Venice masks

Thursday, 21 August 2025

Ultima Thule Sendeth Greeting: Part II - Matthías Jochumsson

Young was I wont —
now four-score years— 
to fashion words
in Odin’s tongue;

Wednesday, 20 August 2025

Tuesday, 19 August 2025

Bygones cannot by bygones - Faustas Kirsa

Bygones cannot by bygones.
Only streets and squares have forgotten the smell of fire.
Only fields
have forgotten the taste of blood.

Monday, 18 August 2025

Of the text - Juan Calzadilla

           Some have experienced the feeling of poetry to such an extreme degree that the fact of having expressed it in their lives with the same intensity by which they would like to have written it, has incapacitated them and, for that reason, exempted them from putting it into words.

Sunday, 17 August 2025

Get Down Ye Angels - John Agard

Get down ye angels from the heights.
Try a few of earth’s numinous delights:
the orgiastic rustling of the grass.
The wind’s brazen feather tickling your arse.

Saturday, 16 August 2025

Wednesday, 13 August 2025

Lucky Men - Partaw Naderi

When your star is unseen in this desolate sky,
your despair itself becomes a star.

Tuesday, 12 August 2025

Ulysses - Miguel Ángel Asturias

Close friend of dreams, Ulysses,
Returned to his fog-bound destiny,
A homecoming from foreign countries,
Back to his own. A salty memory.

Monday, 11 August 2025

Hero and Leander - Musaeus Grammaticus

Neighbours that faced across the narrowing seas,
Lay Sestos and Abydos, and on these
Love bent his bow; a single arrow flamed.

Saturday, 9 August 2025

Today I do not want to be a doctor - Glenn Colquhoun

Today I do not want to be a doctor.
Nobody is getting any better.
Those who were well are sick again
and those who were sick are sicker.

Friday, 8 August 2025

Puddles - Uroš Zupan

At 8.10 in the morning I was exactly
43 years old. Long blots of sunlight
are broken off by sharpened shadows. The clouds

Thursday, 7 August 2025

Blinded by Love - Rycha Heemachal Devi

I wandered like a lost soul on a velvet dark night,
searching for the moon to illuminate my life.

Wednesday, 6 August 2025

The Wishes - Johannes Ewald

All hail, thou new year, that apparell'd in sweetness 
Now spring'st like a youth from eternity's breast! 
Oh! say, dost thou come from the bright throne of greatness, 
Our herald of merey, of gladness, and rest! 

Tuesday, 5 August 2025

Splashes of Light - Mahmud Yussop

It is in times of darkness
That the brightest splashes of light are seen
Just as the dreamer is awakened
He sees the brilliance of day

Monday, 4 August 2025

Snow Fell On Winter Gardens - Galaktion Tabidze

Snow fell on winter gardens,
a coffin was brought out
and the standards unfolded
caught by the dishevelled breeze.

Sunday, 3 August 2025

To Ausonius - Paulinus of Nola

I, through all chances that are given to mortals,
      And through all fates that be,
So long as this close prison shall contain me,
      Yea, though a world shall sunder me and thee,

Saturday, 2 August 2025

Once the wind - Shake Keane

Once the wind said to the sea 
"I am sad."
And the sea said "Why?"

Friday, 1 August 2025

Babylon - A G Stephens

Babylon has fallen! Aye; but Babylon endures
Wherever human wisdom shines or human folly lures;
Where lovers lingering walk beside, and happy children play,
Is Babylon! Babylon! for ever and for aye.