Mattuchio’s Scrap Metal By Jasen Sousa

Mattuchio’s Scrap Metal


My grandfather walks
the streets of Somerville
and collects materials
the rest of the city considers trash
and brings them back to his underground factory.

He piles screens,
doors, handles, lead, everything
but the, oh, wait, there is a kitchen sink too.

On a Saturday we load
the back of the truck,
grunts, bangs.

We drive as partners, businessmen,
to Chelsea, MA and arrive
at Mattuchio’s Scrap Metal.

We unload the truck
into two laundry bins, separate copper
and lead from aluminum
and wheel them into what looks
like a former airplane hanger.

The Italian man covered
in dirt and dust weighs
the aluminum, the copper and the lead.

He pulls out a wad
of 20’s and gives
my grandfather three hundred bucks.

We get into the truck
and ride back to Somerville.
He talks on the way home, anxious
to show my Grandmother
the killing he made off other people’s junk.




Taken From
Humming Eternity By Jasen Sousa (Written During Emerson College Era)
©