Venice masks

Wednesday 31 March 2021

Dragonflies - Asmaa Azaizeh

Millions of years ago, there were no winged creatures.
We all crawled around on our bellies and paws
to arrive.

Tuesday 30 March 2021

A Homeland - Mohammed J. Al-Nabhan

My Homeland!
Would a homeland abolish a loved one's name?
Red tape all his civil documents
Or cross-out with red ink the names of its people?

Monday 29 March 2021

Urgent Mail - Ali Al Jallawi

He was no more than a courier
On his back a sack of letters
He had a bicycle
A route
And a cap
He was no more than a courier

Sunday 28 March 2021

Palm Sunday - Malcolm Guite

Now to the gate of my Jerusalem,
The seething holy city of my heart,
The saviour comes. But will I welcome him?

Saturday 27 March 2021

Friday 26 March 2021

That there’s no danger - Eduardo Milán

That there’s no danger,
that the word stays intact
outside the person, by their side.

Thursday 25 March 2021

untitled - Eiríkur Örn Norðdahl

I died but now I live for
ages of ages
and hold the keys of hell and death

Wednesday 24 March 2021

The room - Jessie Kleemann

In the silent grey darkness of the room
you stand
like a ghost by the window beside my bed
acting like a dead with my already stiff limbs
that has become blue beating forth and back
and searching after my body

Tuesday 23 March 2021

A Journey - Jovanka Uljarević

I am not here where you see me
or there where they know me
There is here for me
And here is too far

Monday 22 March 2021

This Thick Sound (v1.1) - Kenneth Krabat

There is an eternal humm of work to København
take away the sound of high voltage for street lamps
and for shop lighting and converters for all things hidden

Sunday 21 March 2021

In the now and here - Michael Theophilus Dom

Thoughts in a day
Are a measure
Acts are of being,
Etched in its matrix,
As you and I are.

Saturday 20 March 2021

Ecstasy - Marie Under

Ah, earthly life burns in myriad splendours
Not even death’s dark hazard can destroy.
I yield, a willing prisoner, to joy;
I never sorted with discreet pretenders.

Friday 19 March 2021

Dead Flowers - Sidonie Grünwald-Zerkovitz

In the vase on the sill your roses lie
Looking, now, wilted and dead
Once, resplendently charming the eye
In white and crimson red.

Thursday 18 March 2021

Wednesday 17 March 2021

You Will Never Return - Miguel Caló and Osmar Maderna

When she said goodbye, I wanted to cry
then without her love, I wanted to scream.

Tuesday 16 March 2021

Monday 15 March 2021

What it is - Erich Fried

It is nonsense
says reason
It is what it is
says love

Sunday 14 March 2021

Mother is Gold - Laju Ereyitomi Oyewoli

Iya ni wura
Mother is Gold
A Treasure untold
Gifted to the Human race
To soften life’s arduous task 

Saturday 13 March 2021

In the Evening - Ugo Foscolo

Maybe because you are the image of eternal peace
O evening, you are welcomed by me with open arms
when the summer clouds and the gentlest breeze

Friday 12 March 2021

Consecrating the Alphabet - Leonor Scliar Cabral

ALEF
Horns rise up with force, igneous, aglow,
to burst apart the mysteries of time,
while a scribe revives prophecies divine 
on pure papyrus, salvaged long ago.

Thursday 11 March 2021

Iconic Existence - Roula-Maria Dib

Keep her locked in an eternal smile, that loving gaze
you see in your mind’s mined cave deep within your Self,
or in the symbol on the solid wooden surface.
Let her sing, but from her nether-world into yours.

Wednesday 10 March 2021

Metaphors - Idriss Allouch

I guess
What happens around me
The effect of something borrowing
The language of another reality

Tuesday 9 March 2021

Monday 8 March 2021

Supper With Poppies - Dostena Angelova-Lavergne

one day lies will sparkle
like crushed puppies
and they won’t be lies
just crushed poppies sparkling.

Sunday 7 March 2021

Strike the chords softly - Pamelia Sarah Yule

Strike the chords softly with tremulous fingers, 
While, on the threshold of happiest years, 
For a brief moment fond memory lingers. 
Ere we go forth to life's conflicts and fears! 

Saturday 6 March 2021

Friday 5 March 2021

Sin - Forugh Farrokhzad

I have sinned a rapturous sin
in a warm enflamed embrace,
sinned in a pair of vindictive arms,
arms violent and ablaze.

Thursday 4 March 2021

I Abandoned Her and I Didn’t Know - José Canet

Kneaded between the silver and gold
of serenades
and wild dance parties,
cradled by the sounds
of bandoneons,
this tango was born.

Wednesday 3 March 2021

She Has Wilted Early - Julia Boutros

This flower … 
has wilted early, 
she’s still pretty, 
she’s still very pretty

Tuesday 2 March 2021

There Was a Jolly Miller - Isaac Bickerstaffe

There was a jolly miller once lived on the river Dee;
He danced and sang from morn till night, no lark so blithe as he;

Monday 1 March 2021

On Julia's Death - Vasily Kapnist

The evening darkness shrouds 
The slumbering world in peace. 
And from her throne of clouds 
Shines Luna through the trees.