Venice masks

Sunday, 21 September 2025

Vondel's Lucifer (Act II, lines 493-538) - Joost van den Vondel

Chorus of Angels:
Strophe.
How glares the noble front of Heaven!
Why streams the holy light so red
Upon our face, overspread
With mournful mists from darkness driven?

Saturday, 20 September 2025

Mass grave - Lia Cachim

They die by the thousands —
and the cars march on
the graves the shrines
in a sluggish rush
as if pretending
that funeral elegies might serve
for more than kindling
for the fire

Wednesday, 17 September 2025

Can I try to sing a song - Omar García Ramírez

Can I try to sing a song in the midst of our shipwreck?
Or will it be thrown into the storm of silence?
An image?
A voice?

Monday, 15 September 2025

Yo Yu - Luisa Igloria

"Have fish."
  —Chinese saying

Today, the streets flooded and ceilings leaked,
mercurial.  On TV, firemen waded through apartments

Sunday, 14 September 2025

VI - Ryner Lai

Tenuously tethered leaves,
Feed the thirsty soil.

Friday, 12 September 2025

A sleepless night - Maksym Rylsky

It’s stifling, quiet and dark everywhere,
The darkness strangles me, an evil darkness,
The bright world is gone... Where are you, people,
Where have you disappeared? You’re gone, all gone...

Thursday, 11 September 2025

Free from bondage - Bahlakoana Mothobi

They came with chains, with iron and lies,
Their greed reflected in hollow eyes.
The ocean roared, the ships stood tall,
Yet sorrow wailed above them all.

Wednesday, 10 September 2025

All the World - Langa Sarakikya

Several times a day
the same play
features in the recesses
of a collective mind

Tuesday, 9 September 2025

Prophecy - Jules Supervielle

One day the Earth will be   
just a blind space turning,   
night confused with day.   
Under the vast Andean sky   
there’ll be no more mountains,   
not a rock or ravine.

Monday, 8 September 2025

The Cooking Pot And The Sickle - Edasseri Govindan Nair

I.
Who in the last season had sown
The Aryan1 seeds in this field with love?
When the hot sun of March burned
Rain - fire above, red embers below,

Sunday, 7 September 2025

Dawn purples all the East with light - Ambrose of Milan (Augusta Treverorum)

Dawn purples all the east with light;
Day o'er the earth is gliding bright;
Morn's sparkling rays their course begin;
Farewell to darkness and to sin!

Saturday, 6 September 2025

Lament VI - Jan Kochanowski

Dear little Slavic Sappho, we had thought,
Hearing thy songs so sweetly, deftly wrought,
That thou shouldst have an heritage one day
Beyond thy father’s lands: his lute to play.

Friday, 5 September 2025

Happy days will break through the pain - Fedir

Everyone says school's quite thrilling
You make the first steps on your own.
But I'm about to forget this feeling,
My best school years were stolen.

Thursday, 4 September 2025

Written While Drunk in Lake-View Pavilion on the 27th Day of the Sixth Month - Su Shi

The inky clouds fly in, but do not hide the hills,
As random drops of white rain leap into the boats.

Wednesday, 3 September 2025

Insomnia - Farhan Ejat

I remember one day someone I’ve met
Told me a story hard to forget
Asked me how well do I sleep at night
And if it’s true that bed bugs bite?

Tuesday, 2 September 2025

My desire... - Nadezhda Zaharieva

My desire is to find a shelter
In some god forsaken wilderness,
Bathe in virgin dew-drops Eden's water,
Drink a scent of herbs – luxturiaters
And lie-down in cradle-greenery;

Monday, 1 September 2025

America is a Gun - Brian Bilston

England is a cup of tea.
France, a wheel of ripened brie.
Greece, a short, squat olive tree
America is a gun.