Parable
The kingdom of heaven is like a child
who finds a dead bird in the backyard,
sneaks out to retrieve it after his parents
have gone to sleep, and lays it on his bed,
a mound of mulch with legs and a beak
set against his cowboy sheets. Imagine
the tenderness with which he allots it
enough space so he won’t roll over too far,
only to wake and find it must have come back to life
and flown away in the early hours of morning.
Jon Lemay is an MFA candidate at Syracuse University, where he is an Editor-in-Chief for Salt Hill Journal. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Juked, Salamander, Bodega, Prelude, DIALOGIST and elsewhere—and his reviews have appeared in Barrelhouse and Poetry Northwest. Jon also co-hosts Pat & Jon on Their Best Behavior, a podcast about film and music. You can find him on Twitter @yawnlemay and on Instagram @jonlemay, and you can find more of his work at linktr.ee/jonlemay.
