Nephew’s Birthday
FROM THE ONLINE CHAPBOOK FLAMINGO PARK
Nephew’s Birthday
Miriam Levine
When his party is over, Roberto,
who spun like a spinning top,
does not move.
He still has milk teeth,
pillows of baby fat,
where his wrists join his hands.
He wears a gift from his mother:
of all the saints of healing,
the medal of Saint John,
which might pass
for a gold coin paid for his future
the specialist says will happen.
Roberto’s open mouth forecasts a word—
the pink line of his inner lip, too—
but he stares at us without a word,
silky black, the fortifying lashes—
damp, the pale curls at the nape of his neck.
Shaking his foot till the shoe slides,
he kicks it high.
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.