from Manatee/Humanity

By Anne Waldman the aquarium deserted now,
this is the song at dusk I write in the notebook:
strange skin

Tsunami Chant

By Wang Ping I'm not a singer, but please
let me sing of the peacemakers
on the streets and internet, your candles

By Yusef Komunyakaa Thanks for the tree
between me & a sniper's bullet.
I don't know what made the grass

By Gretchen Primack This is the press of the earth. One star hanging
there, honking like a goose. The lake
a smudge of black juice, the hill a draped

By Sam Hamill Half broken on that smoky night,
hunched over sake in a serviceman's dive
somewhere in Naha, Okinawa

By Patricia Monaghan Just past dawn in early fall,
a sparrow screamed at me
as I walked into the woods.

By Pages Matam Ma Mere n'a Jamais eu des ailes
My momma never had wings
But she could tap dance on hurricanes

By Purvi Shah The mehndi is leaving my hands,
brown swirls dissolving into brown skin.
Somewhere you are traveling

By Joseph Ross In a summer of snipers
some men raised their hands
with fingers pressed

By Joseph O. Legaspi slides down into my body, soft
lambs wool, what everybody
in school is wearing, and for me