Golden Retrievals by Mark Doty Fetch? Balls and sticks capture my attentionseconds at a time. Catch? I don’t think so.Bunny, tumbling leaf, a squirrel who’s—ohjoy—actually scared. Sniff the wind, then I’m off again: muck, pond, ditch, residueof any thrillingly dead thing. And you?Either you’re sunk in the past, half our walk,thinking of what you never …

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No More Cake Here by Natalie Diaz When my brother diedI worried there wasn’t enough timeto deliver the one hundred invitationsI’d scribbled while on the phone with the mortuary:Because of the short notice no need to rsvp.Unfortunately the firemen couldn’t come.(I had hoped they’d give free rides on the truck.)They did agree to drive by …

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excerpt from The Body in August by Robin Coste Lewis … I believe in that road that is infinite and black and goes on blindly forever. Ibelieve crocodiles swallow rocks to help them digest crab. Because up untilthe twentieth century, people could still die from sensation. And becausemy hunger is so deep, I am ashamed …

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My Father in English by Richard Blanco First half of his life lived in Spanish: the long syntaxof las montañas that lined his village, the rhymeof sol with his soul–a Cuban alma–that swayedwith las palmas, the sharp rhythm of his machetecutting through caña, the syllables of his canariosthat sung into la brisa of the island …

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Love letter by Donika Kelly I wake each morning.And am disappointed in the waking. In the evening, in the hours before sleep,I drag canyons into my forearms, dredge the little tributaries of mud and fish.These pits and hollows make a mess of everything they touch. I am feeling, spoolingaway from what holds muscle to bone. …

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