by Matthew E. Henry

After the 2022 dip pen and India ink creation of James Dye by the same name.

creation groans for the time
when it’s not fit outside
for man. when the cities
have been cast down
and all is unblemished
by shrine or cathedral,
chapel or mosque.
where the wild things are
free to sing the original
Language—speaking
in tongues forked and feathered,
smooth and spined,
bristled and boned.
the pined for time
when arks are burned
by creatures basking
in the endless pastures
between the firmly shuttered
windows of The Deep—
unencumbered by
the whirling spheres
within spheres, wheels
within wheels. the locust come
to blanket the sky
with giddy tidings
of gladness and great joy—
the evening of Behemoth
and Leviathan, the night
of The Dragon
and Rachav are at hand.
their rising cries echoed
by myriad others
whose ears are everywhere,
whose eyes are everywhere,
waiting—attuned—for the return
of Eden.

Matthew E. Henry (MEH) is the author of six poetry collections, most recently said the Frog to the scorpion (Harbor Editions, 2024). He is editor-in-chief of The Weight Journal, the creative nonficiton editor at Porcupine Literary, and an associate editor at Rise Up Review. MEH’s poetry and prose has appeared in Had, Massachusetts Review, Mayday, Mom Egg Review, Ploughshares, Redivider, Terrain, and The Worcester Review, among others. MEH is an educator who received his MFA yet continued to spend money he didn’t have completing an MA in theology and a PhD in education. You can find him at MEHPoeting.com writing about education, race, religion, and burning oppressive systems to the ground.