My Cradles

FROM THE ONLINE CHAPBOOK FLAMINGO PARK

My Cradles

Miriam Levine

Those shoes by the door won’t get a shine on.

They’re Freetime from San Antonio Shoemakers.

Waist, tongue, eyelet, throat, O shoes, you have

vamps, too, those top parts—not vamps

meaning seducer, bloodsucking vampire.

Theda Bara played one. Mae West vamped

in platforms. My soles are flat. Orthopedic

chic the Times calls you—not on my life, still

would I have one without you? My Freetimes,

my cushions, cradles, pain-easing sisters,

brothers, my chambers, my twins,

I rock on your safe treads.

« Read the previous poem Read the next poem »

Flamingo Park
Miriam Levine
2026

Flamingo Park is Miriam Levine’s gift to you. The setting of this online chapbook is the Flamingo Park neighborhood of Miami Beach, Florida. The themes, for the most part, are love, death, joy—laughter and tears—the longstanding themes of lyric poetry.