A humble man approached me so,

And asked, “Have you seen Heaven

down below?”

He danced a little, put on a show,

Held out his hand — said, “Come, you

ought to know.”

I hadn’t much else to do,

And of Heaven, I hadn’t a clue.

I thought it wouldn’t hurt to learn

A thing or two —

So I took the humble man’s hand,

And away we flew.

A world like ours it was, but empty,

Full of disaster, dark y...

The day my dad died started like any other, with burnt toast and blood slipping from the crack beneath the bathroom door. Mom apologized for burning the toast, said we could just have cereal, then ran off with another work call. Xavier was in one of his moods. He shoved me on the way downstairs and called me stupid. I didn’t know what Daisy was doing, or if she was even awake.

I just knew there w...

It starts with a heart

in an open plastic container,

and nobody knows

who it belongs to.

People stare.

They think of touching it,

but nobody does.

Everyone knows there’s someone

walking around

with a hole in their chest,

and they wonder

how that person is still alive.

They wonder how

the heart got there—

but nobody admits

it’s theirs.

So it stays,

untouched,

slowly beating

as if it knows, deep d...

Once in April, you woke up

feeling crushed by memories

you couldn’t quite recall,

even when you were banging your head

against the clouds.

I saw you stuck in place,

the sky tangled in your brown feathers,

and I could see what you wished

you still had: a boy in the grass

staring up at a world he didn’t

know would swallow him whole.

Yes, you were that boy,

and your hair used to be brown.

You sometim...

But that summer in 2016

was the last time I knew

what living was—

and wasn’t afraid.

We stole cigarettes from your dad’s drawer

and liked to watch them burn out

on the dirt,

a firework only we could understand.

Then we’d hide beneath my bed

as the world seemed to end,

and come out to see

it was just beginning.

Again.

Do you still dream of lightning?

I didn’t know boys with bruised knuckles

and...

Before Elias fell asleep, a thought he knew he shouldn’t have had crossed his mind. And he never ended up falling asleep at all, because that thought kept him awake all night. For the rest of the day, he felt like a piece of him was missing.

In the morning, his mom kissed his head and pulled back the curtains, urging him to get ready. But he lay in bed still, until his dad came into the room and ...

If a girl opened her mouth but no

sound came;

if a bullet turned itself around;

if heaven were half-true, half-wake;

if the lights stayed still;

if he believed in blue, and the

world,

for once, forgot the end;

if we knew name by breath;

if never meant almost;

if please meant always;

if an act of evil left you alive.

if nothing knew to begin;

if silence was the cry of

mercy.

if a girl had ...

You must be guilty of something.

There must be blood beneath

all this holy—

something half-consumed,

abandoned in your rush

to prove you were full.

But still

you are hungry.

You lift your hands

like a plate,

praying for a stomach

less evil.

How guilty,

to fear your own desires

so fiercely?

To be so desperate

to devour yourself

completely...

The voice

rattles —

hymns

in

the

back

of

your

head —

your mother

crying:

“Please

don’t let

him be

dead.

Please

don’t let

him be

dead.”

The gun.

The bullet.

The walls

daring

to close

in.

The stars.

The boy.

The hands

up your thighs —

T H E

S I N.

In the name

of the — Father,

the Son,

the Holy Spirit —

In the name of the heart,

the hands, the cigarette

he lit before he spat blood

into a cu...

Beneath the willow, you will find

A bit of hope, some peace of mind,

A heart still young and tearful-eyed,

Beneath the willow, beneath the sky.

Some seek comfort in endless light,

While others rest in the hush of rain.

Some guard dreams in the arms of night,

While others call to the dark in vain.

But whether you come in joy or pain,

Beneath the willow, beneath the sky,

Beneath this weary moon,

B...