Preservation
Some poems will be wrapped
in newspaper, packed in a box
of popcorn kernels. Others soaked
in formaldehyde. This stack, photographed
with a small spy-camera; microfilmed.
These poems over here, folded
into triangles, geometrically arranged
deep in my pockets. A few poems,
silkscreened onto t-shirts, scarves, beach
towels. One or two poems, gold-plated,
worn as bracelets or earrings. Some strung
together as a mobile. The rest woven
into a shroud for a dying friend.
—Gregg Shapiro
___________
Gregg Shapiro is the author of the 2019 chapbooks, More Poems About Buildings and Food (Souvenir Spoon Books), published in February, and Sunshine State (NightBallet Press), due out in August. Other books by Shapiro include Fifty Degrees (Seven Kitchens, 2016), selected by Ching-In Chen as co-winner of the Robin Becker Chapbook Prize, How to Whistle (Lethe Press, 2016), Lincoln Avenue (Squares and Rebels Press, 2014), GREGG SHAPIRO: 77 (Souvenir Spoon Books, 2012), and Protection (Gival Press, 2008). Work is forthcoming in Gargoyle, Noctua Review, The Duck Lake Journal, Nixes Mate Review, Total Eclipse and the anthology Voices From the Fierce Intangible World (SoFloPoJo). His work was recently featured in Mojave River Review, the Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide, Minnie’s Diary, Acta Victoriana, and the anthology Lovejets: Queer Male Poets on 200 Years of Walt Whitman (Handtype Press). An entertainment journalist, whose interviews and reviews run in a variety of regional LGBT and mainstream publications and websites, Shapiro lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with his husband Rick and their dog Coco.