Venice masks

Thursday 31 October 2024

uncontained - Zaim Allal

turning for the door, tears began streaming  ●●  tears as I crossed the threshold
tears till I felt tired  ●●  and I walked on that asphalt

Wednesday 30 October 2024

A to Z - Gaarriye

Caalin, listen, I'm going to travel
From A to Z carried by language -
The alphabet, alive on the page.
 

Tuesday 29 October 2024

The First call / Army of Termites - Alinane ‘Naphi’ Mphande

Slowly I watched it grow
From a speck to a row
Mesmerized I watched as they came
One, two, three, four, scores and scores of them

Monday 28 October 2024

Instructions on Survival - Suricia Yatiana Conteh

Arms outstretched so far it
embraces the Sahara desert,
not minding the scorching heat
as it tortures her like a thief.

Sunday 27 October 2024

Where naught is still - Bayo Akomolafe

Oh! to speak of worlds hidden in magic sight
Lost between a whisper and a sigh

Saturday 26 October 2024

Wooden Sculpture from the Sixteenth Century - João Miguel Fernandes Jorge

The father, the son, missing only the holy spirit.
maybe for this reason this Trinity in the museum of Angra
emits most passionately an aura of the divine Nazarene.

Friday 25 October 2024

Mandjou - Salif Keïta

Mandjou, don’t cry
Son of Alpha Touré, don’t cry
Mandjou, don’t cry
Son of Mother Minata Fadiga, don’t cry
Mandjou, don’t cry
Andrée Touré’s husband, don’t cry
Mandjou, don’t cry
André Madou’s father, don’t cry
I’ve come with hope; it’s not yet time to cry
Mandjou, God knows you are right like gold.

Thursday 24 October 2024

Birä - Jeanne Dalena


war; what a chaos for my motherland
why do butterflies suddenly turn to bullets
and hope to lies?

Wednesday 23 October 2024

In The Grey Hair of Soyinka - Adjei Agyei-Baah

There’s something mystical
About your grey hair, Baba
Not in its seductive whiteness
Your flower that continues
To bloom on high
Even in its twilight years.

Tuesday 22 October 2024

Many A Cold Season - Tsegaye Gebre-Medhin

Many a flower has blossomed and plucked 
Since we last said good-bye 
Many a cold season has come and gone... 
No, it was not the good-bye that hurt 
Not the under breath curse we parted with but the question 
Whether or not we had parted at all. 

Monday 21 October 2024

Batswana Land - Leetile Disang Raditladi

My heart is in the land of the Batswana 
To hunt steenbok and duiker; 
My heart is not really in the Western land, 
It is far away in the bushes.

Sunday 20 October 2024

And it was here — it was autumn - Vladimir Solovyov

And it was here — it was autumn —
When I told Her: “Divine Flower,
I feel Your touch! But why have you hidden Yourself
From my sight since I was a boy?”

Saturday 19 October 2024

This Is It, Your - Magdalena Horvat

poem without any aim or pretension
to be another source of your tension—
a post-apocalyptic poem that no one
will read anyway;

Friday 18 October 2024

Fairy Tale - Aspazija

On a teensy weensy pony
rides the fairy tale;
Always in a big, big hurry,
wielding a golden whip.

Thursday 17 October 2024

The Farm, from Pan Tadeusz - Adam Mickiewicz

O Lithuania, my native land, 
you are like health--so valued when lost 
beyond recovery; let these words now stand
restoring you, redeeming exile's cost.

Wednesday 16 October 2024

In winter - Maksim Bahdanovich

Hail, frosty evening, ringing, calling,
Hail, crunching crisp, soft spread of snow,
No snowstorm blows, the wind has fallen,
And freely the light sledges go.

Tuesday 15 October 2024

Not a star - Grigore Vieru

Not a star is poor
As long as it is seen
Not a nation being needy
As long as it has a song, a speech.

Monday 14 October 2024

This Humanity, a Tale - Ali Znaidi

This humanity, this diversity
like endless lightning through
the night.

Sunday 13 October 2024

He said, don't sleep - Dunash ben Labrat

He said, "Don't sleep. Drink old wine
with myrrh and lilies, henna and aloes,
in an orchard of pomegranates, palm, and vines
full of pleasant plants and tamarisks, to the hum of fountains
and the throb of lutes,
to the sound of singers, flutes, and lyres.

Saturday 12 October 2024

Charity - Ivan Blatný

Hearken, the rivers won’t be frozen this winter
or nearly any other winter for that matter
this is a milde climate

Friday 11 October 2024

Have You Been at Carrick? - Edward Walsh

Have you been at Carrick, and saw my true-love there?
And saw you her features, all beautiful, bright, and fair?

Thursday 10 October 2024

The Surpassing of Danger - Yannis Ritsos

Every so often a star or a voice
falls so deep, that he supports himself
on the railing of the balcony or holding a hand
(if there is a hand) lest he collapse inside himself.

Wednesday 9 October 2024

Zehaal-E-Miskeen - Amir Khosrow

Do not overlook my misery,
by blandishing your eyes and weaving tales,
My patience has over-brimmed, O sweetheart!

Tuesday 8 October 2024

Full Moon - Fabio Fiallo

Over the green prairie, with hushed voices,
    We wandered, she and I.
The moon rose clear and bright above the mountain,
    The nightingale was singing to the sky.

Monday 7 October 2024

Table talk - Manuel Magallanes Moure

The little old lady laughs like a little girl, going
On with the tale of this and that happy day.
Says the little old lady, “Oh, what times were they
When I fell in love without Grandmother’s knowing!"

Sunday 6 October 2024

Winter barley - Kim Su-yeong

My body hurts
So I stagger in the sun.
My body hurts
So I stagger in the sun.

Saturday 5 October 2024

Absurd - Bouchra Yassine

Soon ...
Very soon, my friend ...
We will discover that all the optimists
Are insane more than any absurdity.

Friday 4 October 2024

I Don't Feel At Home Where I Am - Regina Derieva

I don't feel at home where I am,
or where I spend time; only where,
beyond counting, there's freedom and calm,

Thursday 3 October 2024

Since you attended my funeral, I’ll also attend yours - Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva

Since you attended my funeral, I’ll also attend yours
I’ll arrive just before the coffin
Enters the church
And join the line of weepers.

Tuesday 1 October 2024

How Many Kisses: to Lesbia - Catullus

Lesbia, you ask how many kisses of yours
would be enough and more to satisfy me.