Immigrant Churches, by Garrett Phelan

Who Made This City: Immigrant Churches, by Garrett Phelan (USA) contemporary

Immigrant Churches
 
In Hartford they’re rearranging 
the big churches immigrants built.
No one attends church anymore.
 
The mouth is where a biblical God 
and our dead live.
 
When strangers name my places
in the South End like Franklin Avenue, Frog Hollow,
Charter Oak Terrace, and Hillside Avenue,
 
I remember the church, St. Lawrence O’Toole,
where I kissed the dried skin of a dead Pope
in a glass locket held by a nun.
 
Which of all my actions have been sacred acts?
 
We want to cleanse intentions with simple rites. 
We believe conceptions can be immaculate.
 
But when I listen, God brings
my words to ruin. I lose courage
in sentence, prayer and holy water.

Garrett Phelan
​
Garrett Phelan is the author of the poetry collection Outlaw Odes (Antrim House Books) and micro-chapbooks Unfixed Marks and Standing where I am ((Origami Poem Project). His poems have appeared in a variety of publications including Potomac Review, Connecticut River Review, Word Riot, Ekphrastic Review, Off the Coast, decomP, Unbroken Journal, and Leaping Clear. He is a Pushcart Prize nominee.