Joseph Fasano: Power

A poet is sentenced to death
and brought before the Leader.
Between them is a map of the world.

Can't you see? the Leader asks. You're powerless.

Name one power you have that I do not.

Very slowly, the poet lowers her head

and lays her ear on the map.

I know, she whispers, I know,

as if she is comforting someone,

as if she is hearing the voices of children.

When the guards take the prisoner away

and begin to beat her,

the Leader is alone in his chamber.

He looks out the curtains, straightens his necktie.

Very slowly, he lowers his ear to the map

and closes his eyes, and listens.

Silence. Silence and paper.

Krusovszky Dénes: A kertkapu

mert egyszer csak
ott állsz majd
a kertkapuban te is,
háromszáz évnyi
kóborlás után,
arcodra kövült
port kapargatva,
reszketve, hogy
mi lesz, ha egyáltalán
nem ismernek fel,
és mi lesz akkor,
ha túl hamar,
de rögtön megérted,
hogy minden
percért kár volt,
mert az indulás
és az érkezés
végképp egybehajlik,
ahogy felhangzik
a kérdés, eszel
te rendesen, fiam?

Sárándi József: Egy odavetett vers

Milyen kevés elég lenne a boldogsághoz
meleg szobában borospohárral a kézben
megállni az ablak előtt
és nézni a kietlen szélben flangáló hóesést
De van egy belső tél is
éhes macskákkal madarakkal
fagypont alatti hidegleléssel
És van egy ősi szőlőlugas
mely az istennek sem akar teremni többé

Nomi Stone: Waiting for Happiness

Dog knows when friend will come home
because each hour friend’s smell pales,
air paring down the good smell
with its little diamond. It means I miss you
O I miss you, how hard it is to wait
for my happiness, and how good when
it arrives. Here we are in our bodies,
ripe as avocados, softer, brightening
with latencies like a hot, blue core
of electricity: our ankles knotted to our
calves by a thread, womb sparking
with watermelon seeds we swallowed
as children, the heart again badly hurt, trying
and failing. But it is almost five says
the dog. It is almost five.

Justin Lacour: On watching a movie on the Hallmark Channel

i thought those two would never get together always on 

each others’ nerves he a scruffy free spirit she so uptight 

and into her job but soon they were ice skating while 

holding hands in this movie it’s almost Christmas the day 

my father in law sits at the head of the table and makes 

pronouncements like “A good burger starts with a good 

cow” and all the adults nod solemnly so i excuse myself 

under the pretense of walking the dog watch my own 

breath smoke under endless stars romance and plot get 

harder the further out you go i tell my students it’s 

possible to be lonely in a marriage and by students 

i mean the various trees rocks and feral cats i speak to

Szentgyörgyi László: Ellentét

Fáj az egyedüllét,
ha látom:
mások együtt vannak.

Fáj az együttlét,
mert tudom:
mások egyedül vannak.

Troy Jollimore: Tamara

Years from now he'll remember the months he spent
trying to unlock a lock of her hair
and how, when she kissed him, he felt like a poem

being translated from one language into another.