Edna St. Vincent Millay: I shall forget you presently, my dear (Sonnet IV)
I shall forget you presently, my dear,
So make the most of this, your little day
Emily Dickinson: Wild nights — Wild nights!
Wild nights – Wild nights!
Were I with thee
Wild nights should be
Our luxury!
Pablo Neruda: The Riddles
You have asked me what the crustacean spins between its limbs of gold
and I answer: the sea knows it.
Justin Vicari: Encounters with Rimbaud
It’s found again.
What? — Eternity.
It’s the sea
making love to the sun.
Edna St. Vincent Millay: Oh, sleep forever in the Latmian cave
Oh, sleep forever in the Latmian cave,
Mortal Endymion, darling of the Moon!
Doug Anderson: Living Will
For those who loved me I leave nothing because
they require nothing of me and never did and instead
send me on my way, my boat full of burning flowers.
Alyssa Sineni: Sharp Edges
This was our childhood.
We were all left
to scavenge the woods
Michael T. Young: Holding My Daughter as We Listen to the News
Because the radio repeats their name
my daughter asks what a Nazi is.
Ellery Akers: What I Know
I know the history of this snag:
I was here when an owl landed
and a branch broke and the owl flapped away
Video: Hairat
Hairat tells the story of Yussuf Mume Saleh’s nightly ritual of bonding with hyenas in the outskirts of the Ethiopian walled city of Harar. Through images, music and poetry, Hairat‘s director, Jessica Beshir who was born in Mexico City but who grew up in Harar, hypnotically evokes a mystical connection between a man and the animals he loves.
Federico García Lorca: Weeping for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías
García Lorca’s “Weeping for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías” is by far his best known poem in the Spanish speaking world. Why is it not better known in the United States?
Stephen Dobyns: Laugh
What he wished was to have his ashes flushed
down the ladies’ room toilet of Syracuse City Hall,
which would so clog the pipes that the resulting
blast of glutinous broth would douse the place clean
Sandy Solomon: Widow
An amputated leg, they say, tingles,
an ear long deaf still jangles the brain:
the body asserts the integrity of its parts…
