“Leaves shadow him on a wide road. He lives in a hollow. He has more than enough green.” – Elizabeth Willis, “Thunder Road”

“the bandages—an entire saint! Here’s / what I own: a blackened coin and yes // for an answer. The countdown to the next major miracle / is on.” – Kaveh Akbar, “Best Shadows”

“What would you have become if we left you— / a tectonic plate? It doesn’t matter” – C.T. Salazar, “Incident Number To Be Determined”

“But the sun and me’s the same, could be: / Cap the job, then to hell with it.” – Gwendolyn Brooks, “HATTIE SCOTT the end of the day”

“Sometimes I get so sad / I think about eating a quesadilla,” – Noor Hindi, “Broken Light Bulb Flickering Away

“Turmoil…taxation of trade routes…is in dispute. Hoping to resolve the matter with a blockade…the greedy Trade Federation has stopped all shipping…” – George Lucas, ‘The Phantom Menace’

“My heart turns numerous, / butter at a certain temperature / and my porch gets bigger / when afternoons laze away there.” – Christopher DeWeese, “Tax Holiday”

“The boat has come to pick me up. When I pass the island, I wave so vigorously that my hand falls off into the sea” – Zachary Schomburg, “Beautiful Island”

“You have a responsibility to live in this world. Your responsibility is not just to yourself. You are connected to everyone.” – Moussa Kaba to Mariame Kaba, ‘We Do This ‘Til We Free Us’

“Fernando, take out the paper that talks; note down what you hear so you can keep all of it in your mind…It must be told. Note it down, Fernando…” – from ‘The Book of Lamentations’