Blood Orange by Charles Simic
“Everything is teetering on the edge of everything / With a polite smile.” — Charles Simic
The Email Finds Me by Lisa Muradyan
“the email wants me to know / it will be alright, that it will be / more than alright” — Luisa Muradyan
MECHANICAL PENCIL by Duy Đoàn
"Every variation I try has that line under it: red, squiggly, foreboding failure." — Duy Đoàn
journal (take #27) by nat raum
“dear diary, perhaps it’s not wise to dwell on how small i am” — nat raum
It’s A Lot by Jon Sands
“It's a lot to not get your feelings hurt, / to let emotions pass through you, / to see your mother look like your grandmother. / It's all very necessary, but it's still a lot—” — Jon Sands
Afraid So by Jeanne Marie Beaumont
"Am I responsible for these charges? / Are you contagious? / Will we have to wait long?" – Jeanne Marie Beaumont
Poem Full of Worry Ending with My Birth by Tarfia Faizullah
"I worry I can no longer pretend / enough to get through another // year of pretending I know" – Tarfia Faizullah
Guard Duty by Tomas Tranströmer
"Task: to be where I am. / Even when I'm in this solemn and absurd / role: I am still the place / where creation works on itself." – Tomas Tranströmer
Up by Margaret Atwood
“Now here's a good one: / you're lying on your deathbed. / You have one hour to live.” – Margaret Atwood