Vision ~ May Thielgaard Watts To-day there have been lovely things I never saw before; Sunlight through a jar of marmalade; A blue gate; A rainbow In soapsuds on dishwater; Candlelight on butter; The crinkled smile of a little girl Who had new shoes with tassels; A chickadee on a thorn-apple; Empurpled mud under a […]
The Death of Myth-Making ~ Sylvia Plath Two virtues ride, by stallion, by nag, To grind our knives and scissors: Lantern-jawed Reason, squat Common Sense, One courting doctors of all sorts, One, housewives and shopkeepers. The trees are lopped, the poodles trim, The laborer’s nails pared level Since those two civil servants set Their whetstone […]
Running Water ~ Alfonsina Storni Yes, I move, I live, I wander astray— Water running, intermingling, over the sands. I know the passionate pleasure of motion; I taste the forests; I touch strange lands. Yes, I move—perhaps I am seeking Storms, suns, dawns, a place to hide. What are you doing here, pale and polished— […]
The House-Builders ~ Kamala Das The cicadas in brambled foliage Naturally concave. So also these Men who crawl up the cogged scaffoldings Building houses for the alien rich. On some days the hot sky flings us scraps Of Telugu songs and we intently Listen, but we wait in vain for the harsh Message of the […]
As we begin the journey of a new year, Cavafy’s words inspire us. Ithaka ~ C.P. Cavafy Translated from Greek by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard As you set out for Ithaka hope the voyage is a long one, full of adventure, full of discovery. Laistrygonians and Cyclops, angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them: you’ll never […]
