Is there a way to best navigate the space between aging parents and growing children? Stephen J Dobyns is an American poet and novelist and has written fourteen poetry collections as well as twenty-four novels. His many awards include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment of the Arts. His poetry has won a National Poetry Series selection and a Lamont Poetry Selection and a Melville Cane Award. He lives in Rhode Island. Permission to read granted by author.

If your life seems like a circus, hang on, this poem offers lasting encouragement!

Watching a wide expanse of earth on a lazy summer morning leads to the unfolding of immense beauty.

Charles Simic is a Serbian-American poet born in Belgrade. His poetry books have earned a Pulitzer Prize, an International Griffin Poetry Prize, as well as have earned two Pulitzer Prize finalists. He was recently the recipient of the 2011 annual Frost Medal for his lifetime achievement in poetry. Simic is Professor Emeritus at the University of New Hampshire, where he has taught since 1973.

In this poem, grasshoppers flood the sky after a Midwest prairie storm.