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Some friends smoke at a street corner of a city, wondering about their futures;, but wondering, too, about who they are.

Two brothers, with overlapping prayer mats in a small shared room, try to suppress their laughter while reciting prayers; their prayer is their joy.

A poem that at once queries the Flower Wars toward the end of the Aztec era, and also queries wars today: Who are they for?

Using the form of sestina — coming from the Italian for “six” — Elizabeth Bishop reflects on her complicated childhood using six repeated words.

A gay club becomes a place of sanctuary for people seeking rhythm and safety. Away from a world of threat, the club is an experience of what could be.

Looking at a worm, much is learned: how to ingest, how to open up, how to make space, how to survive, how to get through.

A child’s growing awareness of his father’s dementia is the focus of this poem. Older now, the poet offers a tenderness that evaded him in youth.

Who says that fences are part of neighborliness? Darrel Alejandro Holnes’ poem responds to this idea of Robert Frost’s with artistry, verve, and critique.

The words we choose reveal a lot about how we think about the natural world.

Guest The Valley. His debut essay collection Before the Earth Devours Us will be published by Split/Lip Press in late 2021. He is the Interviews Editor for the EcoTheo Review, an Assistant Poetry Editor for AGNI, and a regular reviews contributor for Heavy Feather Review. He lives in Austin, Texas. Transcript music: “Praise the Rain” by Gautam Srikishan] Pádraig Ó Tuama: My name is Pádraig Ó Tuama, and for years I had a recurring dream. The dream was always that I was about to walk ...