Summer by Robin Coste Lewis
"I peeled / a banana. And cursed God—His arrogance, / His gall—to still expect our devotion / after creating love."
In My Next Life Let Me Be a Tomato by Natasha Rao
“I want to be unabashed, audacious, to gobble / space, to blush deeper each day in the sun, knowing / I’ll end up in an eager mouth.”
The Courtesan’s Reply – Tambulasena by Shazea Quraishi
“Water drips down / my back. He grasps the rope / of my hair and climbs.”
The Undertaking by Louise Glück
“Extend yourself— / it is the Nile, the sun is shining, / everywhere you turn is luck.”
An Indian Girl’s Guide To Driving by Urvashi Bahuguna
“Nothing makes me forgive people / like learning I have something to teach them.”
After Touching You, I Think of Narcissus Drowning by Leila Chatti
"Enter any body / of water and you give yourself up / to be swallowed."
Solar by Luisa A. Igloria
"And why should we not thank the sun / for life and warmth it lavishes on all / regardless of caste or class"
Postcards to the Other Brown Girl in My Weightlifting Class by Tarfia Faizullah
"I do not want / to give myself—I want to be stem, / stamen, petal, not blossom, not bloom—"