Catastrophe Is Next to Godliness by Franny Choi
“When the Bad Thing happened, I saw every blade / And every year I find out what they’ve done to us, I shed another skin.” — Franny Choi
Grief by Victoria Chang
“The grief remains but is changed by / what it is covered with. A picture of / oblivion is not the same as oblivion.” — Victoria Chang
Wings of Return by Don Mee Choi
"In light, we all were ailing from separation and homesickness. In light, we had to find a way to settle down, as my mother said. In light, we lived like birds." — Don Mee Choi
#38 [I have observed pink monks eating blue raisins] by José García Villa
“Indeed I have observed and myself have partaken / of blue and pink raisins. But my joy was different: / My joy was to see the blue and the pink counterpointing.” — José García Villa
That Are by Sandra Lim
“So when I say stupid, I simply offer meaninglessness. / And when I say trilling, I only mean a leaving off of past sound.“ — Sandra Lim
San Maló by Luisa A. Igloria
“Never mind / that the bruise from such a severance / might not heal.” — Luisa A. Igloria
Reading Love Poems I Wrote to You by Yanyi
“Let this be the stanza / I allow myself love. / Not expecting an answer / but to have said the thing anyway.” — Yanyi
In the Tradition of Women Who’ve Blessed Me to Transfer Their Virtues by Asa Drake
“One year / in the middle of my life // I asked how full do I want to be.” — Asa Drake
Pleasure by Rick Barot
“On fewer days I agree / with the poet’s dread of being / the wrong person in the right world” — Rick Barot