Poetry in English

Alicia Ostriker

Gingkos
 
Sunlight travels through ginkgos
alongside Broadway’s traffic
ecstatic yellow radiance
attacking the season
 
It is almost winter and yet
as I walk to the clinic the gingkos
are singing a charming air
as if there were no tomorrow

 

Prayer
 
            For Raya on her bat mitzvah
 
The force that sends light
through the cracks
in everything
needs eyes     to see
 
May it find you
may it find your eyes
enlighten your mind
gladden your days
 
May your eyes see the beauty
and sorrow of the world
clearly and keenly    oh
and may light lead you to love


Feeding Breadcrumbs to Birds
 
Feeding breadcrumbs to birds
     you laugh at how the sparrows
surge and dart past the beaks
     of the slow pigeons



Sphere
 
            for P—
 
Into the space 
between here where I am 
and there where you are
 
I am throwing the sphere 
of my affection to you
it is a long distance
for a sphere to travel
on one throw but
look up
see it arc
here it comes—
catch

New York




Bishnupada Ray
 
Through the Forests
 
we usually made road trips
through the forests and jungles
as much to have adventures
as relieving the pain of being together
in a bond of not made for each other
as if to unwind the seven vows
we took to weld opposite metals
our child unknowing of little hates
thought the world was a place of love
believed in the outside calm of our face
and believed in the calmness of jungles
apparently excited to have sweet memories
of an undisturbed childhood
so we thought to have a little bit of giggle
she called the grazing buffaloes elephants
and he giggled, and we giggled too
buffaloes did not deny they were elephants.


India




Maid Corbic

When a Bud Comes to Life in Flower

When the bud comes to life in early spring
it really looks like some big bullet to me
drenched in all dimensions and backs
not even Fibonacci can understand those petals
when I count them, I look at an even number

When it's cold outside I first see a bud
as it continues to develop
so it feels like it's a shaped bullet
and the stalk is its stalk that looks
like some Winchester rifle butt

When everything around me begins to come to life
I see the symbol of the bullet and the crucifix
because people give flowers to sickles in vain
just to get some ethereal scents
which continue to cause me severe trouble in my soul

because I know that the bud faces like a big bullet
that grains when awakens from metamorphosis
I look forward to each day more than ever
yes, that big bullet will come to life in vain

I know that my existence may be small
but the flowers are the most beautiful in the world
beautiful colors, shapes and dimensions
where every moment of life gives me a new start

with music they say that flowers will bloom again
so there is nothing unusual in all this
except that the positions for me are to be happy
because each flower is shaped separately
to give joy and happiness in awakening

I never asked for much of life
except that everyone respects that bullet 
that is as light as a feather
but gentle enough to destroy everything around him in anger
believe everything you hear and see
because the masterpiece is a great miracle
let the bullet stop all obstacles!

Bosnia