Box by Andrew Shields

Our food is in a triple-layered box
that we can't open. Each layer has a hole
for things to fall through, while the sides have slits

that we can put our fingers in, or sticks

we've stripped the bark from with our teeth. We poke

at carrots or at apples left inside,

to slide them to the holes so they will fall

and fall and fall into our waiting hands.

And so we live on fruit and vegetables

and bark, until the box is finally empty.

Later, it's full again, and we begin

our fingering and poking work once more.

---

Andrew Shields lives in Basel, Switzerland. His collection of poems "Thomas Hardy Listens to Louis Armstrong" was published by Eyewear in 2015. His band Human Shields released the album "Somebody's Hometown" in 2015 and the EP "Défense de jouer" in 2016.

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