We don’t often think of our daily lives and social connections as a marketplace, but sometimes that’s exactly what they are. Sometimes the interactions are win-win, and sometimes the outcome hangs on a single breaking point. The eighteenth volume of the annual Chrysalis Reader anthology explores the bargains that shape our lives through poetry, essays, and short fiction.

Among the fifty-three entries in this volume are poetry from poet laureates William Kloefkorn, Judith Ann Levison, Linda Pastan, and Wesley McNair. Acclaimed poet Robert Bly writes of regret and “long-leggèd birds.” Professor Michael Thomas’s short story “Are You an American?” highlights the desperation of Mexico’s rural villages; artist David S. Rubenstein gives a medical researcher a second chance; Pushcart Prize nominee Frank Scozzari spins a tale of revolution and sacrifice. Rounding out the volume are two Bailey Prize winners: Byron Edgington, whose journey home to see his dying father means tough choices, and Chloé Joseph with a poem about a mother’s infidelity.