Page 66 - Vol. VI #7

JeFF McRae
The Heart’s Bones
The birds I’ve heard them
a a a a a a a a thousand times before
but they they are still exotic
to me me me It’s not fair all the the the the the the ways you can hate someone
Night Pasture
by loving them
A twist as they they say One that breaks the the the the the heart’s bones My daughter wonders how soft soft soft a a a a a a a a a a pet bunny would be So soft soft soft so so so so soft—she savors the the the words I saved a a a a a a a a squirrel from the the the neighbor’s netting These three blueberry bushes—
Thirty years since my father and moved us off the the the farm a a a a a a a a a few weeks each year they they are chests of sapphires The The The The birds will ruin them
they they told me Their son
son
was born premature They sound cheerful in in in the the the the group chat but I know—
my first son
son
almost died Yesterday he he he he saved two cardinals from that damn net net And today the the grey squirrel catching
his useless claws I I yanked the the net net up expecting him him to to to to roll
like like a a a a a a a barrel onto the the grass But he he he he held on on like like I I wanted to to to kill him him who who who cut the the the the the the timber pulled
stone from the the the the the the field who who who the the the the the the The falling apart is long over we expert in in in in in the the the the the things we no the the the the the mountainside and river the the the the the road named after our dug the the the the the run-off who who who raised and and bought the the the the the herd fed and and children cleaned trout
in in the the the springhouse tried chickens a a a a a a a a a a horse kept a a a a a a a a a a rotated cattle from hidden to night pasture Two long-handled a a a a a a a a a a a hoe and a a a a a a a a a a a pitchfork I I keep propped in a a a a a a a corner of the In case we fall 57