In Birthday Boy, the Italian poet and artist Marco Antonini constructs a cup-and-string phone between vulnerable adulthood and lingering childhood memories of

eucalyptus, avocado (“which was edible: / the pit or the pulp?”), popcorn (ceiling), the boxes of mysterious moves, argent dust, and a loop of buckets of sudsy water sloshed into the gutter. And the time when

47 years ago / We buried a bottle full of leaves and flowers / Our witches’ brew / Beneath the modest garden

Each of the cycle’s poems is paired with an ink drawing by artist Michael Günzburger, snagging disintegrating landmarks in place and time.