Courtesy, by David Ferry (1924-) It is an afternoon toward the end of August: Autumnal weather, cool following on, And riding in, after the heat of summer, Into the empty afternoon shade and light, The shade full of light without any thickness at all; You can see right through and right down into the depth Of the […]
Prayer on the Threshold of Tomorrow, by Vahan Tekeyan (1878-1945) Look. New sprouts push through the fields But which are thorns and which wheat I do not know. Perhaps to the appetite that is sated, all is chaff, while to the hungry all is wheat. Indistinguishable sounds, blows, footfalls thud in the distance, an […]
Makeup, by Dora Malech (1981-) My mother does not trust women without it. What are they not hiding? Renders the dead living and the living more alive. Everything I say sets the clouds off blubbering like they knew the pretty dead. True, no mascara, no evidence. Blue sky, blank face. Blank face, a […]
The Temporary Face, by Imtiaz Dharker (1954-) I draw your face on the huge sand in the early morning, when small crabs run and hide in the holes I have provided for your eyes. I go away. Through the day people come and go, knowing nothing but themselves, the sun on shoulders, salt, fish, net. […]
The Doll Believers, by Clarence Major (1936-) This lifeless construction, Yellow hair curled and twisted, The forever motionless face of rubber, The dark marked eyebrows, The flexible pug nose, Spongy red cheeks, Camel’s-hair eyebrows Moving up and down. Lifting her up, her eyes fly open, They stare into space — An unmoving blueness. Those never winking, moving […]
Distances, by Phillippe Jaccottet (1925-) Swifts turn in the heights of the air; higher still turn the invisible stars. When day withdraws to the ends of the earth their fires shine on a dark expanse of sand. We live in a world of motion and distance. The heart flies from tree to bird, from bird […]
Making America Strong, by Fred Voss (1952-) We worked nights as machine operators at Goodstone Aircraft Company, where we made parts for the Air Force’s new bomber, the K-20. In the parking lot, before work and during lunch break, we drank and smoked dope and snorted chemicals. At work we wore sunglasses and danced in […]
Sonnet on Love XIII, by Jean De Sponde (1557-1595) “Give me a place to stand,” Archimedes said, “and I can move the world.” Paradoxical, clever, his remark which first explained the use of the lever was an academic joke. But if that dead sage could return to life, he would find a clear demonstration of […]
The Death of Literature, by Daniel Bourne (1955-) The dead soldiers of wine bottles line up to be buried. on the white table of a poor poet. “All these years of preparation” are the poet’s last words. “And still the wine bottles die.” The landlady walks into the room, feels his pulse and […]
Hands, by Siv Cedering (1939-) I When I fall asleep my hands leave me. They pick up pens and draw creatures with five feathers on each wing. The creatures multiply. They say: “We are large like your father’s hands.” They say: “We have your mother’s knuckles.” I speak to them: “If you are hands, why […]