No Rush by Todd Dillard
“It’s quiet now, / the storm splits open like sacramental bread, / and I love you I love you. Can you hear me?” — Todd Dillard
Soot by Kaveh Akbar
“When I fell to earth // I knew the way—through the soot, into the leaves.” — Kaveh Akbar
For My Friends, in Reply to a Question by Safia Elhillo
“in my dreams / I am touching the faces of my friends, we are / each one of us touching” — Safia Elhillo
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."
Wild Oats by W. S. Merwin
"I needed my mistakes / in their own order / to get me here" — W. S. Merwin
The Broken Sandal by Denise Levertov
"Where was I going? / Where was I going I can’t / go to now, unless hurting?"
A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes
"Maybe it just sags / like a heavy load. // Or does it explode?" — Langston Hughes
The Medicinal Cotton Clouds Come Down to Cover Them by Mary Jo Bang
"Neck nape a curve becoming / infinite abyss extended to wish, wish, wish," — Mary Jo Bang
No. 658 by Ono no Komachi
“the sum of those trysts / is less than a single glimpse” — Ono no Komachi
Variation on the Word Sleep by Margaret Atwood
"I would like to follow / you up the long stairway / again & become / the boat that would row you back / carefully," — Margaret Atwood