Fifteen, by Leslie Monsour (1948-) The boys who fled my father’s house in fear Of what his wrath would cost them if he found Them nibbling slowly at his daughter’s ear, Would vanish out the back without a sound, And glide just like the shadow of a crow, To wait beside the elm tree in […]
Out of Metropolis, by Lynn Emanuel (1949-) We’re headed for empty-headedness, the featureless amnesias of Idaho, Nebraska, Nevada, states rich only in vowel sounds and alliteration. We’re taking the train so we can see into the heart of the heart of America framed in the windows’ cool oblongs of light. We want cottages, farmhouses with […]
Armistice, by Sophie Jewett (1861-1909) The water sings along our keel, The wind falls to a whispering breath; I look into your eyes and feel No fear of life or death; So near is love, so far away The losing strife of yesterday. We watch the swallow skim and dip; Some magic bids the […]
In the Winter of This Climate, by Mark Wunderlich (1968-) When I dream it is of sheep tangled in the marsh, their calls growing faint and the light failing or winter’s handful of piano notes against the highway’s salt hiss. Nothing stays at home forever. This is the house I go back to, […]
The City of God, by David Baker (1954-) Now we knelt beside the ruined waters as our first blood, our bulb-before-bloom, unfurled too early in slender petals. Now we were empty. Now we walked for months on softer shoes and spoke, not quite with grief. This morning four deer come up to the yard to […]
Prelude, by J. M. (John Millington) Synge (1871-1909) Still south I went and west and south again, Through Wicklow from the morning till the night, And far from cities, and the sights of men, Lived with the sunshine and the moon’s delight. I knew the stars, the flowers, and the birds, The gray and […]
Fly, Dragonfly!, by Joyce Sidman (1956-) Water nymph, you have climbed from the shallows to don your dragon-colors. Perched on a reed stem all night, shedding your skin, you dry your wings in moonlight. Night melts into day. Swift birds wait to snap you up. Fly, dragonfly! Fly!
Sympathy, by Farnoosh Fathi (1981-) Whose table is that, left on three legs? If there’s been a mistake, it may be in assuming less vulnerability as one fills the vase— whose buoyant comfort exaggerates at the sight of his own proffered, sympathetic hand, striking him so clean in comparison gloved white, magician—for a […]
The Mermaid in the Hospital, by Nuala Ni Dhohmnaill (1952-) She awoke to find her fishtail clean gone but in the bed with her were two long, cold thingammies. You’d have thought they were tangles of kelp or collops of ham. “They’re no doubt taking the piss, it being New Year’s Eve. Half the […]
The Two Artists, by Constance Naden (1858-1889) “Edith is fair,” the painter said, “Her cheek so richly glows, My palette ne’er could match the red Of that pure damask rose. “Perchance, the evening rain‐drops light, Soft sprinkling from above, Have caught the sunset’s colour bright, And borne it to my love. “In distant […]