Transformation by Adam Zagajewski
"I’ve lived humbly, reading the paper, / pondering the riddle of power / and the reasons for obedience."
Slow Dance by the Ocean by Linda Gregg
"The world moves, my Lord, and I stay still, / yielding as it passes through."
I Am Not Ready To Die Yet by Aracelis Girmay
"I want to live longer. / I want to love you longer, say it again, / I want to love you longer / & sing that song / again."
Imagine Sisyphus Happy by Nicole Sealey
"But birds / pluck their own feathers, dogs / lick themselves to wound. Allow me this / luxury. Give me tonight to cut / and salt the open."
What it costs by Marge Piercy
"While / the heart kicks / like a strangled rabbit / and the lungs buckle / like poor balloons: / I will survive."
“Why Is This Age Worse…?” by Anna Akhmatova
"In a stupor of grief and dread / have we not fingered the foulest wounds / and left them unhealed by our hands?"
Addendum by Diane Ackerman
"I've got lots of sensibility and no common sense; / isn't it better to lie low while the universe bombards
The Leash by Ada Limón
"But sometimes, I swear I hear it, the wound closing / like a rusted-over garage door, and I can still move / my living limbs into the world without too much / pain
Detail by Eamon Grennan
"I began to understand / how a poem can happen: you have your eye on a small / elusive detail, pursuing its music, when a terrible truth / strikes