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The Emotional Life of Plants

Rae Armantrout

An exciton consists / of the escaped negative / (electron) / and the positive hole / it left behind.

Two Poems

Jack Underwood

‘We are nearing the conclusion of this anatomy. / We are strung between the point of ending, and / the point of having started.’

A Numbered Graph That Shows How Each Part of the Body Would Fit Into A Chair

Mary Jo Bang

‘It’s a simple truth that one can occupy two / places at one time while sitting in a chair—the same way a / poseable doll can be divided from her dress.’

From The Abstract Humanities

Sandra Simonds

‘let us / build the openwork fabric of our garden / on the fear in the body’

Position Paper

John Ashbery

‘This is my outfit. / Government spooks did the rest. Didn’t you know?’

It was discovered that gut bacteria were responsible

Kathryn Maris

‘this dream that might have been pleasant for an / 8-year-old could instead emerge as a nightmare for a woman / on the brink of menopause’

Release the Darkness to New Lichen

Peter Gizzi

‘was it wind or a creature / am I here or is it over’

Model Reconstruction of Ancient Rome

Sandra Simonds

‘Here I am. Sephora, symbol of stolen work.’

Shunaka: Blood Count

Karthika Naïr

‘Shyama, Sister, why / the need for dazed allegiance / to men?’

Sanjay Nagar Blues

Anjum Hasan

‘motorcyclists like to howl / and dogs drop bulging bags of garbage / from their mouths when they see other dogs / they want to mount’

Vinod Kumar Shukla: Two Poems

Vinod Kumar Shukla

‘The truth is, though no one says it, / They’re all worried about their children.’

The Afterlife of Trees and Their Lovers

Sumana Roy

‘It is difficult to imagine a history of trees / without man in it. Man as tree, Tree as tale.’

Rain at Three

Tishani Doshi

‘Rain at three splits the bed in half, / cracks at windows like horsemen blistering / through a century of hibernation.’