All about: anthology
Reading: Between the Sultan and His Statue by Yusuf al-Saigh
Yusuf al-Saigh (1933-2006) was an Iraqi poet who has published poetry since the 1950s. He also worked as an illustrator and painter. I read a short verse that nicely renders the working of symbolic authority: Between the Sultan and His Statue A wily sculptor Cut several pounds off the sultan’s figure And added several pounds ...
Reading: Dusk by Rae Armantrout
Rae Armantrout (b. 1947) is one of the founding members of the West Coast group of Language poets (Natural History'. Dusk spider on the cold expanse of glass, three stories high rests intently and so purely alone. I’m not like that! I am looking at the spider from the inside of a building. At least, ...
Reading: Wedding by Alice Oswald
tack to tack, it’s like a swallowtail and when the swallow flies it’s like a coat; and if the coat is yours, it has a tear like a wide mouth and when the mouth begins to draw the wind, it’s like a trumpeter and when the trumpet blows, it blows like millions… and this, my love, ...
Reading: Death of a friend by Rob van Moppes
Rob van Moppes (b. 1948) is a Dutch writer. I am his friend on social media and discovered this tender song-like poem today, so I decided to include it in my series. Death of a friend We met only two years before. Eyes sparkled when she spoke. We talked about the masks we wore, Considered ...
Reading: Green Grapes by Yuk-Sa Lee
Yi Korean original: 청포도(靑葡萄) - 이육사 내 고장 칠월은 청포도가 익어 가는 시절. 이 마을 전설이 주저리주저리 열리고 먼 데 하늘이 꿈꾸며 알알이 들어와 박혀, 하늘 밑 푸른 바다가 가슴을 열고 흰 돛 단 배가 곱게 밀려서 오면, 내가 바라는 손님은 고달픈 몸으로 청포(靑袍)를 입고 찾아온다고 했으니, 내 그를 맞아 이 포도를 따 먹으면 두 ...
Reading: So Little Depends by Miguel-Manso
website of Poetry International. So Little Depends you prefer the corner, the hidden place the foliage, the shadow, the room, this sack of wheat: textual gold spread out on the old secretaire of the real outside the blaze of the wood the quick glazing of the fields here inside, less leeway – another panorama: simply ...
Reading: Project for a fainting by Brenda Shaughnessy
Brenda Dear Gonglya'. Project for a Fainting Oh, yes, the rain is sorry. Unfemale, of course, the rain is with her painted face still plain and with such pixel you’d never see it in the pure freckling, the lacquer of her. The world is lighter with her recklessness, a handkerchief so wet it is ...
Reading: Harbach 1944 by János Pilinszky
János Pilinszky (1921-1981) was an Hungarian poet who served in the Hungarian army in the Second World War. His work has been translated by Ted Hughes and János Csokits. Warning: I read a very dark and graphic poem:
Reading: After Us by Nikola Madzirov
Nikola Madzirov (b. 1973) is a Macedonian poet, probably the most famous one alive, who also writes essays and translations. I was looking for a younger Eastern European poet today and I found him.
Reading: Lucky by Tony Hoagland
Tony Hoagland (b. 1953) is a witty and acerbic poet from North Carolina. Many awards. Some great and demonically intense poems. Here goes: Lucky If you are lucky in this life, you will get to help your enemy the way I got to help my mother when she was weakened past the point of saying ...