FABLES OF THE SACRED HEARTDirk van Bastelaere1)
Those were days of cycling in the mountains. Of climbing, descending.
Of enormous
...
FABRICGiovanni QuessepIf I had your eyes, spinner,
I could see what I have never seen:
Silver threads, golden
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FACEUmberto FioriSimply not to lose face
in the face of all of you,
how many things I have given up.
...
FACEKim HyesoonThere is another you inside you
The you inside you pulls you tight into the inside, so
...
FACTORY OF TEARSValzhyna MortAnd once again according to the annual report
the highest productivity results were
...
FADED DAYSRemco CampertIt was late in the evening
rain caught in lamplight
beat down on the cobbles
of
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FADOJ. SlauerhoffAm I slow because I’m sad,
Find it all a venal charade,
Feel on earth no more’s to be
...
FADO MENORManuel de FreitasHe got used to walking
under the plane trees, dissipating
hangovers and hazy memories.
...
FAIR COPY DRAWINGMarcel BeyerI see you draw soot, water, pores in the
plastic curtain, daylight, it smells of
quilt, of
...
FAIRY TALEArjen DuinkerThere once was a banker
Who for all the wrong reasons
Had become a banker.
He
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FAIRY-TALEGerrit KrolNo man, because no woman.
Man watches TV, drinks coffee, looks out the window. Phones
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FAIRYLANDSerge DelaiveSeven naked women
all wearing for finery
a torque around the neck
advancing
...
FALL INTO SILENCEEugenia Sánchez NietoThe wind wipes away footprints, lifts tiles
...
FALLING STARMasayo KoikeAbove our heads
A star fell
A strong bluish star
Like the moment when for the
...
FALSETTO TREASURES DEPTHMarc KregtingJabbing the fork next to the cake. Amusing
this could be, that starter to speechless.
The
...
FAMILYTatsuji MiyoshiAs his son was to start school
Dad wrote poems everyday
The poems turned into a cap, a
...
FAMILY STORYMing DiOnce upon a tree my family
was a legend of woods with ten Suns
above, burning at night.
...
FAMILY*Tatsuji MiyoshiBecause his son was about to start school
The father wrote poems every day
The poems
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FANSMargarita CardonaMy hand wants to hold the book
And the book to hold it
To be its prolongation
It
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FANTASYLiat KaplanThe apartment will be private: air empty and pure of other breaths
will flow through my lungs.
...
FANTASYAndriy Bondarthe extraterrestrials are the souls of dead african children
who pursue the europeans
taking
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FAOIN NGAOTHMakoto OokaTar éis na báistí. Seo an t-áth.
Siúilim liom tríd
...
FAREWELLGerrit KouwenaarSomething falters, one has smoked too much, flees
coughing into the orchard, autumn
...
FAREWELLMaurice GilliamsNight unfolded itself to us and rules.
Hobos with somber shawms wander
along the sultry
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FAREWELLJiban NarahSince my sister left,
an impossible emptiness
She loved songs
so I’d built
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FAREWELL AMONG THE STARSOksana ZabuzhkoIt’s just that I’m myself, and no one else.
I too will die. And I won’t escape punishment
...
FAREWELL SONGLucienne StassaertThere is a song
that time
turns around
do you still know how
and now
...
FAREWELL TO IL DANILArmando Orozco TovarThe pain of remembrance
will lull me to sleep
as the sea does the stone.
If
...
FARMCharles DucalAs long as the ink is wet
the farm stays in speech.
A crow searches the
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FASHION CRAZEEwa LipskaWe die more and more beautifully
in Gianni Versace’s collection.
Elegance is aesthetics’
...
FAT PEOPLELuuk GruwezFat people know everything about love,
up to the remotest corners of their body,
the
...
FATHERPeter SemoličLast night
I dreamt about you,
father.
You came
into my dream
as a deer
and
...
FATHERPaolo RuffilliPowerful father
arbitrary rule
master who grasps
and holds up the threads
who moves and
...
FATHEREddy Van VlietFather. Undress yourself. While you still may.
Show me what time has scarred
since we
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FATHERAriel ZinderClasp me again in your arms and steal my breath,
The sail of your chest against my lungs.
...
FATHERMoshe DorMy brown-eyed father studied
mine engineering before he came
to a good land and a
...
FATHER AND MY BIRTHDAYRajendra BhandariStretching wide his chest
my father readied the field, studded the boundary
with sal
...
FATHER AND SONUwe KolbeKeeping the distance
and staying close together
with dangling arms.
The father the
...
FATHER'S SLEEPWilliam Cliffmy father often complained of aches and pains
he rubbed his back and yelled and swore
or
...
FATTY OR MATTEMarion PoschmannAnimals are bored. Enormous dogs outside their kennels
guarding building rubble and ruins of
...
FEARAndrea CoteMother,
gather for me the sound of the rain on grandfather’s roof
tell me about the night
...
FEARLuís QuintaisLayer on layer on layer:
the submerged remnant of your life.
Now and then
some shift, some
...
FEAR OF WATERJan LauwereynsFill up the bath and
the skin turns pale, sweat breaks out,
and something like wind blows
...
FEASTTomaž ŠalamunBy the way of all spheres,
on steep rocks overgrown with segments of color,
covered with
...
FEBRUARY 14Yan Jun1.
Goodbye fire, goodbye coffee
transform me into you and you will disappear
...
FEBRUARY 17Yan JunLike all people separating we cry
like all old clothing the dust on old clothing
...
FEBRUARY 19Yan JunA man in the south
summons the rain
he’s never seen salt poplars
and doesn’t know
...
FEBRUARY 2Yan JunThree men walk at night
from the roadside to the middle of the road
From three
...
FEEDING TIMECharles DucalBetween sleeping and waking
in concrete made flesh
an early ear hears light approach
...
FEELINGS AT WINDOWSMonika Rincksupplementary desire takes place when
ever desire itself adds that which
even fulfilment, if
...
FENLANDMarcel BeyerFenland, evidence, descent and breakage.
Deeper incisions, but we talk, among
nests, over
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FENNELJan Wagnerbulbs in front of a vegetable shop in winter –
like wan hearts, you said, tight
...
FEOBríd Ní MhóráinWhy do you hesitate before the fall of night?
Isn’t there an end to autumn in sight
...
FERTILITY LEXICONAnat LevinIn my childhood nobody came to me. I was sealed and signed. Dr. Brosh examines my breasts. “I
...
FIDELIOMaria StepanovaThe session begins, everything rustles,
They lead witnesses out and lead new ones in,
...
FIELDRuth LastersPerhaps football really is the only goal,
of the subconscious and conscious too: two parts
...
FIELDMischa AndriessenShe was going to be angry, definitely.
You hurried, slowed, then
ran on some more, no
...
FIFTHJan LauwereynsThe dog could not deny what it had found it was
snuffling sniffing out in a few days the dog
...
FIGMENTSophia Pandeyasince the tamarind surrendered
her wisdom and became
a toothless concentrate
...
FILLING STATIONCarlos de Oliveira I place my leisurely hand on the hoods of these
...
FILMMiriam Van hee1
there was a film once that I didn’t understand
until I saw the end after I’d
...
FILTER JUGOSLAVIJAPredrag LucićOn the red box of Filter Jugoslavija
Produced by the Prilep Tobacco Factory
The new
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FINAL CHORUSRamsey Nasrit isn’t death that’s freezing you
it isn’t death that’s stifling you
it’s both of them
...
FINAL ELEGYTeixeira de PascoaesI sculpted as best I could my sorrow:
A black marble block that weighs on me
And bathes me in
...
FINAL WORDSEva DuránEva del Pilar Durán
knew nothing about remorse
not in the moistness of her body
nor
...
FINALEGerrit KomrijMy body slides against hers in the ooze.
Belly to belly. Mud our cling-film suit.
It
...
FINALLYAbol FroushanWhat will I finally be
...
FINDING FLOWERSPieter BoskmaNow I dreamt of you sleeping and dreaming,
beside me, in my bed, and of how it all was,
...
FINE SKYBei DaoNocturnal horses gallop past over the streetlights
Sorrowful sound is omnipresent
I sit
...
FINERYYves BonnefoyIt’s snowing. Soul, did you expect
To have eternal birth?
See, you have there
...
FINGERMaud Vanhauwaert
I see a woman with a raised index finger. I ask ‘what are you pointing at’. She says
...
FINGERPRINTS ON THE WINDOWHerman De ConinckI think that poetry is something like fingerprints
on the window behind which a child who
...
FINGERSMichio MadoEvery time I look at my hands
with my fingers open on my lap
I am moved
Tiny
...
FIRE AND ENTRAILSL.F. RosenA rampant fire now fills
your belly. It entered
with a caress. Downy almost.
A
...
FIRE AND WATERJoke van LeeuwenThe chairs are ankle-deep inside, drawers
filled with former lives are damaged, it’s raining
...
FIRE EXTINGUISHERShang QinAt noon when anger arose, I glared at the fire extinguisher on the wall.
A child came up to me
...
FIRE WITHINMenno WigmanPictures, pictures – so clear and clandestine
I instantly grew stiff – each tree, the whole
...
FIREWORKSJan LauwereynsAccording to the astronomer standing there
with a mouthful of teeth — smart fellow —
there
...
FIRSTKim HyesoonWhat I am most jealous of in the world, your first,
what you are most jealous of in this
...
FIRST AID FOR THE INNOCENTRuna SvetlikovaSince you’ve spoken and thrown my words back at me
all I can do is confess that we are
...
FIRST LETTER TO ONAGali-Dana SingerYou don’t even know what it is: to remember a river,
approach, force yourself to think:
...
FIRST LOVEArjen DuinkerAnd in the belly of the boat
The story roams of a young woman
Who on one of the Canary
...
FIRST NOTEBOOKJean DaiveAll the children are swaddled
as white
as
dried beans
sheltered from
...
FIRST SIGHTStefan HertmansShe’s like a panther pausing
Because her prey appears.
Something in me rolls up
...
FIRST STEPSStefan HertmansHe ran into the street without a glance
and I, who becomes like him more and more,
thought he
...
FIRST TIMENachoem M. WijnbergSaying you are what I have
because you will never again
have anything else.
...
FISHLo FuAnyway, only a petal of the setting sun remains in his eyes
There’ll still be time tomorrow
...
FISHBai HuaThe bewildering fish does not know how to sing
From silence on to silence it
...
FISH BLOCKSergio RaimondiBecause of course even the flow of the fish in the water
well, more specifically: that sharp
...
FISH DOCTORSheng Xingone by one, they die
and all can I is scoop their dead little bodies out of the water
now, my
...
FISH MOUTHSLennart SjögrenFish mouths darted out
extinct and not yet effeminate species
also appeared
...
FISHER OF SUNSLeón GilAh, my dear and hairless and headless and earless
Vincent Van Gogh
how the devil did it
...
FIVE ALLEGORICAL SKETCHESRune ChristiansenThe escalators down to the subway lead the shadows ambiguously home. In the absence of other gods,
...
FIVE DAYSClaudiu KomartinToday I woke up knowing everything,
though I’d prefer anything to that:
to take,
...
FIVE ROSESEnis BaturI gathered five roses for you, My Love,
Apropos of nothing, five red roses, of blood,
...
FLAGS OF LOVEJulius ChingonoFlags of love
Are roofs of houses from where smoke soars
Children crying, playing in the
...
FLAMING AIRSaroop DhruvI breathe in the flaming air, my friends,
I strike the flint on stone.
Spiced, flavoured
...
FLASHBACK JOURNALAung CheimtSoon after birth,
As soon as I could think and touch,
The snow was light and
...
FLESH TINTDilip ChitreLike a painting by Velazquez
A woman stands
Alone in the frame
Touched by the brush
...
FLEXIBLE TIMEHarkaitz CanoTime goes more slowly in a foreign city;
therefore escapes, therefore inadequate airline
...
FLIGHTRobin NgangomThe warning disguised as a message
came before the village was up and about,
and when
...
FLIGHT REPORTJohn LeefmansDriven together in ‘The Divested Swine’:
‘technical delay’, ‑ wings
...
FLIRTJacob GrootAt 10 o’clock I reported to the gates
of the promised land. At 12 o’clock the light
went
...
FLOWERRuth LastersWhite flannels with which you wash your old father
harden in the night into envelopes for
...
FLOWER OF SOLITUDERuy BeloWe lived we conversed we resisted
we crossed paths on the street under the trees
we perhaps
...
FLUID PARENTSL.F. RosenIt rains on their insides.
The purple mountain ridges
of the heart and the red ravines
...
FLUTTERING CORRIDORSYair Hurwitz1
I sat in front of the everyday curtain
as if before the curtain of the ark:
a
...
FLYMartin ReintsIt’s a summer evening
and there’s a fly on the table
if I lift up my glass, it
...
FLYING ASSOCIATIONZang DiBetween Celan and Amichai there is a Du Fu.
We should drill a well and draw him up.
...
FLYING STONESDorta Jagićwhere did you get that pebble in your belly you can fly with?
for that pebble I
...
FOAMRoberto Baronti MarchiòIf only I could live like this
foam of the waves,
I would leave the stone
to wear
...
FOGCarlos de OliveiraThe city falling
house by house
from the sky down to the hills,
from top to bottom
...
FOLK SCENEIvan MalkovychOn a heap amidst thistles,
on coal, soggy from rains,
two angels dwell:
they wax each
...
FOLK SONGTomaž ŠalamunEvery true poet is a monster.
He destroys people and their speech.
His singing elevates
...
FOODKarinna Alves GuliasSon
was swallowed up by vanity.
The time of the girl broke his arms.
...
FOOLING THE KILLERSTaha Muhammad AliQasim,
I wonder now
where you are....
I haven’t forgotten you
after all these
...
FOOTPRINTSFredy ChicanganaWe come from the water
and we arrive bathed by the sun at dawn
our Yanakuna hearts
...
FOOTSTEPS ALSO DIEAmparo OsorioThe wind sculpts faces
and you who watch the grass
ignore now the traces
of all
...
FOR A DYING POETRoberto Baronti MarchiòI have glimpsed her at times in the shrouds
in the shock videos of the news
in the line
...
FOR A LONELY WOMANJeroen TheunissenIf all living beings are related,
for example the herring and the amoeba,
why then are
...
FOR A MIRACLEManushya PuthiranI waited for a miracle
It didn’t happen
The omens say
there will be no more
...
FOR A MOUTHHoracio BenavidesYour mouth
was the music
that guided
my lost head
The splendid
...
FOR ANIMALSLuís Quintais For animals eternal Treblinka
...
FOR BREAKFASTInuo TaguchiIn each and every grain of this brown rice
a god is seated auspiciously and
enjoys
...
FOR HERMAN GORTERFrank KeizerDear Gorter I love you
I think you’re so special
I’d like to say it with
...
FOR MY HOOMANMaryam HoolehIt’s the bombing of beauty
Knife
Blue eyes
And a balloon as small as
...
FOR MY PALMSFatiha MorchidWhen out of a nightmare
You come to me
To exchange
Your bed . . .
...
FOR THE NEXT BIRTHYumlembam Ibomcha SinghIn the next birth
I shall take birth as a bastard.
You should also take birth as one.
...
FOR THE READER’S EARJosé Asunción SilvaNo, that was not passion,
It was the vague tenderness
Inspired by a sickly child,
...
FOR THE VEGETARIANInuo TaguchiJohn Lennon died, you know.
“That must have been because of unpolished rice and
...
FOR UMASHANKAR JOSHIPrabodh ParikhYou gave us a pair of eyes
you also made them moist
you made the earth overflow with your
...
FOR YOU TO UNDERSTANDBongekile Joyce MbanjwaTo be a jacket
To be a slave
To be a stepladder
To be forsaken
For you to
...
FORESIGHTTitos PatríkiosWhatever I sought was given me
what was given me I squandered
or my creditors took it
...
FORESTAnka ZagarI write forest and the forest comes to being
I go I must go to the forest to fetch wood
it
...
FORESTSitanshu Yashaschandra The forest is afire and slow is the flow of my song.
Birds living atop tall ebony
...
FORESTPhilippe BeckLittle girl in red is loved by people
who see her.
Fiery velvet is a family
gift.
...
FOREST – 1987Chandrakanta MurasinghThe fragrance of flowery garlands
Haunted the seven hills.
Have they blossomed this time?
...
FOREVER ASTRAYAbdel-ilah SalhiI have a drink before take-off.
I see no one but you in this huge international airport,
...
FORGETTINGFatima Zahra BennisI recall only the cup that thirsted for me
The impassioned whispering
The clamorous
...
FORGETTING HAPPENSJan LauwereynsWhat a bitter day
it has kept being
the wind keeps howling
back there in
...
FORGETTING THE GHOSTSNora Gomringerwhen I left
I asked them to come with me
I held the door open and lowered my gaze
...
FORGOTTEN FIELDRemco CampertIf I take good care of myself
that’s what she asks me in the café
where I’m sipping my
...
FORSAKEN LOVEMazisi KuneneMay you cease lingering like a bad dream
The sun in our love has fully eclipsed and is now
...
FORTRESSGustavo Adolfo GarcésTo stop you from passing
I would have to raise
the drawbridge
if of course
...
FORWARDS!Gerry van der LindenI choose
my fearsome face
while
riding my bike
through narrow strips of
...
FOUNTAINHerberto HelderII
On the mother's mad smiles the raindrops
patter down. On their beloved
mad faces
...
FOUR HOURSSaeed BanaieHave we just four hours
For the adverb to rebel against the verb?
Has London slept
...
FOUR ISLANDS 1Bart Van der Straetenlike the quarry
of sensory waste
weighs in
...
FOUR O’CLOCK IN THE MORNINGSharron HassAt four in the morning poets, lovers and madmen suspect
that the life of the mirror is the mold
...
FRACTALEsther JansmaIn all of its parts a rose is rose
in every petal it is complete
likewise each millimetre
...
FRAGMENTKazue ShinkawaOur neighbor’s wife
has given birth to a lovely baby girl.
Why can’t you bear a child?
...
FRAGMENT OF A POEMGali-Dana Singer
Come on let’s pretend that I’m dead.
You’ll call to me, and I
...
FRAGMENTS OF A LETTER Song LinForgive me for always mentioning winter and river in one breath
For talking about the
...
FRAMEMostapha SamadyIt's me
With a stubborn worm in the eye
This is my family
My mum
Her
...
FRANSUM CHAPEL C.O. JellemaIs god still there, tiny sarcophagus
of faith, as empty
as the Doric temples of
...
FREEMarije LangelaarIt is dark here, avalanche, wave, cave.
For a couple of weeks I have moved myself with the
...
FREE ADMISSIONNavit BarelWe ate apples dipped in honey. Free admission
to the sweet and happy years. Mira from
...
FREESIASJosé Tolentino MendonçaFreesias are flowers that smell like tea
and she, at age thirty-seven, preferred them
...
FRESHWATER FISHGiampiero NeriLavarello is the Lombard name for a fish
that lives at the lake bottom. It has a tiny head,
...
FRICATIVECharlotte Van den BroeckOne step to the left
and you fall off the page, lie there
out of sight, out of shot of
...
FRIDAY NIGHTVonani BilaHey, dude, I'm telling you, young fellow;
When it’s spine-chilly cold,
Hey you, put
...
FRIDAY'S FRUITMiguel IriarteWith the cry interrupting the progress of the afternoon
With the voice singing the lottery of
...
FRIENDSJosé Tolentino MendonçaWe look at those strangers
whom we love and who love us
and they’re always adolescents
...
FROGCeaití Ní Bheildiúin
A meditating frog am I
sitting silently
sucking syllables muddily
through
...
FROM A PAPER BALCONYFatima Zahra BennisFrom a paper balcony
I view my whirlwinds
I look but understand nothing
A life is
...
FROM ... TO ...Jerry ZondoFrom bravery to cowardice, so quickly
From a force of arms, a sharp spear
Long
...
FROM PROMETEIDAFernando RendónDelegates of the centuries arranged to meet around the ruined table, and at cards – with
...
FROM AIR TO LANDGloria PosadaA fluttering restores the air
Birds return
and in the night
make a dream out of
...
FROM DELFTAnna EnquistIf light falls here, it's under a sky
of lead, false glow, late in the day.
...
FROM HOLLAND TO SPAINElke ErbYou see yourself at a distance when you read about Holland. You could be anybody. Whoever reads
...
FROM LILITHIlja Leonard PfeijfferLilith is a vision of light and pixels,
a picture; am I lovely at first sight
with legs
...
FROM THE CASE OF BONESEugenijus Ališankafor six hundred years the bones ached in the middle ages they were stretched according to the
...
FROM THE COUNTRYAnne VegterI liked to purchase cheese.
I bought a cheese at D., cheese-village D.
Then
...
FROM THE GARDENJosé Zuleta OrtizIt climbs down a thread . . .
Up in the air
it knits transparency,
it
...
FROM THE LAKE, LOVEBanira GiriFar somewhere far, stunning Manasarovar
on the far side of a mountain range
beneath a
...
FROM THE MARKETRajendra BhandariForests of people, caves of faces
adrift on the sea, the lonely ships of the mind
...
FROM THE NAKED SURGEONMichael HartnettV
In Hammer Glen there’s blood
in milk and a goose complains
on an empty
...
FROM THE NEW WORLDMartin ReintsThe folding screen salesman is sitting on a mat
in front of a movable partition
looking
...
FROM THE PODIUMGaston BurssensRoseyellow and rosered
if you see that the clouds are
on the western horizon
ashgray
...
FROM THE SAME PLACEGiampiero NeriAs the river water moves
near the banks against the flow
spreads among grass blades
...
FROM THE TRANSIENTDirk van BastelaereHeart, I can consider you in generous terms
of imagery to prove your
...
FROM THE WASTELANDSLuís Miguel NavaGrass has begun sprouting between my bones.
Perhaps in the wastelands of the mind
that
...
FROM THE WATER’S EDGEHu XudongThere’s no telling where this stream of water begins or where
it winds up after it
...
FROM TIME TO TIMEPiedad BonnetMy mother likes to go to this café with sober lamps,
to order vanilla cookies,
drink
...
FROM YEAR TO YEARNatan ZachFrom year to year it grows only more subtle.
It’ll be so subtle in the end –
she
...
FROM "INDIA"
IYuri AndrukhovychIndia begins with dreams about setting out
on an eastbound journey. These dreams have plots,
...
FROM ‘THE DOGS’, NO. 8Jan BaekeWords like coffee, sun and car
don’t wear as easily in use
as beauty, restlessness and
...
FROM HIEROGLYPHSMohammed Bennis1
A ghost
You attend to the ruby time
No east will rise in you or
...
FROST OVER IRELANDBríd Ní MhóráinRoses hang their withered heads
Beneath the white cap of Christmas frost.
The ones
...
FROTHY Marion PoschmannForest frothing up. Again and again
forest frothing up, dissipating. Sitting on park
...
FRUITEugénio de AndradePeaches, pears, oranges,
strawberries, cherries, figs,
apples, melon, honey dew,
oh, music
...
FRUIT, AS IT ISAnitha ThampiShe who paints
draws jackfruits
on the branches of the jackfruit tree
and on the
...
FRUITS OF LIGHTMakoto OokaThe hemispheres of your chest
rest on my hands far off on a distant sea
So heavy
...
FUKUSHIMANazih Abou Afach1. Tsunami
Wave after wave, wave upon wave.
The dead are not seen and their screams
...
FULGET CRUCIS MYSTERIUMPaulo TeixeiraThese are the house’s cards. The hoisted sails
depart over the vast shield of waters,
writing
...
FULL HARVESTPiotr SommerAnd it seemed it was time for us to die
somehow right now, this afternoon, but the apples
...
FULL MOONWang Xiaonithe full moon rises
high about my pillow
that anxious moon
a sleepless
...
FURIESSophia de Mello Breyner AndresenBanished from sin and the sacred
Now they inhabit the humble intimacy
Of daily life. They
...
FURSDan PagisA large, carved closet, dimness, the smell of naphthalene and light perfume. Mother’s furs doze in
...
FURTHER UP THE PATHDaniel Oz
The Cat’s Dream
In the cat’s dream, the gnawed fishbone regrew flesh
...
FUSION KITSCHHsia Yü (Xia Yu)When did it all begin
This bucolic and pan-incestuous atmosphere
Was it not always there
...
FUTUREPorfirio Barba JacobDo say when I die… (and may the day be far)
That haughty and disdainful, prodigal and
...