Poetry

  • May 15, 2017 Joanna Pollakówna
    Giovanni Bellini, Pietà (1505), oil on wood, 65 x 90 cm, Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice For more on the poetry of Pollakówna, read “A Terrible Ecstasy,” a companion essay by Alice-Cathe…
  • February 8, 2017 Hendrik Marsman
    Seb, “Gilded/Glider,” Amsterdam, October 8, 2008 from Zodiac  Early in the morning he wanders through the city.The silence is unnerving, and quickly the streetraises empty eyes to t…
  • January 25, 2017 Elisabeth Eybers
    Antti T. Nissinen, “Untitled” (spirit level), May 25, 2011 Homesickness  A house is something that stands up to a slopeby what it confronts on every side.But take note: say house in this cou…
  • November 23, 2016 Diti Ronen
    Isis Olivier, La grive II (The thrush II), 2015. All illustrations courtesy of the artist. A Note on the Illustrations  Diti Ronen: “I suddenly have this unexplained urge t…
  • October 4, 2016 Geet Chaturvedi
    The translation of The Diamond Sutra by Kumārajīva of the Yao Ch’in dynasty, in a handwritten version by Zhang Jizhi of the Southern Song Dynasty in 1253. Kumārajīva had established…
  • September 27, 2016 Najib George Awad
    A refugee’s shoes are worn, wet, and muddy after a long journey. These shoes are owned by Ali, a Yazidi refugee who traveled from Iraq to Preševo, Serbia, to avoid persecution (photo by Meab…
  • September 15, 2016 Lauren Camp
    Tony Webster, Dakota Access Pipeline protest at the Sacred Stone Camp near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, August 25, 2016 This poem addresses the demonstrations against the Dakota Access Pip…
  • September 13, 2016 Zofia Romanowicz
    Quinn Dombrowski, “Velvet Flower,” 2008 For more, read “The Renaissance of Zofia Romanowicz,” an essay by Alice-Catherine Carls.  The Circle Lion fangs, bear claws,…
  • July 27, 2016 Nader Naderpour
    Mohammadali F., “Daffodils,” Tehran, 2009 Translator’s note: Regarded as one of the leaders of the movement of “New Poetry” in Iran, Nader Naderpour (1929–2000) composed many poems…
  • July 20, 2016 João Luís Barreto Guimarães
    Esther Schwarz, “Lush (66/365),” 2009. For more of Schwarz’s photos, visit Inside My Shell.   Tangerinas de Natal «Será que eles ainda fazem?» Édomingopara segunda. Resolvesa teu f…
  • July 11, 2016 Aaron Brown
    Aaron Brown, “Brickyard,” Ati, Chad, March 2007 Author’s note: I recently returned to Chad after a five-year absence and found the nation of my youth to be both the same and yet rem…
  • July 5, 2016 Stephen Behrendt
    Christopher, Tania, and Isabelle Luna, “Mountains and Rain” (the hills of Fuzhou), September 2009   The Hills Overlooking Fuzhou Looking north you see them,roads like ragged scars on hard lean ribs:t…
  • June 28, 2016 Abdellatif Laâbi
    Translator’s note: Considered Morocco’s greatest living poet, Abdellatif Laâbi wrote this poem in 1975, roughly three years into his decade-long prison sentence, one of many thousan…
  • June 1, 2016 Mai Mang
    Jack Homme, “Goddess of Democracy 1989,” 2009 About Freedom Finishing the booze in the dead of night Then smashing the glass This is not freedom Opening the window Jumping out, but forgetting whi…
  • March 23, 2016 Tuvia Ruebner
    Alex Ringer, “Thistle-Garden (Cynara syriaca f. alba),” Jezreel Valley, Israel Introductory note by translator Rachel Tzvia Back Tuvia Ruebner was born in Slovak…
  • September 9, 2015 Jorge Ortega
    Guillermo Arreola, Ni tú escaparás (2005), mixed media on canvas, 90 x 80cm. Courtesy of the artist. Durability of Materials                                  L’Art est l…
  • August 12, 2015 Zhu Zhu
    史国瑞 (Shi Guorui), “Shanghai,” 15–16 October 2004, unique camera obscura, gelatin silver print,129 x 440 cm. By permission of the photographer. In this YouTube video, he discusses the genesis…
  • July 15, 2015 Idea Vilariño
    Idea Vilariño in Paris, ca. 1954 | Photo by Michel Sima, from Idea: la vida escrita, by Ana Inés Larre Borges (2007) | Source: elmalpensante.com Translator’s note: Idea Vil…
  • June 15, 2015 Marc Vincenz
    Dissipating Cloudcover Stormbreak                         distances unseen                          from the storehouse  lap of rain                          on the shingles  sky                      …
  • April 1, 2013 The Editors of WLT
    April is National Poetry Month, and WLT will be celebrating. The Academy of American Poets began the month-long event in 1996. The Academy’s website suggests several ways to participate, rang…