“The Truly Great” by Stephen Spender (Born 28 Feb 1909 in London, England, died 16 Jul 1995 in London, England).
“Antidotes to Fear of Death” by Rebecca Elson (Born 2 Feb 1960 in Montreal, Canada, died 11 May 1999 in Cambridge, England).
“The Laughing Thrush” by W. S. Merwin (Born 30 September 1927 in New York City, USA, died 15 March 2019 in Haiku, Hawaii, USA).
“September” by Jennifer Michael Hecht (Born 23 November 1965 in Glen Cove, New York, USA).
“American Smooth” by Rita Dove (Born 28 August 1952 in Akron, Ohio, USA).
“Bui Thi Kim Thanh” by Rethabile Masilo (Born 20 June 1961 in Morija, Lesotho). Thanks be to Pamela Mordecai, who continues to influence me, for the translation.
“Prayer” by Carol Ann Duffy (Born 23 December 1955 in Glasgow, Scotland).
“In A Dark Time” by Theodore Roethke (Born 25 May 1908 in Saginaw, Michigan, USA, died 1 August 1963 in Bainbridge Island, Washington, USA).
“Try to Praise the Mutilated World” by Adam Zagajewski (Born 21 June 1945 in Lwów, Poland, died 21 March 2021 in Kraków, Poland).
“Instead Of Depression” by Andrea Gibson (Born on 13 August 1975, died on July 14, 2025).
“Allegro” by Tomas Tranströmer (Born 15 April 1931 in Stockholm, Sweden, died 26 March 2015 in Stockholm, Sweden).
“We Two” by H. D. (Born on 10 Sept 1886, Died on 27 September 1961)
“Pantoum For Black Boys” by Taylor Byas (born in 1995 in Chicago, Illinois, USA)
“The Tradition” by Jericho Brown (Born on 14 April 1976 in Shreveport, Louisiana, USA.
“Frederick Douglass” by Robert Hayden (Born on 4 August 1913 in Detroit, Michigan, USA, died on 25 February 1980 in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA.
“I Asked To Be Lush? To Be Green” by Jane Hirshfield was improperly titled.
“Black Matters” by Keith S. Wilson, an award-winning Affrilachian poet, NEA Fellow, author of Fieldnotes on Ordinary Love, based in Chicago.
“I Know The Truth” by Marina Tsvetaeva (Born 8 Oct 1892 in Moscow, Russian Empire; Died 31 Aug 1941 in Yelabuga, Tatar ASSR, Soviet Union).
“When Death Comes” by Mary Oliver (Born 10 September 1935 in Maple Heights, Ohio, USA; Died 17 January 2019 in Hobe Sound, Florida, USA).
