Introduction: This is why by Tracy K. Smith
The small town of my youth. "Second estrangement" by Aracelis Girmay
"In defense of small towns" by Oliver de la Paz
"Flat as a flitter" by Melissa Range
"Sugar and brine: Ella's understanding" by Vievee Francis
"The field trip" by Ellen Bryant Voigt
"Mighty pawns" by Major Jackson
from "summer, somewhere" by Danez Smith
"Walking home" by Marie Howe
"Music from childhood" by John Yau
"Girls overheard while assembling a puzzle" by Mary Szybist
"Passing" by Charif Shanahan
Something shines out from every darkness. "'Let me tell you about my marvelous god'" by Susan Stewart
"Sister as moving object" by Jan Beatty
from "The split" by Susan Wheeler
"The hypno-domme speaks, and speaks and speaks" by Patricia Lockwood
"The poet at fifteen" by Erika L. Sánchez
"My brother at 3 am" by Natalie Diaz
"Reverse suicide" by Matt Rasmussen
"Charlottesville nocturne" by Charles Wright
"Downhearted" by Ada Limón
"becoming a horse" by Ross Gay
"After the diagnosis" by Christian Wiman
"Heart/mind" by Laura Kasischke
Words tangled in debris. "Who's who" by Cathy Park Hong
"Minimum wage" by Matthew Dickman
"Proximities" by Lia Purpura
"Story of girls" by Tina Chang
"Fourth grade autobiography" by Donika Kelly
"The long deployment" by Jehanne Dubrow
from "Personal effects" by Solmaz Sharif
"We lived happily during the war" by Ilya Kaminsky
"Phantom noise" by Brian Turner
"Ten drumbeats to God" by Nathalie Handal
Here, the sentence will be respected. "38" by Layli Long Soldier
One singing thing. "Elegy" by Natasha Trethewey
"Object Permanence" by Nicole Sealey
"Crowning" by Kevin Young "Hurricane" by Yona Harvey
"Requiem for fifth period and the things that went on then" by Eve L. Ewing
"Dear P." by Victoria Chang
"Lines for little Mila" by Norman Dubie
"Mercy" by Patrick Phillips
"Apparition" by Mark Doty
"At Pegasus" by Terrance Hayes
"Scorch marks" by Dara Wier
"Dog talk" by robin Coste Lewis
"Romanticism 101" by Dean Young
"For the last American buffalo" by Steve Scafidi.