“Astonishment is the quintessence of life fully expressed. Yet it is something we cannot will ourselves to feel. This is where poetry—the epitome of word play—steps in, suspends us above the daily drift of ordinariness and alights that spark of awe. It beseeches us to question everything. Every verse, versus, vice versa insists that we stop and revere the nuances of this human experience—to see beauty and grace in the pain and chaos. Poetry encourages us to be wilder in the midst of bewilderment. For this reason, it is an essential tool for experiencing the ephemeral nature of life and the One who created it all.” —Gina Mazza