The Undertaking by Louise Glück
“Extend yourself— / it is the Nile, the sun is shining, / everywhere you turn is luck.”
Transformation by Adam Zagajewski
"I’ve lived humbly, reading the paper, / pondering the riddle of power / and the reasons for obedience."
To the New Year by W.S. Merwin
"so this is the sound of you / here and now whether or not / anyone hears it"
Clam by Mary Oliver
"Each one is a small life, but sometimes long, if its / place in the universe is not found out."
The Conditional by Ada Limón
"Say we spend our last moments staring / at each other, hands knotted together"
untitled by Rachel McKibbens
"Last Love, I am all that is left. Forgive me. / I did not see you coming. Forgive me. // Last Love, every day without you was a life / I crawled out of. Amen."
What We Agreed to Call “Snow” in Yorùbá by I.S. Jones
"Snow is a landscape of loneliness. // It returns to Earth if only to be touched a little longer."
Wrong Turn by Luci Shaw
"I took a wrong turn the other day. / A mistake, but it led me to the shop where I found / the very thing I'd been searching for."
The Light Continues by Linda Gregg
"When the sun / is gone, the light continues / high up in the sky for a while. / When I return, the moon is there. / Like a changing of the guard."
Small Kindnesses by Danusha Laméris
“Don’t die,” we are saying. / And sometimes, when you spill lemons / from your grocery bag, someone else will help you / pick them up."