Poetry

A Suite of Contemporary Ethiopian Poetry

By Eric Ellingsen

January 2015
Eric Ellingsen

For a group of art performances in July 2013 called Wax and Gold organized by the Netsa Art Village, visual artist Mulugeta Gebrekidan presented “Invading Samsung Square” to protest the corp...
A Welder of the Word

By Niyi Afolabi

January 2015
Niyi Afolabi

for Mia Couto Dream, Dream, Dream.Never cease to dream Dream on, MiaYour beginning A tale of yesterdays Your today A tale of future...
Two Poems by Luljeta Lleshanaku

By Luljeta Lleshanaku

November 2014
Luljeta Lleshanaku

Photo by Brent Pearson/Flickr Negative Space I I was born on a Tuesday in April.I didn’t cry. Not because I was stunned. I wasn’t even mad.I was the lucky egg, trained for gratitudeinside the belly f...
Five Poems by Ana Blandiana

By Ana Blandiana

November 2014
Ana Blandiana

Photo: Kristina Sheppard/Flickr A Young Horse I’ve never figured out what world I live in.I rode on a horse as young and as happy as I.When he galloped I could feel his heartbeatAgainst my thighsAnd...
Five Poems by Julia Fiedorczuk

By Julia Fiedorczuk

November 2014
Julia Fiedorczuk

Photo by Alberto Varela Bio How unlike a dead fish a live fish is – Maxine Hong Kingston Kiedy byłam rybąKosmos jak zawsze okrągłyMiał przytulne ściany Śniłam o boskich pł...
Two Poems by Lawson Fusao Inada

By Lawson Fusao Inada

November 2014
Lawson Fusao Inada

Todd Stewart, “Fence Line, Tule Lake Relocation Center, 2001,” from Placing Memory: A Photographic Exploration of Japanese American Internment (University of Oklahoma Press, 2008). Eating No...
Two Poems by Amarsana Ulzytuev

By Amarsana Ulzytuev

September 2014
Amarsana Ulzytuev

The author reading at the Gogol House Museum in Moscow, February 2014. Photo © Anna Dikareva. Listen to videotaped recordings of both Russian originals in the following clip (4:00-10:05). Shenhe...
Audio Recording of “The Swallows”

By G. Mend-Ooyo

September 2014
G. Mend-Ooyo

Swallows. Photo by Kenneth Cole Schneider/Flickr The Swallows G. Mend-Ooyo Returning from afar, swallows in flocksEmbrace the tales of the gentle, tranquil steppe.The waters of eter...
Audio Recording of “Language of Stone”

By Yorgos Soukoulis

September 2014
Yorgos Soukoulis

Photo by Katerina Cheiladaki Translator’s note: Arvanitika, or Arberishte as it is called in the Corinthian mountain villages, is one of the many languages in the world facing extin...
Two Poems

By Mikeas Sánchez

September 2014
Mikeas Sánchez

Photo by Marjan Lazarevski Jesucristo’is Ja’ Ñäjktyäj’ya Äj’ Tzumama’is Kyionuksku’y Äj’ tzumama’is ja’ myuspäkä’ kastiya’orenatzu’ jyambä’ä ngyomis’kyionukskutyamnatzu’ xaä’ tumä nabdzu’jyambäu...
Three Bilingual Poetry Readings by Andrés Neuman and George Henson

By Andrés Neuman

May-August 2014
Andrés Neuman

The Gardener I learned to plant trees with my grandfather.“The willows need more water than you, Andrés,and their rootsin the beginning aren’tvery deep.Sometimes they grow so fastand sometimes they...
Two Poems (and a Photo Gallery) by Nathalie Handal

By Nathalie Handal

May-August 2014
Nathalie Handal

Author note: These flash semi-témoignages or reportages are inspired by stories people told me It began as a personal acco...
The Stream

By Michael Cope

May-August 2014
Michael Cope

How tenderly the stream flowsamong the numberless blossomswhose heads dip and weavein the tepid east wind, how warmthe insect tune, and multitudethe ripe green grasses, rank on rankthrough which i...
Two Poems by Niyi Osundare

By Niyi Osundare

May-August 2014
Niyi Osundare

Wishes Wish I could still laugh with the lotusOn the bank of the Nile Take off my clothes And dive into the Zambezi Join spirit dancersIn the middle of the Ganges Romp with the RioTo the...
Two Poems by Ketty Nivyabandi

By Ketty Nivyabandi

March 2014
Ketty Nivyabandi

Photo by Gwaga Little Men Animals no longer speakDrums refuse to beatTanganyika slowly retreats From her shoresBloodied by the nightmare of menWhose pettiness piercesThe deep slumber of the ancient...
Business

By Naomi Shihab Nye

January 2014
Naomi Shihab Nye

Photo by Pieter Stockmans “Syrian refugees go about their business in a refugee camp in Mafraq, Jordan . . .” Ropes on poles, jeans & shirts fla...
Chikome Xochitl: A Poem in Seven Parts

By Juan Hernández Ramírez

January 2014
Juan Hernández Ramírez

Translators’ Note Juan Hernández Ramírez describes both Nahuatl and Spanish as mirrors for his writing: “sirven de espejo, kewak se teskatl.” He does not write solely in one...
Arabs in Finland

By Naomi Shihab Nye

January 2014
Naomi Shihab Nye

Photo by Kables/Flickr Their language rolls out, soft carpet in front of them.Strolling slowly beneath trees, men in white shirts, belts, baggy trousers,women in scarves,glinting cigarettes in the d...
Four Poems

By Ludwig Steinherr

November 2013
Ludwig Steinherr

Clay Tablet Bearing the World’s First Alphabet That had comemuch later – After everythingalready had happened – Without witnessthe first stammered wordthis atomic flash forevercontaminating the oblivi...
Genesis

By Achy Obejas

September 2013
Achy Obejas

The first time I saw your father,I stared back into the pool at your reflectionwhile he waded through,the water moving in gentle circles away from us. The first time, I thought it was the Nilewe’d dip...
A Postponed Poem for New York

By Amjad Nasser

July 2013
Amjad Nasser

I Before what happened happened,I mean, before the towers became a stairway to the dayof reckoning, and the world split into twocamps, water and sand,I used to wish that I’d be among the poetswho woul...
Two Poems

By Lauren Camp

January 2013
Lauren Camp

Letter to Baghdad Even if my father never speaks a word of it, I will knowhe brought a candle, a cough, and the occupied side of his heart.I will know the trees held him, that they rose above roofline...
Two Poems by Arif Shah

By Arif Shah

November 2013
Arif Shah

The Cricket Match They have fooled us, friends, got us all to gaze night and day at the television,Entrusted us with the cricket match,While they go and steal the country’s resources, we watch the ma...
Redemption at Ray’s Corner Grocery Store

By Karen J. Weyant

November 2013
Karen J. Weyant

Late three times for work, so it’s night shiftor my job. I’m eighteen, no experience, broke,so I make the deal. I wear jeans and a T-shirt:Shop at Ray’s for the Best Deals Around,a message more pertin...
Blaze a Vanishing

By Alan Morrison

November 2013
Alan Morrison

[Download the e-book Blaze A Vanishing by Alan Morrison] Alan Morrison's e-book Blaze A Vanishing is available here in its entirety as a WLT web exclusive to go along with...