Venice masks

Saturday, 31 January 2026

Who will listen to me - Toyo Mori

"Mama. where are you?
Papa. are you around?"
 
They are mine.
But am I theirs?
I'm confused.
 
When I cried. I cried alone,
No father listening to my pain,
No mother wiping my tears.
No brother's hand comforting me.

Friday, 30 January 2026

Lot's wife - Iryna Tsilyk

“There’s nothing in this country,” Lot’s wife says
impetuously and with disdain. “But it’s true. What can you get here?”
The soup’s boiling, someone else’s child is sleeping (for twenty zloty an hour),
while Lot drives back cars from Holland to sell.

Thursday, 29 January 2026

Words of Woe - Poltu

I found you a word in my dictionary:
Enchanting, like you, a dancing fairy
You found me another in your book of words:
Revolting, 'cause I’m strictly for the birds

Wednesday, 28 January 2026

Roots and Rain - Haya Alhajri

The walls once echoed with our names,
A choir of love, of laughs, of games.
Now silence sleeps in every room,
Where memories bloom through quiet gloom.

Tuesday, 27 January 2026

A phone-call - Rafiq O’zturk

My poor dad
would love to be proud of me.
He is glad
if he finds something
that was lost long ago.

Monday, 26 January 2026

Q’esintuu - Odi Gonzales

no longer rooted in me no longer
is the roaring force
of a horn blower

Sunday, 25 January 2026

O Holy Spirit, blessed Comforter - César Malan

O Holy Spirit, blessed Comforter, 
Who hast revealed the Saviour to my heart, 
Lead me again to him whom I adore, 
And the assurance of his love impart. 

Saturday, 24 January 2026

Dusk - Yefon Isabelle

I am different, I told him.
But dear, he said
There isn't nothing special about being different
The world will only jeer at your ache.

Friday, 23 January 2026

Silence - René Maran

My relatives are dead. As for my friends,
My childhood friends, where are they?
Life has scattered them;
Scattered them like seeds blown by the wind.

Thursday, 22 January 2026

Eggs - Tomás Iriarte

Beyond the sunny Philippines
An island lies, whose name I do not know;
But that’s of little consequence, if so
You understand that there they had no hens,