The Hay(na)ku of Numbers - Eileen R. Tabios

One
need not
rely on anyone

A Recovered Memory of Water - Núala Ní Dhomhnaill

Sometimes when the mermaid’s daughter
is in the bathroom
cleaning her teeth with a thick brush
and baking soda
she has the sense the room is filling
with water.

The Fetch - Ciarán Carson

I woke. You were lying beside me in the double bed,
prone, your long dark hair fanned out over the downy pillow.

The heavens beaming with light - Joao Jose Nunes

The heavens beaming with light,
The earth quivering with flowers,
They sing, they greet with exquisite ardor
The birth of the Redeemer.

Let Me Relate To You - Manuel Ortiz Guerrero

Let me relate to you
The sorrow that oppresses me,

The tree beneath the earth - Karin Boye

There grows a tree beneath the earth;
a mirage pursues me,
a song of living glass, of burning silver.
Like darkness before light
must all weight melt,
where only one drop falls of the song from the leaves.

A cooking egg - T. S. Eliot

Pipit sate upright in her chair
Some distance from where I was sitting;
Views of the Oxford Colleges
Lay on the table, with the knitting.

Fertile land - Jorge Barbosa

Of banana trees, orange trees
Cashew-trees
Coffee-trees, grapes, potato plantations;

Cry of the African Child - Amie Sallah

It is my father's land
It is my mother's land
It is my home land
They call it the dark continent
We call it Africa
But I call it My Continent

Te Deum Laudamus - St Nicetas of Remisiana

We praise thee, O God, we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting.

My Wound made Ablution of Gaza's Blood - Najat Zbair

The universe is empty dragging its carnage
Darkness occupies the bewilderment of things

Ol' Higue - Wordsworth McAndrew

Ol' woman wid de wrinkled skin,
Leh de ol' higue¹ wuk begin.
Put on you fiery disguise,
Ol' woman wid de weary eyes
Shed you swizzly skin.

Missing - Lee Jang-wook

I was gradually delivered to you.
I was born outside of myself.

Hazards Related to the Setting up of a Christmas Tree - Yong Shu Hoong

Today, I receive a circular with this warning:
As we celebrate the festive season, it is important
to be aware of the possible hazards…

Drown - DK Osei-Yaw

I stand my ground
Yet it slips away;
My legs kick hard,
Yet bubbles betray;

Urgent - Roberto Sosa

This afternoon a child, not even two years old,
got lost.
He’s got curls like ripples on a lake.
A pudgy little boy
with huge eyes
like a stray lamb.

None like you was ever seen or created - Imam Ahmad Raza

None like you was ever seen or created.
Authority stands in your person consummated.

OK, let’s be exiled! - Alemayehu Gebrehiwot

Yes, let’s be exiled,
far from our families,
our beloved country,
our villages, our rivers.

I got accustomed to being tired - Maia Sarishvili

I got accustomed to being tired.
It’s like having a live wolf on my back
And feeling him there like a simple schoolbag.

Andha Lamaya - Sagara Palansuriya

They say, flowers are gorgeous and are of lovely shades
The things they speak of as they can see
I don’t understand, mother, so here I am to learn
Please explain to me, I don’t know these

The Investigation - Din Mehmeti

In an ugly investigation
Our names were unveiled, pierced
By seven rusty nails.

Lunar Park - Jean Delville

Becalmed the profane noise of the crowd.
Toward the risen Moon, the symbolic Bronzes
Curve, in the blue night, their antique nudity
In the sphinx-like majesty of attitudes.

The sound of a silver bridle - Begziin Yavuuhulan

I’m waiting for my lover to arrive,
the sound of horses’ hooves pressed upon my heart.

Incarnate God, thou word divine - St Anselm

Incarnate God, thou word divine,
Both man art thou and God complete;
When as the Judge thou com'st, incline
To me, a man, thy mercy sweet.

Mother - Hadraawi

The world certainly
Would never have left night
Light not been found

Silent trees - Bo Carpelan

Will an unknown hand raise the continents
and the song transfix the bird,

For a mythology of minor things - Humberto Quino

Like one who wrinkles an old shirt
&
Goes about naked in the old cinemas