The Undertaking by Louise Glück
“Extend yourself— / it is the Nile, the sun is shining, / everywhere you turn is luck.”
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"
[Goldenrod, I could say, you know, everybody wants something] by Diane Seuss
"Goldenrod, is your dying hard? I know, / I know dying's hard. Are you reaching toward, you know, or just reaching?"
The Two-Headed Calf by Laura Gilpin
"But tonight he is alive and in the north / field with his mother. It is a perfect / summer evening
Eagle Poem by Joy Harjo
"Breathe in, knowing we are made of / All this, and breathe, knowing / We are truly blessed
Good Bones by Maggie Smith
"Life is short and the world / is at least half terrible, and for every kind / stranger, there is one who would break you
Happiness by Raymond Carver
"Such beauty that for a minute / death and ambition, even love, / doesn't enter into this."
From Blossoms by Li-Young Lee
"O, to take what we love inside, / to carry within us an orchard, to eat / not only the skin, but the shade, / not only the sugar, but the days