See more of their work in Vol. VI #7

The Heart’s Bones
 By Jeff McRae

The birds, I’ve heard them
a thousand times before
but they are still exotic
to me. It’s not fair, all the ways
you can hate someone
by loving them. A twist,
as they say. One that
breaks the heart’s bones.
My daughter wonders
how soft a pet bunny
would be. So soft, so
soft—she savors the
words. I saved a squirrel
from the neighbor’s
netting. These three
blueberry bushes—
a few weeks each year
they are chests of sapphires.
The birds will ruin them,
they told me. Their son
was born premature.
They sound cheerful in the
group chat but I know—
my first son almost died.
Yesterday he saved two
cardinals from that
damn net. And today the
grey squirrel catching
his useless claws.
I yanked the net up,
expecting him to roll
like a barrel onto the grass.
But he held on like
I wanted to kill him.

Jeff McRae’s recent poems appear or are forthcoming in Antioch Review, Cloudbank, Burnside Review, and The Maynard.