In Winter by Michael Ryan
"are you smiling / at an idea met in a book / the way you smiled with your whole body / the first night we talked?"
forgive me for the parts of you i’m yet to kiss by Ifeanyi Ogbo
"i used to think there was only one part of / the body meant for kisses, / but on your body I discovered a thousand places."
Once by Eavan Boland
"I do not want us to be immortal or unlucky. / To listen for our own death in the distance."
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."
There Comes the Strangest Moment by Kate Light
"Your heart’s in retrograde. You simply have no choice. / Things people told you turn out to be true."
Naming the Heartbeats by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
"When you / get a group of heartbeats together you get names that call out / into the evening’s first radiance of planets"
Notebook Fragments by Ocean Vuong
"Woke up screaming with no sound. The room filling with a bluish water / called dawn."
The Hug by Tess Gallagher
"Love – that’s what we’re talking about, love / that nabs you with “for me / only” and holds on."