COUNTING THE NUMBER OF ANGELS OF DEATH AT THE HOSPITAL

"In rabbinic writings, there are at least a dozen angels of death..."
     -- from "A Dictionary of Angels," Gustav Davidson


I counted three last time:
two on smoke break
near the door on York Ave;
name tag affixed
to wing, and upstairs,
the third, room 915 B,
the shadow of a ruffled
feather over grandma's diseased
breast, one long flourescent bulb
above the bed, a box of white
tissues from the grocer,
a half-empty glass of juice
on the tray, mom asleep
in one of two visitor chairs,
her sister in the other,
bent over, pulling up the tongue
of an untied shoe.

Frank Matagrano



Read a review of Frank Matagrano's
first chapbook, Moving Platform.