Friday, May 01, 2015

New Poetry by Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois










Painter

When I graduated high school
I figured I’d spent enough time
sitting at a desk

I thought about everything I’d learned
in school
and out

and figured that my most salable skill
was painting houses
I was living in L.A.
which made house painting
possible year-round

not like Michigan
where one of my cousins lived
where winter shuts down the world  

I got a truck
ladders, brushes
got cards printed
gave them to my friends’ parents
Word- of-mouth took care of the rest

Some friends came back for holidays
and said: You’re smart
You could have made something of yourself

but every day I renew the world
I take old surfaces
and refresh them  
put gladness in the hearts
of homeowners
and neighbors
and even people just driving down the street

I don’t trouble myself with ideas
At lunch I sit against an unpainted wall
and chew the sandwiches my wife puts together

I scribble notes to myself
like this one
and sometimes on the ladder
I wonder why I do it


Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois 2015



 Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois has had over eight hundred of his poems and fictions appear in literary magazines in the U.S. and abroad. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize for work published in 2012, 2013, and 2014. His novel, Two-Headed Dog, based on his work as a clinical psychologist in a state hospital, is available for Kindle and Nook, or as a print edition. He lives in Denver

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