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 -- Poem / Gail Mazur -- 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 -- God / Amy Leach -- 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 -- Wear / Jay Rogoff -- 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 -- Barter / Ravi Shankar -- 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 -- Watchful / Bob Hicok -- 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 -- Mot / Sarah Einstein -- Landscape with arson / Jennifer Grotz -- Three Buddhist tales / Marilyn Chin -- Talismanic / David Wojahn -- Dido refuses to speak / Linda Gregerson.