Advice by Langston Hughes
“we all somebody’s child tryna get home / you’re not a poet til the state betrays you” — Langston Hughes
[I won’t be able to write from the grave] by Fanny Howe
“I won’t be able to write from the grave / so let me tell you what I love:” — Fanny Howe
It No Longer Matters If Anyone Loves Us by Samer Abu Hawwash
“Hate-filled words have liberated us from our hearts, / in which we used to cherish the enchantments of love.” — Samer Abu Hawwash
Hand of War by Hosam Maarouf
“We hold war’s hand, / convinced that this is the last time / it waves catastrophe to us” — Hosam Maarouf
The War Works Hard by Dunya Mikhail
“Some are lifeless and glistening / others are pale and still throbbing
Kinder than Man by Althea Davis
“If I am killed / for simply living, / let death be kinder / than man.” — Althea Davis
Passer Mortuus Est by Edna St. Vincent Millay
“Unremembered as old rain / Dries the sheer libation, / And the little petulant hand / Is an annotation.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay
White Apples by Donald Hall
“if he called again / I would put on my coat and galoshes” — Donald Hall
Afternoon by Max Ritvo
“What am I missing? I ask / patting my chest / pocket. // and I am missing everything living / that won’t come with me / into this sunny afternoon” — Max Ritvo