
Fragility: Virginia Schnurr
. . . I should borrow a drill to bore
into this ice. Is it thick enough
to skate?
Grinning, my husband pushes
our four-year-old into the middle of the pond.
“You won’t learn skating by sitting on the bank.”

Kintsukuroi: Maura Alia Badji
“I have been broken,
it’s true.
I have been broken
more than once,
over time, my seams
cracked, my protective
lacquer shattered.”

Buona Seda, Bedda: Maura Alia Badji
During the last summer of her life
I watch my grandmother undress
by the light of a holy candle,
disrobe before Jesus, His merciful eyes . . .

I'm Still Here: IJ Arora
this is a moment
I have been through many
fighting, clawing, dirt under my nails
looking for a semblance of hope

Holy Liberation: Julia Fehrenbacher
I will declare it out loud—decidedly,
mightily, quietly, steadily, with the kind of fire
that burns through all
but the truest things.

Daphne's Daughters: Jenna Whittaker
We are Daphne’s daughters—
her limbs breaking bark.
We are the roots
untangling
this tiger from the earth . . .