The Roses by Mary Oliver
“day after day / you sit near them; day after day / the honey keeps on coming” — Mary Oliver
The Five-Thousand-Year-Old Heart I’ve Swallowed by Choi Jeongrye
“Do the flowers bloom and fall and bloom and fall without knowing the endless loneliness of my bare feet?” — Choi Jeongrye
How the Past Comes Back by Natasha Trethewey
"like a child learning to speak / then naming / everything; as flower," – Natasha Trethewey
Starlight, 1962 by Victoria Chang
“Suppose the stars are just our grief reflected back to us, proof that grief sometimes forgets its source, that it can find dead things no matter how distant.” — Victoria Chang
My Life Was the Size of My Life by Jane Hirshfield
“I was hungry, then, and my life, / my life, too, was hungry” — Jane Hirshfield
To Revolt Is To Insist On Joy by Nur Turkmani
“The poems weren’t lying. It’s true. / It’s true it’s true it’s true” — Nur Turkmani
Heaven is Us Being a Flower Together by Max Ritvo
“You think death comes at the cessation of touch. / You are a flower bulb / which can feel even in the winter earth” — Max Ritvo
“Why Is This Age Worse…?” by Anna Akhmatova
"Why is this age worse than earlier ages?" – Anna Akhmatova
A Letter in October by Ted Kooser
"And I, / who only wished to keep looking out, / must now keep looking in." – Ted Kooser