To the New Year by W.S. Merwin
"so this is the sound of you / here and now whether or not / anyone hears it"
Leaf by Seán Hewitt
"For woods are forms of grief / grown from the earth. For they creak / with the weight of it."
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."
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."
Most Days I Want to Live by Gabrielle Calvocoressi
"And I said, / Then, gosh. What’s the point? / The flowers themselves, / I suppose."
Lucky by Kirsten Dierking
"All this time, / the life you were / supposed to live / has been rising around you"
Where We Are Headed by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
"At first we just say flower. How / thrilling it is to name."
Because by Grace Schulman
"Because, in a wounded universe, the tufts / of grass still glisten, the first daffodil / shoots up through ice-melt