Into their once full garden that’s now/ close to barren, two ancient nuns shuffle/ along looking for a few late autumn blossoms/ to paint their lives.

Be praised, O Lord, for this bit of mystery, / which lifts, which lightens.

Entrants to this year’s contest included poems about human trafficking, the Mueller Report, priestly abuse and screen addiction.

I know your ghost still drifts like a dirty angel through this town.

A poem by Jessica Powers from The Second “America” Book of Verse, a collection of the best of America poetry, 1930 to 1955.

And reading poetry, like the books in our 2018 poetry review, can be a great way to not make perfect sense of a thing, but to just be with a thing.