In this work of microfiction, Álvaro Baquero-Pecino constructs a humorous portrait of New York in very real numbers: security cameras, steps to climb the Empire State Building, and so much more. Three hundred eighty-one meters, 102 floors, and 6,500 windows. We know that more than 2.5 million people visit the Empire State Building each year. An average of eighty-seven couples get engaged atop its observatory every month. It’s estimated that the dimensions of an...

Watch Khadija Tracey Heeger read her poem "Children of the Xam" in the original Kaaps. Poet Khadija Tracey Heeger honors a rich and complex heritage. Between the vertebrae of the Langeberg and carved deep in the palm of the Keerom, on the tongue of Slanghoek comes the sigh of reconciliation, it is here you’ll find the name Xam, in the earth and sky, and in the womb of the Breede. Plaited through the psalms of the Xam, Khoi, and amaXhosa the name Cape Town a journey still to...

Watch the music video for "Affirm" performed by SIEP, in the original Kaaps.   This rap performance by SIEP uplifts and speaks truth. I affirm the soul in each person I affirm the soul in each person It’s clean as a bone with the vocal tone Who is still suffering? Hector Pieterson That was seventy-six Try it now We make cop thugs cop slugs That’s one for you and your peeps Another one for your stepfather peeping At your sister, trying to chise We put that red on his...

Poet Shirmoney Rhode uses lotto cards as a powerful metaphor for parenthood in this poem.   some children are like lotto scratch cards to their parents they buy tickets for next to nothing and they place all their hopes and dreams on that one ticket then they score its surface with a coin or a small stone or anything that will make the silver come off easily and if it doesn’t reveal the numbers or symbols that will translate into a posh house or car then that ticket is bad luck...

A young woman learns about a family secret in this short story written and translated by Olivia M. Coetzee.   Words Without Borders · Olivia Coetzee Reads an Excerpt from "Slang Hiewel" (Snake's Hill) Listen to Olivia Coetzee read from "Slang Hiewel" in the original Kaaps.   My name is Susan Ruiters. Everyone calls me Sanna after my mom’s mother, Susanna. I was born in the late 1970s to my mother, Gertruida Johanna Ruiters, and my dad . . . Well,...

In this traditional folktale passed down orally from one generation to the next, pregnant women turn into demons.   Sara Frederica Santa Maria reads "The Gut Demons" in the original Melaka Portuguese.   Long ago, deep in the jungle, there lived six pregnant women. Every day they would go hunting for food. This activity exhausted them, as their bellies grew bigger and heavier by the day. One day, they gathered to speak about their troubles. One of them suggested that they...

In this self-translation, the late Filipino poet Francis C. Macansantos masks the dark side of the ocean with deceptively seductive language.   Listen to Dr. Sonia Macansantos Alensub read Francis C. Macansantos's "Ojos del marijada" in the original Zamboangueño Chavacano. Stop looking for the wave’s eyes. With its whole body it gazes at you, Eyes of blue-green watch you, Dimpled smiles hidden in water. Laughter of clouds at its crest Doing a little dance...

A dying man contemplates his poverty and the heavens in this self-translation by the late Filipino poet Francis C. Macansantos.   Listen to Dr. Sonia Macansantos Alensub read Francis C. Macansantos's "Ñor Marcos" in the original Zamboangueño Chavacano. Mr. Marcos, a junk dealer, was found dead at dawn, still seated on a bench overlooking the sea at the Zamboanga wharf. —News Report   Dawn till twilight I’m on the lookout for empty containers To...

The origins and heritage of the Melaka Chetti people take center stage in this pantun, a traditional Malay poetic form. Listen to K. Vimala Devi Rajah (d/o G. Kandasamy Rajah) read "Pantun" by Nironjini Pillay, Shagina Bhalan, Nadarajan Mudaliar, and Mahendran Pillay in the original Chetti Malay. Traveling from India to Melaka, Dealing in spices, cloth, and copper. We are known as the Chetti of Melaka, Guardians of tradition and culture. Sporting shirts with bronze buttons we...

This poem praises the people, the land, and the culture of the Sri Lanka Portuguese Burgher community. Listen to Magin Mario Balthazaar read "Tééra nósa viida" in the original Sri Lanka Portuguese. The fish sing over here,  The fish sing. If you go to the seashore You will hear them. The shrimp fishermen Are catching crabs. Let’s buy some fish And live the good life. What’s the name of our land?  It is Batticaloa. How beautiful is...

Dancing figures prominently in this short love poem.   Listen to Magin Mario Balthazaar read "Minha ámoor nóóna" in the original Sri Lanka Portuguese. My beloved lady, my sweet lady, Come and sing so beautifully. There will be no trouble, life will be good, Come and dance the káfriinha.1 Beside the house, On the nearby fence, Hang your skirts and all to dry, Then take them back inside. Your face is like a rose blossom, I quickly take your...

This laudatory poem in Patuá celebrates what makes Macau unique.   Listen to H. Miguel de Senna Fernades read "Macau nôs-sa téra" in the original Patuá. Macau, our homeland Humble, though of great nobility A tiny land of a thousand wonders A flower for anyone in grief Macau, our homeland In the world there is no other like you Home of peace, of charity A home for every soul Macau, a holy name blessed by God Macau, a sweet treasure that we keep A...

"Afroinsularity" is one of two winning poems selected by Airea D. Matthews for the 2021 Words Without Borders—Academy of American Poets Poems in Translation Contest.   Words Without Borders · Poems in Translation Contest: "Afroinsularity," by Conceição Lima, tr. Shook Listen above to Shook read their translation of Conceição Lima's "Afroinsularity"   They left the islands a legacy  of hybrid...

"0" is one of two winning poems selected by Airea D. Matthews for the 2021 Words Without Borders—Academy of American Poets Poems in Translation Contest. Don't miss Lauri García Dueñas and Olivia Lott on Monday, September 27 at the Brooklyn Book Festival.   Words Without Borders · Poems in Translation Contest: "0," by Lauri García Dueñas, tr. Olivia Lott Listen to Olivia Lott read her translation of Lauri...

Jack Malik evokes a monsoon-soaked landscape in this short prose poem.   Words Without Borders · Poet Jack Malik Reads "Monsoon Fable" Listen to Jack Malik read "Monsoon Fable" in the original Malay gray nets. sand clots. bottles as litanies, adrift. drowned voices. here silence is apparent-most. the answer arrives in a spectrum-guised shard. coral-corpse eavesdrop. seven seas heave foam, beckoning home. wind departs. raving nira waves. vacant sea. sugar-hued shores...

In this reverie, modernist poet T. Alias Taib writes verses to an imaginary lover.   Words Without Borders · Eddin Khoo reads T. Alias Taib's "Poem in June" Listen to Eddin Khoo reads T. Alias Taib's "Poem in June" in the original Malay   my girl        my mustache and beard still kept dirty for you my sweet        isn’t dirt the realm of your love?  the grass        flutters thrashed by a...

Afro-Italian poet Rahma Nur describes her experience as a member of a diaspora living in Italy, noting how language marks the body and how it shapes one's sense of loss. Words Without Borders · Rahma Nur Reads "Fili Linguistici" ("Linguistic Threads")   As you make headway between the land where you were born and the ground that took you in a thread stretches to connect them like an IV. It feeds you words and sentences prepositions and long periods you can’t parse...

Afro-Italian poet Rahma Nur describes her experience as a member of a diaspora living in Italy, noting how language marks the body and how it shapes one's sense of loss. Words Without Borders · Rahma Nur Reads "Fili Linguistici" ("Linguistic Threads")   In the step that you take Between the land that watched over your birth And the soil that received you There's a thread that connects them Like an IV. It feeds you words and phrases Clauses and long sentences You...

Afro-Italian poet Rahma Nur describes her experience as a member of a diaspora living in Italy, noting how language marks the body and how it shapes one's sense of loss. Words Without Borders · Rahma Nur Reads "Fili Linguistici" ("Linguistic Threads")   In that step you take between the land that witnessed your birth and the soil that welcomed you there is a thread that ties them together. An IV line. It nourishes you with words and prepositional phrases and long...

Mauritania, its geography, and its women come to life in vivid detail in this poem by Mariem Mint Derwich. You will tell them, my country, you will tell them of your daughter, daughter among your daughters, daughter among your men, you will tell them of the winds that engendered her, your winds of the East and your winds of the sea. You will tell them that around her ankles she wears your dunes, your tales, your griots, your notes of the moon, your notes of the sun. You will say to them...