In this poem by Tahir Hamut, a woman's wait for a phone call turns into a series of reminiscences—or are they figments of the imagination?   Listen to Tahir Hamut read "Phone Call" in the original Uyghur.   A phone call makes the heart tremble The vexing wind swoops like an ancient Indian dance This was a day passed inside a whirlwind A phone call from the last century connects to a simple “Hello?” An intermezzo from the dusky elm’s...

This poem by Tahir Hamut reflects on Sama, a type of rhythmic dance punctuated by unified shouting while dancing in a circular pattern. Its roots are in pre-Islamic Zoroastrian fire dances, but over the centuries it became an element of Sufi ritual practice. Up until 2014 it was an integral part of Uyghur festival celebrations.   Listen to Tahir Hamut read "A Night Sama" in the original Uyghur.   Sixteen writhing white lines, Each looks different from the next....

In this epistolary short story, a Welsh missionary goes to Japan but ends up converting to a new way of life.   Listen to Llŷr Gwyn Lewis read "Dolores Morgan's Letters from the Far East" in the original Welsh     Kyoto, 1868 Letters in the hand of Dolores Morgan, a missionary for the Union of Welsh Baptists, to her friend Leila Farr Bevan. The Union was a new body that sent missionaries to Japan soon after the country changed its long-standing policy...

Divine and mortal love intertwine in this poem by Li Hao, one of a handful of contemporary Chinese poets writing forcefully and overtly about Christian themes.   I invited you too soon to my city, because I wanted to live with you, because I wanted to find in your songs  the Almighty’s power and love. Because I wanted to know how you loved Him, and your sweet former lives. I know your bodies are the language the Lord bestowed upon me. I see your unfamiliar...

In this poem about the Shuktilingka, Tibetan poet and activist Tsering Woeser writes about a world that has nearly been lost.   Watch a video of Tsering Woeser reciting her poem "Absent, or Not Absent" in the original Mandarin.     Dedicated to Gyalwa Rinpoche on his eighty-second birthday     1. The Empty Dharma Throne: Shukti The Shuktilingka once stretched out before the Potala Palace, lush and verdant.  Shukti means...

A poem about suffering and the Divine by the Chinese poet Li Hao, whose first collection, The Tempest, was banned in China.    The clamor of the dead on the wall spin in the lobes of my lungs the vault of heaven’s many gears: corpulent Leviathan of my soul, covered in knifepoints, making the heavens rain down iron nails. Eternal light strikes upon the earth’s altars. Lord, I am foolish, I am suffering, and my body, like a spoon, here on this earth,...

In these three poems from the collection Perhaps: Love Poems, Tibet-born poet Xi Wa explores her personal Tibetan Buddhist path.   1. Vimalaki Sutra Simultaneously we sink into May The scent of the locust tree bloom, the fragrance of enlightenment, falling upon a single tendril from the vine of language My seeming frivolity, my carelessness, cannot completely eclipse  our first encounter, when my heart was brushed atremble. Tangled. Insatiate . . ....

Llwyd Owen imagines a Wales where the Welsh language itself is a crime in this excerpt from his novella Iaith y Nefoedd (The Language of Heaven).  He opened his eyes.  He checked his phone. “Shit!” Half past one in the afternoon. Not that he’d missed an important appointment or anything. Just half a day. Another one. Same as yesterday. And the day before. And the one before that too. Not that he can remember properly. Manon’s fault, for sure....

In the grip of obsession, a man turns an open relationship into a triangle in an excerpt from a novel by Kári Tulinius.  Listen to Kári Tulinius read "Abel's Autobiography" in the original Icelandic.   Life never chooses the right moment to unveil love to you for the first time, when you’ve not yet experienced it—not, for instance, at a moment when the days are lumbering by at a crawl, like station wagons in bumper-to-bumper traffic—but...

After her father’s sudden death, the poet tirelessly seeks to reckon with what is gone.   1 Like any Messiah taken unaware by death I saw my father                he was nodding to the palms, surrendered To his sweet sad songs, was greeting Happily the doves which settled on his shoulder Alone     no shadow to soften his loneliness  Alone the clouds    were praying to him And I was calling  ...

When Genie wakes up after six years in a coma, she finds a disturbing new addition to the family.  Listen to Francesco Verso read "AIwakening and AIdolon" in the original Italian. AIwakening Mark is the first person I see, after so long.  “She’s awake. Come over here.” It must be Easter because, apart from some flowers, he’s holding an Easter egg.  “Hello darling, what year is it?” “Hello, Genie, it’s 2028.”...

In this poem, the speaker meditates on the soul's journey through eternity after death.    The soul departing from trees of speech Does not want to ascend  Nor to be buried;   It wants to finish reading.  .. My heart is a stone that stumbled in the dirt and broke apart  .. O the mud of the storm,  heavy, it drags my soul  From one tavern to another     My hand is a cage that forgot to lock its door So speech flew away .. I am made...

Wistfulness meets indignation in Abdulaziz al-Omairi’s poetic meditation on abandonment and forgiveness.   You did not know that every time Fairuz sings to the dawn         on my way toward hurt  you emerge from the melody to reset sorrow ablaze only to depart like the years gone by taking my joy with you.   I waved my hand like a child whose mother vanished out of sight his feet rooted beneath the...

Badriya al-Badri’s protagonist, Suad, struggles to make a definitive gender transition, but tragedy ultimately strikes at another character’s doorstep.  

Boyhood friends meet again after years apart, sparking a trip through the narrator’s memory that leads to a forgotten—and harrowing—episode.  Listen to Eduardo Plaza read "Hyenas" in the original Spanish. 1 Miguel Rodewald and I were good friends. We knew each other because his family, who lived in Temuco, used to spend their summers in Coquimbo. When they were kids his father used to rent a house a few blocks from ours, in El Llano. We’d meet, five...

The poet reflects on death and rebirth.    Make me more simple. Extinguish the greater part of my life.   If to burn is my destiny, permit me to turn to ash the dry leaves at the feet  of trees so that they might one day become a greater forest.   Tell the sad stories to the sky: the orchid dying before it blooms; the fruit dropping before bearing seeds; the bird who, lost in smoke, lost its nest as well—so as to make her cry, for her to...

Linnéa Axelsson’s August Prize-winning epic traces Sami history in the twentieth century.   X Vass Valley. Fall 1920 (Aslat the dead) You left me  on the Swede’s farm alone and wrapped in my large kolt - I didn’t stay there - One fall and one winter we cried together Then you joined the herd and left As for me I spread my kolt into wings and flew away blood drained  from my body and vanished - I couldn’t stay Where I had fallen...

Adrian Perera reflects on the stereotyped expectations faced by immigrant poets.    Interview. Time: 15:42 The journalist says she gets it. “I have a friend from Africa. I want you to know, I get it.” I crawl inside myself,  past my sweaty pits and hear myself say  I’m not accusing her of anything.     32. What’s in a name? she asks, with her blonde hair, ponytail, and blue-eyed gaze, her memories of summer cottages,...

Spoken Word poet Nino Mick skewers the absurdity of bureaucracy in matters of gender and identity.    First visit.   I'm here because I want to be left alone   Gender Survey:   In order to proceed, I need access to your body i.e. brain your life i.e. sex life your medical history your stories   Second visit.     Have I completed a gender survey so I can cope with being a poet or am I a poet in order to cope with the gender survey so...

In this ode to the late Assia Djebar, Habib Tengour remembers Algeria through her voice.  Listen to Habib Tengour read "Celebration of the Absent One" in the original French. For Eliane, Mireille, and Regina                                   We dreamed of a phlegmatic life for you                                  ...