Solar by Luisa A. Igloria
"And why should we not thank the sun / for life and warmth it lavishes on all / regardless of caste or class"
[Goldenrod, I could say, you know, everybody wants something] by Diane Seuss
"Goldenrod, is your dying hard? I know, / I know dying's hard. Are you reaching toward, you know, or just reaching?"
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."
Heavy by Mary Oliver
"Have you heard / the laughter / that comes, now and again, / out of my startled mouth?"
Being in This World Makes Me Feel Like a Time Traveler by Kaveh Akbar
"One day I stopped in a lobby for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres / and ever since, the life of this world has seemed still."
Clear Night by Charles Wright
"I want to be bruised by God. / I want to be strung up in a strong light and singled out. / I want to be stretched, like music wrung from a dropped seed."
Notebook Fragments by Ocean Vuong
"Woke up screaming with no sound. The room filling with a bluish water / called dawn."