There's a Box in the Garage You Can Beat With a Stick

Michael Teig's poems are moving, intelligent, full of delight, and—most refreshingly—a pleasure to read. Stephen Dobyns says of Teig's poems, "they have this ability to make the world fresh again and make us realize why we love the world, despite its failings and our own."

When they gave him a shovel
he repaired the ground.

When they addressed him in memos
he said I am lonely too.

He gave them a shrug
and held

a gray cat to his chest
like an alibi.

Michael Teig is founding co-editor of jubilat. He won the inaugural A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize.