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Gary Margolis is Emeritus Executive Director of College Mental Health Services and Associate Professor of English and American Literatures (part-time) at Middlebury College. His third book, Fire in the Orchard, was nominated for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize. His poem Winning the Lunar Eclipse, about the Red Sox World Series 2006 win, was featured on Boston’s ABC5. His memoir is titled Seeing the Songs: A Poet’s Journey to the Shamans in Ecuador, and recent books include Time Inside and Museum of Islands.

For Pennies

Gary Margolis

In the North End,
Mary’s carried out
of her knave and paraded

around the neighborhood.
Some of us cross ourselves.
Some of us kneel, as if the curb’s

a pew. I like running
into the street with the dollar bill
my father gives me, to pin

to Mary’s breast.
My uncle slips a lottery ticket
into my hand and says

to stick it into Her Baby’s
swaddling. By the end
of the afternoon Her Statue appears

to be a leafy tree the wind knows
what to do with.
When I see Our Lady smile

I know I’ve accomplished
what I promised.
The priest will forgive me

when I step into the house
of his shady box.
Forgive me for stealing

the extra cannoli my father
says to save for the soul
of my grandmother.

Who likes to sit by the window,
waving at all the cops,
sweeping up the bills.

The ones the wind ripped off.
Charity, for Boston’s Finest,
my mother used to say.

Before God took her someplace
inside the church.
And left her there for me

to never see again.
Unless I count the smoke
and the incense.

The holy water.
The box with a slot
for pennies.

— Gary Margolis

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