
This selection, chosen by Managing Editor Krista Cox, is from Wilderness//Kingdom by Jory Michelson, released by Floating Bridge Press in 2019.
Kingdom
If desire fell from the tree
of knowledge then let me build
a kingdom of apples. The kingdom
will be like this:
ten young men crowned in lilacs,
ten young men reclining on cedar boughs,
ten young men moving like night rain
among saguaros.
Forget the parable
about the five wise virgins who prepared
for the bridegroom’s arrival, they will keep
their oil. This kingdom
is built from the generosity of a kingfisher’s
breast, the thallus of lichen, three agates in the hand
of a boy who’s rowed to shore. In this kingdom there is
no how-to-be-desired, no treasure
to be found in a field, because it shall not be
hidden from you. No, it is
on the lips of every lighted face that seeks
to kiss you welcome.

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