Venice masks

Thursday 31 March 2022

Managua 6:30 P.M. - Ernesto Cardenal

In the evening the neon lights are soft
and the mercury streetlamps, pale and beautiful …

Wednesday 30 March 2022

The Existential Nothingness of Crabs - Lil Marie Herrera

I make verses in the air
they crackle toward the infinite prophecy.
Crackling.
Crackling.

Tuesday 29 March 2022

Isolated breakfast - Mostafa Sarabzadeh

I see four nurses dressed in white
Four half breaths masked in blue
Helping who lying in street
Someone who about to leave
By the last deadline is received

Monday 28 March 2022

Sun, Thunder, Daugava - Rainis

Latvia was put down by the Sun,
Where the ends came together.
White sea, green land.
Latvia had the key of the gate.
Which Daugava did protect.

Sunday 27 March 2022

Hymn for Tabernacles - Eleazar ben Jacob Kalir

Thy praise, O Lord! will I proclaim 
In hymns unto thy glorious name. 
O thou Redeemer, Lord and King, 
Redemption to thy faithful bring! 

Saturday 26 March 2022

Upon Naked Skin - Arabella Salaverry

Upon naked skin I write.
Upon the ardent expanse
which covers me
and accompanies me
throughout life’s journeys.

Friday 25 March 2022

Of those things which are known as those things - Peter Macsovszky

So as every kind of harmony includes its own
opposite one - a firm and disintegrating seed
of confusion continuing in a secret growing -
so the confusion itself.
So the confusion (probably) contains
its soft, inner and freshly red juice of harmony.

Thursday 24 March 2022

Regrets only - Bill Nelson

You’ll take your grandfather roller skating,
watch from the edge of the rink.

Wednesday 23 March 2022

At Palau Pacific Resort - Emelihter Kihleng

I wish I was staying here
eating the special fish of the month
drinking coffee

Tuesday 22 March 2022

The Triumph of Rameses II [opening section] - Penta-our

The youthful king with the bold hand has not his equal. 
His arms are powerful, his heart is firm, 
His courage is like that of the god of war, Monthu, in the fight. 
He leads his warriors to unknown peoples. 

Monday 21 March 2022

Stars - Ahmed ALajmi

While the night plays its thoughts,
Allowing the stars to dance naked,
We sit–me and my portable radio–
On an old table

Sunday 20 March 2022

The Mutability of all Earthly Things - Ōtomo no Yakamochi

Since the far natal hour of earth and heaven, 
          Men never cease to cry 
That ne’er to aught in this our world ’twas given 
          To last eternally. 

Saturday 19 March 2022

Development - Katrina Dybzynska

Our child would have uneven
teeth and a birthmark on the right
hip. The rest would be a fight
for domination: eyes that change

Friday 18 March 2022

Living All By Herself Without You - Ziad Rahbani

Living all by herself without you
And without your love, my boy
Quit talking about your love for her
The whole country is laughing at you

Thursday 17 March 2022

hayfever - Jiaqi Kang

i don’t know the names of any flowers i’m sorry
except for this one time when i woke up in palo alto at 5am

Wednesday 16 March 2022

untitled (I cross the edge) - Vasyl Stus

I cross the edge. Outside the rim I go.
This foot that I have raised to march ahead,
Reality, this naked empty hollow,

Tuesday 15 March 2022

Ghetto - Guy Tirolien

Why should I confine myself
to the image
they would fix me in?
For pity's sake,
I'd suffocate
segregated as exotic.

Monday 14 March 2022

Inside the Display Fridge it's Always Daytime - Valerina Tentoni

The things in there don’t complain, don’t ask any god
to turn out the light. They wait their turn.

Sunday 13 March 2022

A Night in Hospital - Akberen Yelgezek

Against my window, bat-wings lash.
Crows expectorate hacking caws.
The moon reddens, perched on the muzzle
of a dog that howls and bites the night wind.
 

Saturday 12 March 2022

Friday 11 March 2022

Once More I Will Greet the Sun - Forugh Farrokhzad

Once more I will greet the sun,
the stream that flowed in me,
the clouds which were my long thoughts,

Thursday 10 March 2022

Encounter - Jovan Dučić

An angel met a soul one time,
In the middle of the air,

Wednesday 9 March 2022

A Healing Heart - Ndaba Sibanda

inner beauty is priceless
its twinkle is taintless
its hoot is humankind
its love is one of a kind

Tuesday 8 March 2022

The Working Girl - Daniel Varoujan

Beneath my window, as each morning dawns,
You like a wandering ghost go flitting by,
And on your beauteous virgin head there fall
Tears from my rose vine, leafless now and dry.

Monday 7 March 2022

Sunday 6 March 2022

Vesper hymn to the Virgin - Hermann Contractus

Mother of majesty, 
God's love adorning, 
Thou that hast oped for man 

Saturday 5 March 2022

Open water! - Björnstjerne Björnson

Open water, open water!
All the weary winter's yearning
Bursts in restless passion burning.
Scarce is seen the blue of ocean,
And the hours seem months in motion.

Friday 4 March 2022

The Love Song of Shu-Sin - Anonymous

Bridegroom, dear to my heart,
Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet,
Lion, dear to my heart,
Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet.

Thursday 3 March 2022

Lines to Fanon I - Jennifer Rahim

You insisted you spoke for your time.
Well, it is now, Fanon. Like foolish masons,
we build on the sand of false hierarchies,

Wednesday 2 March 2022

The Cup - Abdellatif Laâbi

The cup is full
And here are the ingredients:
At the bottom a bit of despair
giving life
that after-taste of bitterness

Tuesday 1 March 2022

Children’s Hair - Gabriela Mistral

Soft hair, hair that is all the softness of the world:
without you lying in my lap, what silk would I enjoy?