– Fadwa Tuqan. Between Ebb and Flow
translated by Salma Khadra Jayyusi and Naomi Shihab Nye
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Monthly Archives: June 2016
A blue forest. Silent. More silent than the heavens.
The odor of root-orgies, parasites, moldering clouds.
On the edge, a lonely hut. Blind and deathly white.
Green lightning withers in blighted blossoms.
A door torn open. A gilded squirrel jumps innocently by.
Stands frozen with fear. Listens to the silent madness of the forest.
The coolness is acrid and sick.
God’s Presence lights the doorway.
Above it a deep old man, hanged.
– N. B. Minkov. In Our Days
translated by Jordan Finkin
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– Padma Sachdev. The Moment of Courage
translated by Iqbal Masud
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– Vladimir Mayakovsky. Listen
translated by Maria Enzensberger
– Paul Celan. Psalm
translated by John Felstiner
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– Ocean Vuong. excerpt from On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
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He did not have a wink of sleep for forty nights
Carrying his dreams on camels
He wandered through wastes of nights
Burnt himself on pyres of moonlight
His denture resting in a cup
Often grinned
The jasmine bud again raised its head
From behind his dark glasses
Gloom merrily sprang from the eyes
The rapidly moving shadows
Of green waters
Gradually crept into the flesh
The hand of the spirit turned into a sieve
A pointed needle
Put out
Lamps of carnal longing
In the mortal frame
Underneath the shade of ten stars
Stuck on the surface of the ceiling
Images got blurred
Images withered away
– Adil Mansuri. On My Father’s Death
translated by Balraj Komal
The man with the black feather tattoo pares this space
Between fantasy and the memory of a man’s carved
Torso, designed for stroking and celebration.
Today the sun’s brightness is like that lover’s kiss,
Wonderful in the present and greater in memory.
A memory that brings me back to that black feather’s
Flutter. Stars dazzle in some other part of this world
Where the sun has set and the moon illuminates
Swans diving into voluminous waters.
– Patricia Spears Jones. Dancer
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–
taḫsistu 
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