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

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Summer/Fall 1999 • Vol. XXI No. 3/4 • Poetry |

Prove to Me

In a single blizzard more snowflakes fall
    than all the money produced
        in the history of the world.
In a single fall more leaves fall
    than all the money produced
        in the history of the world.
In this universe alone, not counting
    universes before and after
        and universes
    concurrent with this universe,
More planets with utopias on them exist
    than all the money produced
        in human history.

Explain to me why
    snow can’t be used as money.
Explain to me why each fallen leaf
    can’t be pecuniary remuneration.
Prove to me beyond the shadow of a doubt
    why the epiphany zillions of planets
        have utopias on them
    can’t be legal tender.

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