Introduction / Bill Henderson --
The river nemunas / Anthony Doerr --
Turning yourself into a work of art / Stephen Dunn --
Frost Mountain picnic massacre / Seth Fried --
The opening / Philip Schultz --
Double happiness / Mary-Beth Hughes --
Victory / Tony Hoagland --
The case for free will / Patty Seyburn --
Munro country / Cheryl Strayed --
Labrador tea / Arthur Sze --
I am myself three selves at least / Jennifer K. Sweeney --
The cousins / Charles Baxter --
The decision / Timothy Liu --
Lores of last unicorns / Jen Hirt --
The eviction / Rodney Jones --
Fem care / Elliott Holt --
Ocular / Rosanna Warren --
Analphabet / Martin Moran --
Lord god bird / Colin Cheney --
Steal small / Caitlin Horrocks --
The bees of Deir Kifa / Michael Collier --
My father's hats / Jeffrey Hammond --
Capriccio in E minor for blowfly and strings / Paul Muldoon --
Memories of the decadence / Hari Kunzru --
To the furies who visited me in the basement of Duane Reade / Sharon Dolin --
Children are the only ones who blush / Joe Meno --
Rome / Brigit Pegeen Kelly --
On coming back as a buzzard / Lia Purpura --
Model prison model / Terrance Hayes --
Chechnya / Anthony Marra --
The dark rides / Chase Twichell --
Remembering Samuel Beckett / Barney Rosset --
A slip of paper / Louise Glück --
Mr. Tall / Tony Earley --
Hither & yon / L.S. Asekoff --
Freaky beasts: revelations of a one-time body builder / William Giraldi --
They say / Laura Kasischke --
Sheep may safely graze / Jess Row --
A dead man in Nashville / Amanda Rea --
The problem of water / Emily Toder --
Shelter / Susan Perabo --
A wall in Naples and nothing more / Philip Levine --
Sontag's rules / Sigrid Nunez --
Blackstone / C.K. Williams --
Things we'll need for the coming difficulties / Valerie Vogrin --
Light or dark speech / William Olsen --
The watermark / Susan McCallum-Smith --
Stagflation / Joanna Fuhrman --
Two midnights in a jug / Marc Watkins --
Here, now: Eckhart Tolle takes the stage / Adam M. Bright --
Her car / Jean Valentine --
Pet / Deb Olin Unferth --
The caul of inshallah / Mohja Kahf --
Understanding the new genuine Negro hero / Thomas Sayers Ellis --
Indoor municipal pool / Alan Shapiro --
Final dispositions / Linda McCullough Moor --
Freedom of speech / Lucie Brock-Broido --
How we thought about toys / Nancy Eimers --
Landscape with arson / Jennifer Grotz --
Three Buddhist tales / Marilyn Chin --
Talismanic / David Wojahn --
Dido refuses to speak / Linda Gregerson.