You Can’t by Maya Abu Al-Hayyat
“You can be the last leaf. / You can convince the universe / that you pose no threat / to the tree’s life.” — Maya Abu Al-Hayyat
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
Mission by A.R. Ammons
"as if anything here belonged to you / as if anything here were your concern"
I Am Learning to Abandon the World by Linda Pastan
"And every night I give my body up / limb by limb, working upwards / across bone, towards the heart."
Performance After the End of the World by Talin Tahajian
"I’ve never been good / at caring very much about language except / when it matters the most."
Because by Grace Schulman
"Because, in a wounded universe, the tufts / of grass still glisten, the first daffodil / shoots up through ice-melt
Addendum by Diane Ackerman
"I've got lots of sensibility and no common sense; / isn't it better to lie low while the universe bombards
The Broken Sandal by Denise Levertov
"Where was I going? / Where was I going I can’t / go to now, unless hurting?"
To Myself by Franz Wright
"I will whisper. / It won’t always be like this. / I am going to buy you a sandwich." — Franz Wright