Easily recognized as a small, brown-gray bird with a short tail and stubby beak, the sparrow is quite humble. Abundant particularly in urban and degraded areas these creatures exist pleasantly, but are not seen as exceptional or attractive birds. Yet, when I found this tiny creature’s body in my driveway, I gasped at how beautiful it was.
“There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow,’ wrote Shakespeare, presumably referencing the New Testament where Jesus reassures his followers that not even a sparrow can fall without God’s notice, and that their own more significant suffering is certainly seen and potentially forestalled or redeemed by God. With this in mind, road kill became a self-portrait.