Domesticated

Brown and red leaves

Under April’s helpless shine
the city foresters shovel
and bucket clinks of leaf

mush from curb corners, fresh food softened by spring

getting dumped and spread across the tree
boxes paralleling parked cars to grow
shadow for summer’s looming crush.

 

Poem by Alex Shapiro

Alex Wells Shapiro (he/him) is a poet and artist from the Hudson Valley, living in Chicago. He reads submissions for Another Chicago Magazine and Frontier Poetry, and is a co-founder of Exhibit B: A Reading Series presented by The Guild Literary Complex. His work is recently published or forthcoming Blood Tree Literature, Boudin, Pangyrus, and Digging Through the Fat. More of his work may be found at www.alexwellsshapiro.com.