Quarantine The pain isn’t contagious,I assure you, the pain cannot be transmitted,No nerve twisted in my peer’s bodycauses excruciating touching inside me.The pain is not contagious, the painSingles out more atrocious than the walls,No quarantine isolates so perfectly,It’s trivial what I say – that’s the argument.Lord, how much literature we contain!The feelings – remember? –…
Poetry: Nynke Salverda Passi
Six Pieces of My Soul 1At the edgeof a scrapyard in Iowaa girl in a blue dress sitson a tire swing, legs flying.A frog croaks hoarselyfrom the well of her throat. 2In a soft September sunrows of stubby, dried-outcorn stalks turninto a gold-leaf frescoby Giotto: maidensin ephemeral negligees. 3The dusty road curlslike uncut ribbon.In the…
Andreea Apostu: Translated by Maria Magdalena Biela
For Two Weeks Now For two weeks nowI don’t sit huddled by the phonefor someone else to keep me away from sadnessI no longer wrap and unpackthe knees in my house dresslike two pieces of rancid butterthe cut hairs are goneand the bruisesI used to give myselfso as not to vomit deformed animals every nightin…
Poetry: Paul Nelson
BIKE IN THE GARAGE mounted on the work-out standspindly creature to climb on and sitlegs churning in high gearinto vanishing turns by vast fieldsunder wan blue skywhere I drift no careening into fearstonewalls traffic or ditchtrusting my quads to burnwarn me to cease for the dayheart thudding and breath rapid then easingeasy as leisure to…
Poetry: Ashok Bhargava
HALF A FACE Sky is dark.Beneath a green cedar tree,it is quiet on the bench where we sit,thinking darkness is just anothershade of light. Inhaling deep,you clear your throat,stand up,and begin to singin a broken voice,telling stories of unfulfilled dreams. Sometimes you ripple with painbut regain composure soon,to shine like a half moon,thin like a…
Poetry: Kavita Ezekiel Mendonca
Leaf Olympics From my office window I watch the October leaves Doing the hundred-meter dash With no starting line, no gun Fueled by an invisible force Racing in harmony. . They pole vault over the roof of the opposite house Hurdle over the fences gracefully Long jump the length of the bridge Gathering the dust…
Poetry: Nicholas Abanavas
Random Acts of Silence My mother has characterized my birthhighly inauspiciousthe lunar antithesis of some anticipatedcataclysmic event. She has bluntly recounted over timemy forthcoming’s secondary naturevoid of fore-thought, reasonpreparation or rhyme. My modest realm distains those systemsenviously circling about my head.My throne extinct of thunderous extrusionsquietly rests in place of known dread. Impacted by her…
Poetry: Laurel Benjamin
Inside My Mother’s Ring Smooth like her face, an owl of beginningsit stayed on her finger the last six-month road like rain from a tree, a dream wrestlingas they turned her body over in the washing as if she could mend, the gold to re-moldlike her red face and tears at my wedding worn on…
Maria Magdalena Biela
A Crumb from the Copious Spiritual Feast of Romanian Poetry Maria Magdalena Biela has published two books of Finnish poetry translated into Romanian and two books of short stories and poetry in English. She has done MA in French and Romanian languages and literature and BA in the Educational guidance field. She lives in Finland.
Poetry: Shanta Acharya
HOME Home is not a country or postcode,more a state of mind, keeper of the map of my world – offering a hint of the distance between myselfand the silence out there, the way life reaches for light, and rays leaning like ladders against the skyinvest my journey with meaning. The universe never seems to…
Poetry: Carrie Magness Radna
Being Late (Poem of the Month) They said you were usually lateto school. So, one day last weekI followed you, finding out why: You stood back & sighedas you watched a young duck familycrossing the road—stepping in to save their lives by watching out for cars. Then,when you appeared before the fountain in the mini-park, you noticed the orange…
Paul Lojeski
In the Church of Adele She sings of love’s suffering,the plaintive cries of separation, of shattered hearts, the sad, shuffling parting and regrets of ill-placed dedication, of passion soured by time, his or her dreams crushed by love’sbrutal demise. So good in fact, she packs great halls and stadiums with devotees swaying to every sound, for all at one time…