Despatches to my Gazan Son
Justin C McIntosh has given his permission for his photograph above to be used for the cover of a long Turkish poem by Cahit Koytak, now published as a book with an English translation alongside. I am proud to have been one of the translators… Continue reading Despatches to my Gazan Son
Shavings from The Rainbow
What is God, after all ?
If maggots in a dead dog
be but God kissing carrion,
what then is not God ?
And when the war began
it seemed that the poles
of the universe were cracking
and the whole
The Angel Overhead
In his grief, he asked the angel hanging overhead,
his faceless confessor :
Why, Lord, do sinners’ ways so grossly prosper ?
How can you allow the Lie so fatly to preside ?
And the angel answered :
I invited you to my feast,
my laden tables… Continue reading The Angel Overhead
Body Parts
After death the eye fixes
of course. It was just a part –
now discontinued.
Each pupil has stopped
in its own disjointed way,
having nothing
to look at any more,
no one to show.
I looked at her, the mother
of my children.
Poems for…meeting the “Dangerous Stranger”
Here below are links to four poems. Each was written in a language spoken by people Mr Trump wants to ban from the United States of America. Please read them. The non-English original texts all have good English translations alongside.
Sad Songs of the Brain
Three of them. I haven’t yet found a way of actually displaying them as a post here, though it’s easily done on Facebook.
But this link takes you to a pdf version : Sad Songs of the Brain
Why the paltry brain, the paltry individual ? Why “in here” where the brain… Continue reading Sad Songs of the Brain
Bones
1.
I remember how I sat, even. Bunched.
There was nothing to hold on to
except my own flesh and the strong
bones inside. I’d never been
conscious of my bones before
(except when I broke them).
Everything in my world around
was either in shreds… Continue reading Bones