Cottonwood Falls

It’s turning June in Chicago. For a week now cottonwood pollen has been falling. Bitter Leaf has been sleeping in the park with an axe through his head called cognac.

The cottonwood laces into his crusty eyelashes. His head and body lie flat on their back, and when another puff falls on his face he tucks his head down and groans, like they’re heavy.

Image: The Sleeping Man in a Greater Manchester Street, Harold Riley, 1973. Oil on canvas.