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

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Spring 2000 • Vol. XXII No. 2 • Poetry |

Phenomena

I mistook that hummingbird
for a dragonfly at first
metallic green
stopping and starting
beside the porch
then zoning in on bushes
and birdbath fast
as life is so short
as not to outlast
the falling of an apple
make up your mind Andrew
pray or fall asleep
but pray to whom
petition the warm green light
my lips are blades
of grass to praise the wind
nothing else to do really
but grow tired and dream
ache in the fingerjoints
and shine like dull metal.

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