Racionamiento En la fila una mujer grita llegó harina Pienso en panecillos horneados Poco después oigo solo queda arroz pero mi alegría es vana Van a sacar azúcar ¡oh! Milagro esperaré escucho palabras en rebote se acabó la azúcar La cola comienza a deshacerse Persisto algo van a sacar más tarde al final una mano me entrega un pollo salgo de allí con mi tesoro En una librería cercana un amigo se atreve a leerme un poema largo el poeta no sabe por qué me despido lo prosaico de mi huida me hace sentir culpable Hay que vivir en un país con hambre para entender cómo se puede romper la simetría de un poema por un ligero goteo de vísceras y sangre Translated by Yvette Neisser RATIONING In the line a woman shouts there’s flour I think of warm biscuits Soon I hear only rice is left but my happiness is futile They’re bringing sugar Oh! miracle I will wait I hear words ricochet the sugar is gone The line begins to disperse I persist eventually they will bring something finally a hand offers me a chicken I leave with my treasure In a bookstore nearby a friend has the nerve to read me a long poem the poet doesn’t know why I flee such an ordinary goodbye fills me with guilt You must live in a country with hunger to understand how a poem’s symmetry can be broken by the slow drip of guts and blood María Teresa Ogliastri was born in Venezuela and lives in Caracas. She is the author of five collections of poems: Del diario de la señora Mao (From the Diary of Madame Mao, 2011), Polo Sur (South Pole, 2008. English translation by Settlement House, 2011), Brotes de Alfalfa (Alfalfa Sprouts 2007), Nosotros los inmortales (We, the Immortals, 1997) and Cola de Plata (Silver Tail,1994). Brooklyn Rail first published the English version of the poem by María Teresa Ogliastri: https://intranslation.brooklynrail.org/spanish/100-refutations-day-69/
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I Want Cake Cake is all I want, of ancestral Egyptian spelt, Demeter descended within wispy chaff speared like Roman warriors, god-gifted Cleopatra on the Nile where they can eat cake, wise like winds that swept the plains, swept the seed. And you, my sweet descendent, gift of goddesses’ seed I planted on this earth, seed that sprouted across the plain, golden like fields of spelt, fermented in foreign wind, I wish you all the icing. Other poems and essays by G. DiNapoli have appeared in literary journals and reviews, as well as Stanford Medical blog, in Europe and the US. She is an Italian American from Washington, DC.
I’m Hungry The words aren’t spoken They’re said through eyes That watch others eat Longing for a carrot Piece of apple Potato chip Alone by choice They sit Gulp water Devour bread Without protein Always craving more To hide envy They fidget in desks Search backpacks While waiting For recess To begin
Lisa Reynolds is a teacher and an award-winning Canadian poet, published internationally in anthologies, literary journals, and magazines. Translations of her poetry were released in 2022. She is a member of The Ontario Poetry Society, the Writing Community of Durham Region, and an associate member of The League of Canadian Poets. She lives and writes in a small community east of Toronto, Ontario. My Scared little rabbit 4/15/2020 (For Toby) My scared little rabbit. Wide eyed staring at the Corona news in the papers At the bottom of your cage. It’s no wonder you don’t come out To nibble the clover, With hawks Cats Dogs Foxes Guns Traps And rain clouds threatening. I love your twitching nose. I love to feed you carrots. I love to stroke your ears. When the papers are changed, And the skies are clear, I will be here. To hold you dear Copyright 2020 Dennis Price Reposted with permission from Mike Maggio: https://mikemaggio.net/my-scared-little-rabbit-dennis-price/ Dennis Price is a contractor waiting for his wife’s permission to continue his home improvement work at social distance. Father of 2 adults, owner of 2 cats. He has been using his time off to, among other things, organize his 860 or so poems into chronological order to be like a Poetry journal of his life. About Mike Maggio:
Mike Maggio has published fiction, poetry, reviews and Arabic translations in journals and anthologies in the United States and abroad. His work has appeared in such places as Phoebe, Apalachee Quarterly, Atticus Review, Potomac Review, Pleaides, Black Bear Review, The Arabesques Review, Pig Iron , Washington Independent Review of Books and many others. His work has also been antholozied in such publications as For a Living: The Poetry of Work and Before There Is Nowhere to Stand: Palestine | Israel: Poets Respond to the Struggle. MORE Mike has posted this appeal that we would like to encourage you to pay attention to: Donation Appeal: Throughout June and July, we will be presenting on this web site work by poets and artists responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope you will find these works relevant, comforting and inspiring as we all cope with the economic and health-related fallout. As you view the work on this site each day, we would like to encourage you to donate to the Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC). Their mission “ is to feed our neighbors in need by providing dignified access to supplemental groceries. AFAC is seeing a record number of families due to the COVID-19 pandemic as families who never thought they would ever be in need are now showing up at our doors for much needed food.” And, in keeping with our hunger-focused efforts, you may also want to visit the Poetry X Hunger website where poems by many poets are posted and are being used by anti-hunger organizations.” Please consider donating to AFAC. If you do, let us know which poet or artist inspired you so we can send you a personal thank you. Thank you, Mike, for mentioning PoetryXHunger! Heritage Buy gold. Buy it now. When you flee the home exploding, the burnt landscape, trade it for a loaf of bread. Remember the rhymes of so many poems to fill the confined calendar days of prison life. Teresa Peipins is a writer of Latvian descent from Western New York. Her poetry, fiction, and essays have appeared in publications both in the United States and abroad. |
Now more than everThese poems have been submitted to the call for poetry "Now more than ever" Archives
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