[BOX GARDEN]

All errant wildlife analyses are to go unfunded. An overhead
novel catching light, casting fresh linens of shadow. Through
the prism of not knowing one cannot know another organism.
A wine stain birthmark on a folded piece of parchment,
creating inscrutability. On our rivers and systems: both worlds
are bested. Boil jeans in a great big tub. You had lived in half
a dozen states. An entire wardrobe, outfits and equipage,
formulated on hangers. Wasps inlaid in fig.
The land's steward nonchalantly grasping a chalice.
What else is furnished? The favorite restaurant
of my youth, I'd uncovered, is actually a national chain—

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from Another Longue Durée—-published by Vallum

Buy it here

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Ian Cappelli's work has recently appeared, or is forthcoming, in Best New Poets, Beloit Poetry Journal, Bennington Review, Image Journal, The Iowa Review, Smartish Pace, Blackbird, The Florida Review, West Branch, RHINO, The Cincinnati Review, and Palette Poetry, among others. His chapbook "Another Longue Durée" won the 2025 Vallum chapbook contest. He is a creative writing (poetry) PhD student at the University of Denver and a Poetry / Translations editor at Denver Quarterly.