—Headline from USA Today, January 28, 2019
Turns out God is hairy and feral,
sleeps hard like your snoring uncle,
has the heft of a horse, and yet
will share his heat like a shaggy pet.
When a 3-year-old survives alone
in the woods through two nights of rain
and ice, and swears a bear stayed
with him like a friend—who’s to say
where cold, hard facts end,
and a universe of wonder begins?
–
Matthew Murrey is the author of Bulletproof (Jacar Press, 2019) and the forthcoming collection, Little Joy (Cornerstone Press, 2026). Recent poems are in Moist, Rust & Moth, Inflectionist Review, and elsewhere. He was a public school librarian for 21 years. He lives in Urbana, IL, with his partner.