"Is it the city that paints a poet? Or does the poet paint the city? In this deeply affecting collection of ekphrastic scenes, artist Jordan Boyd transcribes the heartbeat of Oakland, CA, across a poetic canvas as if it were his own heartbeat. " - Cori Crooks " The gift Jordan Boyd gives in shadow burn is the gift of invention. Of form, of thrilling turns of phrase, of narrative. These poems are richly populated with the living, breathing world, and the living, breathing homies, hustlers, and dealers who occupy it. I will find myself returning to this collection for the sake of seeing what it truly is to ascribe complicated affections to the complicated world." -Hanif Abdurraqib