Drat My Hateful Birthday ~ Sulpicia Translated from Latin by John Dillon Drat my hateful birthday to be spent in the boring old country. It’s going to be a day of mourning without Cerinthus to hug. Oh the joys of city life! Is a musty old country house Any fit place for a girl? And […]
Homesick ~ Else Lasker-Schüler Translated from German by Michael Hamburger I don’t know the language Of this cool country And its pace is not mine. Nor can I interpret The clouds that pass. The night is a step-queen. Always I have to think of the pharaoh forests And kiss the images of my stars. Already […]
Madly Singing in the Mountains ~ Po Chu-I Translated from Chinese by Arthur Waley There is no one among men that has not a special failing; And my failing consists in writing verses. I have broken away from the thousand ties of life; But this infirmity still remains behind. Each time that I look at […]
My Baby Has No Name Yet ~ Kim Nam-jo Translated from Korean by Ko Won My baby has no name yet; like a new-born chick or puppy, my baby is not named yet. What numberless texts I examined at dawn and night and evening over again! But not one character did I find which is […]
A simple poem, yet breathtaking in its imagery. Men in the City ~ Alfonsina Storni Translated from Spanish by Rachel Benson The woods of the horizon are on fire; eluding flames, the swift blue bucks of twilight cross. Little golden goats migrate toward the vault and recline on the blue moss. Below, the city rises […]
