Cactus - Bantu Mwaura

Sand,

Dater-less, and

Dry, drry

Dust

That's the environ

Cattle Egret - Okot p' Bitek

My children gather stars

Into their soft songs

And woo the young moon

With their white teeth.

Number 106 - Imtiaz Dharker

We are waving to you from up here,

from the fourth floor to say

don’t worry about us, we are fine.

Where am I? - Parveen Shakir

Where am I

in your life?

In This World Where We Forget - Fernando Pessoa

In this world where we forget

we are shadows of who we are,

and the true expressions we form

in that other where, souls, we live,

are here grimaces and signs.

Beautiful Ferns - Catherine Richardson

Beautiful, delicate, fairy-like things!

Ye bend where the forest its deep shadow flings—

Where the long dank weeds weep their dews all day,

And there falls not a sunbeam to chase them away.

The Horse's Face - Nikolay Alekseyevich Zabolotsky

Animals don't sleep. In the dark after nightfall

They stand over the world like a stone wall.

Obeah Woman - Eileen Hall

So lef’ me, ef you waan’a feel

How p’isin sting from manchineel.

Is my dream true? - Takarai Kikaku

Is my dream true?

Basket - No‘u Revilla

She brings her host a basket:

earrings, mats, testimony

This basket, she says, is medicine.