Summer by Robin Coste Lewis
"I peeled / a banana. And cursed God—His arrogance, / His gall—to still expect our devotion / after creating love."
In My Next Life Let Me Be a Tomato by Natasha Rao
“I want to be unabashed, audacious, to gobble / space, to blush deeper each day in the sun, knowing / I’ll end up in an eager mouth.”
The Undertaking by Louise Glück
“Extend yourself— / it is the Nile, the sun is shining, / everywhere you turn is luck.”
Postcards to the Other Brown Girl in My Weightlifting Class by Tarfia Faizullah
"I do not want / to give myself—I want to be stem, / stamen, petal, not blossom, not bloom—"
Transformation by Adam Zagajewski
"I’ve lived humbly, reading the paper, / pondering the riddle of power / and the reasons for obedience."
Clam by Mary Oliver
"Each one is a small life, but sometimes long, if its / place in the universe is not found out."
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."
When Your Life Looks Back by Jane Hirshfield
"Whatever direction you turned toward was face to face. / No back of the world existed, / No unseen corner, no test. No other earth to prepare for."