First Selection, Second Quarter, 2013

Muralla interna

De nuevo grillos

 Y silencio

 De nuevo esta muralla

 De luciérnagas internas

 Aquí estoy yo

 Sola

 En paz

 Y no quiero ser libre

 De esta celda

 De límites serenos

 Esta soy


--Lilyán de la Vega

 


Wall Within


Again crickets
and silence
Again this wall
of fireflies within
Here I am
alone
at peace
And I don’t want to be free
of this cell
of these serene limits
this I am

--Lilyán de la Vega, trans. Deanna Hopper

2nd Selection, Second Quarter, 2013

Euthanasia


It’s only a moment.

The struggle to breathe

thankfully ceases. The vet

folds a blanket over the now still,

flat body. It’s a red velour blanket.

He leaves her face uncovered. We stroke her hair and weep.

It’s a simple thing.

The soul of an animal, if any.

A small warmth touches me.

It is like a fragrance,

Like a soap bubble has burst; I feel its condensation, released to the air.

It is all around me.

It is centered on my heart.

It is warm.

Gradually it disperses.


--Deanna Hopper

3rd & 4th Selections

Child of January


child of January 

you watch as centuries
rise through the dust motes
you sit by the fireplace
lost in the aphasia
of afternoon light
silent and waiting

ashes on the winter hearth
you sleepwalk at night
a draft in the halls
of this farmhouse
a little girl who
rattles at door latches
restless and searching

--Wulf Losee

So many faces looking back from the mirror

I wish they would all just go away

I need to get paid

For real

--Larissa Dahroug

Fifth Selection, Second Quarter, 2013

Dreams of Falling


i.
the philosopher kings shuffle their tarot decks
you are pushed from The Tower
flaming shards accompany you down

ii.
of the twenty-one sleepers in the prison ward
the eighth has died – we smuggle you in
subvert their dreaming with your own

iii.
the Library of Alexandria
was destroyed today by a cruise missile
parchment cinders float on the bay

iv.
a messenger disguised as night
had left a shredded dispatch at your pillow-side
the wheel is turning once again

v.
priests invoke the blessings of the oligarchs
from a pool of bloody sacraments
a tidal wave is rising

vi.
clerks of State and accountants
shuffle their paperwork – every suspect needs a file
light the spark

vii.
you shout to us across an impossible distance
a click of static from Alpha Centauri
lightyears away you are still accelerating

viii.
at such velocities the mass of visions
is a burden you can no longer hold
release them
                           you slam awake and scream

--Wulf Losee