Try to Praise the Mutilated World BY ADAM ZAGAJEWSKI — TRANSLATED BY CLARE CAVANAGH Try to praise the mutilated world.Remember June’s long days,and wild strawberries, drops of rosé wine.The nettles that methodically overgrowthe abandoned homesteads of exiles.You must praise the mutilated world.You watched the stylish yachts and ships;one of them had a … Continue reading
Category Archives: Pandemic Poetry
The River Cannot Go Backby Kahlil Gibran [Listen to Audio!] It is said that before entering the seaa river trembles with fear.She looks back at the path she has traveled,from the peaks of the mountains,the long winding road crossing forests and villages.And in front of her,she sees an ocean so … Continue reading
Letter to My Great, Great Grandchild J.P. Grasserafter Matthew Olzmann Oh button, don’t go thinking we loved pianosmore than elephants, air conditioning more than air.We loved honey, just loved it, and went into storesto smell the sweet perfume of unworn leather shoes. Did you know, on the coast of Africa, … Continue reading
When John O’Donnell And when this ends we will emerge, shylyand then all at once, dazed, longhaired as we embraceloved ones the shadow spared, and weep for thoseit gathered in its shroud. A kind of rapture, this longed-forlaying on of hands, high cries as we nuzzle, leaning into kiss, and … Continue reading
In Perpetual Springby Amy Gerstler Gardens are also good placesto sulk. You pass beds ofspiky voodoo liliesand trip over the rootsof a sweet gum tree,in search of medievalplants whose leaves,when they drop offturn into birdsif they fall on land,and colored carp if theyplop into water. Suddenly the archetypalhuman desire for … Continue reading
IMMORTALITYby Lisel Mueller In Sleeping Beauty’s castlethe clock strikes one hundred yearsand the girl in the tower returns to the world.So do the servants in the kitchen,who don’t even rub their eyes.The cook’s right hand, liftedan exact century ago,completes its downward arcto the kitchen boy’s left ear;the boy’s tensed vocal … Continue reading
who will be the messenger of this land Jaki Shelton Green who will be the messenger of this landcount its veinsspeak through the veinstranslate the language of waternavigate the heels of lineagewho will carry this land in parcelspaper, linen, burlapwho will weep when it bleedsand hardensforgets to birth itself who … Continue reading
This is the time to be slow,Lie low to the wallUntil the bitter weather passes. Try, as best you can, not to letThe wire brush of countScrape from your heartAll sense of yourselfAnd your hesitant light. If you remain generous,Time will come good;And you will find your feetAgain on fresh … Continue reading
I Worried Mary Oliver I worried a lot. Will the garden grow, will the riversflow in the right direction, will the earth turnas it was taught, and if not how shallI correct it?Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven,can I do better? Will I ever be able … Continue reading
