Read the winning piece of our 2025 Nonfiction Contest “Through the Mirror” by Jessie Cato selected by Lucy Ives.

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Michael Pettit

Poetry

Summer 2006

Afternoon Nap

By Michael Pettit

Imagine. Me, patient. Who was readyonce at once. Hot to trot. She need only glance my way, or whistle, need do nothingbut breathe and turn away for me to sing […]

Poetry

Spring 1996

Abundance

By Michael Pettit

 Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at […]

Poetry

Spring 1988

Full Cry

By Michael Pettit

If all motion is toward loss, sound a wave that flattens into silence, light a wave, touch a wave, then you are right to spend these last days almost motionless, […]

Poetry

Spring 1988

Pavlov’s Dog

By Michael Pettit

Last night, late, a light rain beading the windshield, I held you and we listened to the static and old songs on the radio. Filled with the past, the failure […]