“I wrote ‘The Miracle of Giving’ during a Thanksgiving holiday, a meditation on Christian values during a time when Christians seem more focused on erasing and policing the lives of others rather than embracing or serving their neighbors and loving one another unconditionally. My inspiration for the poem was Rev. Cecil Williams, pastor of Glide Memorial Church, which provides meals, education, outreach and healing in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco. Williams famously removed the giant cross that stood behind his pulpit and told the congregation, ‘From now on, you’re the cross.’”

“Cento Between the Ending and the End,” Cameron Awkward-Rich

“Nine Spice Mix,” by Zeina Azzam

“If You Knew,” Ruth Muskrat Bronson

“I Went Out to Hear,” Leila Chatti

“They Don’t Love You Like I Love You,” Natalie Diaz

“A Thanksgiving Poem,” Paul Laurence Dunbar

“Perhaps the World Ends Here,” Joy Harjo

“A Toast,” Ilya Kaminsky

“9th and 2nd,” Joy Ladin

“New York at 42,” Nancy Mercado

“Thanks,” W.S. Merwin

“Dusting” by Marilyn Nelson

“Two Countries,” Naomi Shihab Nye

“When Giving Is All We Have,” Alberto Ríos

“The Flower at My Window,” Lucian B. Watkins

“To All My Friends,” May Yang

“Carrying Our Words” by Ofelia Zepeda

poet laureate fellow

“The etymology of company is to ‘share bread,’ and I believe sharing poetry can also accomplish a similar goal.”

From “Eat Your Words: A Poetry Cookbook” by 2024 Poet Laureate Fellow Traci Brimhall.

pick of the week

Arthur Sze, author of eleven poetry collections, will receive the Library of Congress’s 2024 Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry at a public event on December 5, at 6:30 p.m. ET, James Madison Building (Mumford Room LM649), 101 Independence Avenue SE, Washington D.C. 20540. (Sponsored)