrow Street, and other literary journals. Mary has received two nominations for a Pushcart Prize.