Untelling

NEW LOVE

Christopher McCurry

You ask me what I 
want 
          a field of honey bees. 

I show you my hands. 
I cry. 

I’m still learning to speak 
my first language, I babble. 

My tongue a tower 
I climb seven hundred and 
thirty two years to meet 

my maker in your open 
mouth, to land, to coat 

myself only to be cast 
out, scattered. 

What do I want? 

To say your name 
out loud 

in the one 
language 

we all know 

throat thick 
with nectar. 

Christopher McCurry writes about love, teaching, and family. He’s the author of Open Burning and The Gospel of God Boy (Accents Publishing). He lives in Lexington, KY with his wife two kids and two dogs. In 2015, he co-founded a publishing company and community for working writers called Workhorse. 

ISSUE 3 | SUMMER 2025

Cover photography by Sarah Josephine Pennington