![the [blank] garden](https://theblankgarden.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/cropped-lucas-cranach-the-younger-6.png)
Three poems by Gwendolyn Brooks, from the collection The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks, ed. Elizabeth Alexander (2005), and one from the collection To Disembark (1981). “the mother Abortions…… Read more “The time cracks into furious flower”
Tag: Poetry
They purge the soul with their infinity
Five poems by Jessie Redmon Fauset, from the anthology Shadowed Dreams: Women’s Poetry of the Harlem Renaissance, edited by Maureen Honey (1989), plus two poems from The…… Read more “They purge the soul with their infinity”
Blessed with light, more light
Four poems by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, from the Complete Poems of Frances E.W. Harper, ed. Maryemma Graham (1988): “The Slave Mother Heard you that shriek? It…… Read more “Blessed with light, more light”
My courage is a battleground, my desire a spark
Hi, folks, Here you have a handful of poems by Pakistani poet Sara Shagufta, about whom I wrote on my previous post. The poems were translated to…… Read more “My courage is a battleground, my desire a spark”
My soul, mad as a moth,
Dear Auta, The poems in your Horto (1900, ‘Garden’ or ‘Orchard’) address the topics of death, idealized love, childhood, romantic loss, spirituality, and the sublimation of suffering…… Read more “My soul, mad as a moth,”
I too have my vocation,
Dear Elizabeth, In Aurora Leigh (1856), you push your protagonist to make an impossible choice between two instances of her personality: her womanhood and her art. By…… Read more “I too have my vocation,”
Eat me, drink me, love me
Dear Christina, Your Goblin Market (1862) is a poem which teasingly resists a fixed interpretation. Is it a feminist tale / an anti-capitalist warning / a Christian…… Read more “Eat me, drink me, love me”
Harp of wild and dream-like strain,
Dear Emily, Gondal – an imaginary island in the North Pacific, created by you and Anne and peopled with flawed, implacable characters often driven into epic battles…… Read more “Harp of wild and dream-like strain,”
My green age
“The force that through the green fuse drives the flower – Dylan Thomas The force that through the green fuse drives the flower Drives my…… Read more “My green age”
2019
“(…) For last year’s words belong to last year’s language And next year’s words await another voice. (…)” ―T.S. Eliot, ‘Little Gidding II’, Four Quartets (Faber & Faber, 2000) …… Read more “2019”
I am the sun and moon and forever hungry
Three poems by Audre Lorde, from the book The Black Unicorn (1978): * Solstice We forgot to water the plantain shoots when our houses were full of…… Read more “I am the sun and moon and forever hungry”
The wild muse in me
Five poems by German author Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, from the book The Wild Muse: The Poetry of Annette Von Droste-Hulshoff, edited and translated by Marion Tymms (2013) * Restlessness (Unruhe,…… Read more “The wild muse in me”
The force that drives the blind against the light
Miserere Nobis – by Miguel Torga What a verse takes! At this time, how many poets, like me, are waiting! Winter is gone, spring came, the night…… Read more “The force that drives the blind against the light”
An imposing and fragile mass
THE ELEPHANT Carlos Drummond de Andrade With my scant resources I make an elephant. I count on some wood from old furniture to prop him up. And…… Read more “An imposing and fragile mass”
No Coward Soul Is Mine
Five poems by Emily Brontë, from the book The Night is Darkening Round Me (2015) * No coward soul is mine No coward soul is mine No trembler in…… Read more “No Coward Soul Is Mine”
Yes, of course it hurts when buds are breaking
Ten poems by Swedish author Karin Boye, from the book Complete Poems, tr. David McDuff (1994) * INWARDS (Clouds, 1922) My God and my truth I saw in…… Read more “Yes, of course it hurts when buds are breaking”
The vast, ancient, solitary sea
Discovery Green-muscled ocean Idol of many arms like an octopus Convulsive incorruptible chaos Ordered tumult Contorted dancer Surrounding the taut ships We traversed row on row of…… Read more “The vast, ancient, solitary sea”
The sea’s only sentence
The scalpel and the metronome on my father’s piano kept a silence between them, when I was a child. Only now, with time, have I begun to…… Read more “The sea’s only sentence”
