Poetry

Moments Hard to Piece Together

By Duane Niatum

Autumn 2019
Duane Niatum

Photos: “Skedee” and “Cherokee National Holiday — Tahlequah,” from In The Territories, by Shane Brown American Indians should stop weeping over the cruelty of the trail of tears and th...
Those Who Are Leaving

By Nancy Morejón

Autumn 2019
Nancy Morejón

Photo: Lucas Poisson / Flickr Leave. No two ways about it, they leave heading out toward night. Desperate, a coastal patrol will look for t...
We Shall Endure: A Poem

By Simon J. Ortiz

Autumn 2019
Simon J. Ortiz

Illustration: Dustin Mater March 1973 Forever. Always. Never-ending. Continuing. It was snowing in the Southwest, and the wind was cold and harsh the past few days. We...
Bless This Land

By Joy Harjo

Autumn 2019
Joy Harjo

Winter Sun, 2017, oil on wood panel, by Kay WalkingStick. Courtesy of the artist and June Kelly Gallery Bless this land from the top of its head to the bottom of its feet F...
Finger in the Operating Room

By Fatemeh Shams

Autumn 2019
Fatemeh Shams

They had to remove it and off we went: A transparent image of bones chained together; Half face, three-quarters, full face of the fingers stretched out, fingers without recognizable lines, i...
52

By Frank Paino

Summer 2019
Frank Paino

Fin whales in the Svalbard archipelago / Photo by Guillaume Baviere / Flickr “52” is the moniker given to an unidentified whale (most likely a blue or fin) whose high-pitched voca...
Banaras

By Kedarnath Singh

Summer 2019
Kedarnath Singh

Temple in Varanasi / Photo by Saurabh Chatterjee / Flickr Spring descends on this city suddenly and when it does a whirl of dust rises from Lehartara or Manduadih and coats the tongue of...
Three Poems from the Philippines

By Rina Garcia Chua

Summer 2019
Rina Garcia Chua

Photo: Courtesy of the Author As she pleases after Tropical Storm Ondoy, 2009 If only words dilute sediments at the bottom of my gut; if only a tongue can let this pain hydroplane...
The Time of Climate

By Márcia Wayna Kambeba

Summer 2019
Márcia Wayna Kambeba

There was a time, a certain weather where the butterflies danced paused on the grass to rest and hear the song of the wind echo. There was a time, an ardent weather when the sun shone more stron...
Four Poems

By Jane Hirshfield

Summer 2019
Jane Hirshfield

The Aquarium, 20" x 24" hand-painted paper collage on wood panel, private collection. © Elizabeth St. Hilaire (paperpaintings.com) Three Pebbles Sixth Ext...
Two Poems from the Philippines

By Marjorie Evasco

Summer 2019
Marjorie Evasco

Farol de Combate This is how, while darkness drew my profile with its little finger I have learned to see past as Montale saw it, The obscure thoughts of God descending ...
Two US Poems

By Major Jackson

Summer 2019
Major Jackson

Photo: Picker H/Flickr November in Xichang There are cities one won’t see again. – Joseph Brodsky I. Only a bearded smile shows below a conical hat turning men t...
Two Hungarian Poems

By Renátó Fehér

Summer 2019
Renátó Fehér

Photo: Brian Ainsworth/Flickr Borderland (2) Moored in an estuary of chestnut trees is the main building – a mother ship. The sharp-eyed gaze eventually settles, studying t...
Two Catalan Poems

By Gemma Gorga

Summer 2019
Gemma Gorga

Photo: M. Maggs/Pixabay La bona educació L’estiu que complia set anys li van regalar un estoig de fusta amb un llapis i una goma. El llapis, perquè en rosegués la mina fin...
Jawad’s Flock in Mohammedia

By Myronn Hardy

Summer 2019
Myronn Hardy

Photo: Simon Q/Flickr A patch of sunlight on the wall thin shadows like worn nets or the snagged stockings of a voracious lover impair that patch. Our shoes tap the marble stairs down-d...
Five Russian Poems

By Aleksandra Tsibulia

Summer 2019
Aleksandra Tsibulia

PHOTO: Scott Webb/Unsplash * Tulips and their capricious labia, their indecent appeal. The absolute shamelessness of the flowers, but also the sinlessness. The lushness of the earth, as befo...
Black Silk Chicken

By Xi Xi

Spring 2019
Xi Xi

PHOTO: Florian Wehde / Unsplash you gave me a black silk chicken hoping I’d eat it and get better you gave me a black silk chicken because I’ve been unwell I cooked up the black silk chick...
Scheggia / Shrapnel

By Alexander Booth

Spring 2019
Alexander Booth

Lorie Shaull, “Stolperstein” / Flickr The story begins like this. No. It does not. There is no story. Or, they shoveled a load of speed and shuddered toward the coast. Saltpans. Sparse groupin...
A Rohingya Refugee

By Mayyu Ali

Spring 2019
Mayyu Ali

View of the Kukupalong refugee camp near Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh. / PHOTO: Russell Watkins / UK Department of International Development “I can be killed here in Bangladesh. My body can e...
Ngo Mai Lou Cryptogram

By Jason S. Polley

Spring 2019
Jason S. Polley

PHOTO: Ruslan Bardash/Unsplash The meaty gweipo complete slippery scolds assailant aplenty The meaty miasma of North Point’s postcard avenues, where Big-Leaf Fig base...
Rice with Soy Sauce

By Chris Song

Spring 2019
Chris Song

PHOTO: Jmoritz320/Pixabay But a bowl of rice with soy sauce was your breakfast yesterday. Colors of foods varied as fate played out with this resemblance on the table – Clay-pot sauce pour...
Two Poems

By Wawa

Spring 2019
Wawa

Prelapsarian Bloom: One Day One Life, thread on kite, LED light. Photo courtesy of the author. [untitled] a day a life, between death and birth, under the mo...
Two Poems

By Belle Ling

Spring 2019
Belle Ling

PHOTO: Florian Wehde/Unsplash Tasting Karma Does the doctor prefer eating an apple before he announces death? The doctor says: “Just so—sorry.” Or, he prefers studying an ap...
Two Poems

By Eddie Tay

Spring 2019
Eddie Tay

Press Doorbell Please. PHOTO: Eddie Tay How I Impress Others with My Cantonese At a dim sum restaurant you’ll need to ask for la jiu jeong (chili sauce), la jiu yeow (chili oil), or...
Two Poems

By Arthur Leung

Spring 2019
Arthur Leung

PHOTO: Alice Cheung Dim Sum Cart Dim sum house in Mongkok, the crowded, traditional one with gleaming walls, red flowery carpet, you squeeze through waiters and eaters, tables and chandelier...