Poems

Mama Ana Paula Also Writes Poetry

“I looked at her / back, strong like hairy bear that kills / a bull even when she’s drunk, and I understood:” | by Hu Xudong

The Lesser Gods

“But what about all the modest / neglected deities–the overlooked” | by Ellen Bass

Girl on a Liner

“I’m standing/on the edge of nothing, with a handkerchief,” | by Emily Berry

A Hint

“high into the air— / a song to slice the sky open, so he sang” | by Michael Trocchia

Petri Dish

“The dish confines, / efficiently clasps without limbs.” | by Laura Hogan

Light

“I have apprenticed myself to light,/to the way it moves through the world” | by Emily Portillo

The Duck Pond

“The pond rises and sways, wind-rippled/a gelatinous mirror ball waiting to fall” | by Daniel Zeiders

Sunporch

“Our house was a seabed of alien vines/reaching to touch the windowsills.” | by Emily Leithauser

The Daughter

“Yet, to love her this way is to love the blue of distances” | by Jody Rambo

Smallmouth

“It demands to be/ known. The gnats/ in their conductor’s/ dance.” | by Jordan Pérez

Shell

“The men’s experiment: to see if the righthand / claw, removed, might grow back.” | by Jordan Pérez

One Heaven

“the nighttime grass/at eight years old,/run through with/starlight” | by K.T. Landon

Lambing Season

“I knew better than to protest/but my shoulders sloped/like the sides of the valley” | by Laura Voivodeship

Midday

“were almost twenty-five and twenty-eight:/even the connection on the phone was faint” | by Emily Leithauser

A Night in Madina

“The stranger didn’t eat much/and she didn’t dance/and she didn’t remove her plastered shoes” | by Brian Gyamfi

The Tree Carries Water

“Dandelions pass where I used to live./The gardener lets go of the river, the water whispers” | by Brian Gyamfi

The Valley

“I took the boat out every morning, / allowing my hands to skim/the shimmering sky” | by Lauren Aliza Green