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—Mirabai, from Mira’s Colors (Translated by Chloe Martinez)

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— Planetarium, by Adrienne Rich

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— Arthur Sze, from Pe’ahi Light

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— Muriel Rukeyser, from The Surrounded

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— J. Allyn Rosser, from Sugar Dada

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—W. S. Merwin, from Separation

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I dress your name as if a wound, with the delicacy of someone who knows how much it can hurt to move. I whisper it with caution, as if there is no more room in my throat except for that of air. Ocean Vuong said freedom is nothing but the distance between a hunter and its prey, and with each broken step I'm learning that love does nothing but eat, and tear at these threads

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—J. D Mcclatchy, from Late Night Ode

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—Li-Young Lee, From Blossoms

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—E. Ethelbert Miller, from Beloved

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—Muna Abdulahi, from ESL

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—Somto Ihezue, from All the Stones That Built Me

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—Linda Pastan from Why Are Your Poems so Dark?

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—Lorna Dee Cervantes, from Valentine

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—Li-Young Lee, from This Room and Everything In It

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—Valerio Magrelli, from I Love Uncertain Guestures

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—Bruce Smith, from February Sky