For many of us the overthrow of Salvador Allende’s democratically elected government in 1973 by Chile’s armed forces, prompted and abetted by the U.S., had been the worst day we … [Keep reading >>]
from The Utopia of Cemeteries
Unpainted walls,
stone filled ground
fragile bones not even able to stand
and my bones are stuck in the middle
I am thinking of a small demonstration
to protest against the … [Keep reading >>]
I gave, and received, this year a notable reminder that the cultures of the Middle-East — Iranian, Arabic, Turkish– have more to offer than the headlines would suggest. Tablet and … [Keep reading >>]
Updates below:
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A Small Rat in Prison
for Little Xia
a small rat passes through the iron bars
paces back and forth on the window ledge
the peeling walls are watching him
the blood-filled mosquitoes are … [Keep reading >>]
Dunya Mikhail is a remarkable Iraqi poet now working her craft in Michigan. Her poem “War Works Hard” is just stunning.
The War Works Hard
by Dunya Mikhail
translated by Elizabeth … [Keep reading >>]
I can’t say how really amazing it is to be at the GRD Poetry Festival in Newark, to see poets hailed like rock stars, to be with 1,500 people in … [Keep reading >>]
by Martin Espada
For Chile
In the republic of poetry, a train full of poets rolls south in … [Keep reading >>]
KPFA Radio 94.1FM presents
An Evening with FATIMA BHUTTO
presenting “Songs of Blood and Sword, a Daughter’s Memoir”
Tuesday, … [Keep reading >>]
Ogres
All night waking to the sound
of light rain falling softly
through the leaves in the quiet
valley below the window
and to Paula lying here
asleep beside me and to
the murmur beside the bed
of … [Keep reading >>]
Peter Orlovsky is a name those with at least a passing interest in the Beat era or literature will quickly recognize. Allen Ginsberg has been gone for some 13 years … [Keep reading >>]
Beach Landing, Iwo Jima
They didn’t shoot at us. A silent scene
until we clogged the beach, and then–all hell,
potato masher hand grenades, machine
gun fire, artillery. I swear each shell
passed close enough … [Keep reading >>]
We had to leave the Hunger
said my Da. We walked
the half of Ireland
trying not to see
what it was we saw. Ditches
filled with bodies
crows and dogs. Potato
patches gone to … [Keep reading >>]
