An Afternoon by Raymond Carver
As he writes, without looking at the sea, he feels the tip of his pen begin to tremble. The tide is going out across the shingle. But it isn’t that. No, it’s because at that moment she chooses to walk into the room without any clothes on. Drowsy, not even sure where she is for […]
Watching the Bird Watcher by Richard Schiffman
She peers through binoculars into a treetop lit with day’s last blaze, where some bird alights unseen by me. Her gaze poised tremulous and light, as if resting upon a twig– looking, looking at the bird that we don’t see. The bird in the tree, and the seer of the bird sharing for the stainless […]
Virtual Impressions by Renu Ayyar
Buried in dust & grime Are my poems Lifeless & inconspicuous! The poet in me has been brutally murdered And so are my words; choked to death Reminiscence of yester years have all turned sour! There was a time; they were earnestly appreciated by all But now you hear them shout from roof-tops Seeking attention!?!? […]
Two Wings by Ricardo Sternberg
Two Wings by Ricardo Sternberg Two Wings She would drift into the kitchen trailing fragments of a hymn that spoke of God, a river, the pair of golden wings that would be hers on Judgement Day and were you to look at her then you might well decide your best bet for a meal would […]
They won’t Know by Rifat Ilgaz
What will I leave for the people left behind, For my children, For their children too? More or less My shared piece From Black Sea… Five or ten acres of land from sky. The things I want to give them when I was alive, The things I couldn’t give, fleeings, hidings caused. I know for […]
The Laws of God, The Laws of Man by A. E. Housman
The laws of God, the laws of man, He may keep that will and can; Not I: let God and man decree Laws for themselves and not for me; And if my ways are not as theirs Let them mind their own affairs. Their deeds I judge and much condemn, Yet when did I make […]
The Invention of Honey by Ricardo Sternberg
The Invention of Honey by Ricardo Sternberg Admit from the start: next to nothing is what we know about the bee. Some have argued that the sun cried, the tears fell, they took wings, took heart and went to work. Others have called this poetry — dismissing it as hatched by men with their heads […]
Swallows by Richard Schiffman
How from the doldrums of the day they tumbled; only swallows skimming treetops. Yet no wheeling eagle could compete with this sudden squall of sickle wings, roller coasters sprung from nowhere, or conjured from the air itself, pouring in from everywhere like rain. No ordered flock, but schools of comets spinning tails of flame. Arsonists […]
Supply=Demand by Ricardo Sternberg
Supply=Demand by Ricardo Sternberg Supply=Demand Quarter to four on a Sunday as the snow began to fall, she entered the room and whispered I wish for once and for all, you’d tell me how much you love me and how long that love will last for doubt has crept into my heart and passion is […]
Skyscrapers by Rifat Ilgaz
A woman who lit the way for centuries Is ready to cry on the shore. Anger on her cheeks, Blood on her skirt, Fallen off her waist Her rainbow. In a sunny clime Skyscraper has closed its curtains. A flag is fluttering In a timeless tempest That sweeps the Asian shores. The tempest began Even […]
Silence by Riju Dave
Silence Silence is a storm, stirred up by words unsaid, unheard, as yet unhurled. In the interlude of sighs, a want curled up. In the fleeting flicker of a flaccid gaze, In the screaming beat of a scuppered heart, a desire curtailed, a dream unfurled. Poetry In Englishwww.poetry.monster
Rainbow by Ria De Torres
Seven unique hues, Hemmed by the hands of our God, Hope in every heart. Poetry In Englishwww.poetry.monster
Only If I Know by Rifat Ilgaz
This feet will judge me, I let them walk about,behind a thought Street to street. This head, this inflexible head too… Sometimes tired Always yearing for a pillow! This lungs too, will judge me, I,unfortunately refused the sun,the air from them. This mouth, these theeth, this stomach… What could I offer loosely! These wrists, too, […]
My Search by Renu Ayyar
In the cross-roads of life, sometime ago; I met an ‘Alien’, too familiar for words to explain; When life for me was directionless, restrained & disoriented; He showed me how a little curve can glisten, An otherwise uninspiring countenance! How unspoken words can touch the inner cords of a plagued heart While a little madness […]
My Partner in Crime by Rennu Ayyar
To My Partner In Crime Not once but umpteen number of times, Have I erred and so have you! You made the first move, I accepted I won the opening of the game, you well conceived ! In your deceptive eyes, I saw deception coming my way But always gave in to your heart melting […]
My Last Poem by Rifat Ilgaz
Let my hand touch yours Let me warm it if it’s cold My last warmth shall not be wasted! Copyright ©: Translated By Burcu Alkan ————— The End And that’s the End of the Poem © Poetry Monster, 2021. Poems by topic and subject. Poetry Monster — the ultimate repository of world poetry. Poetry Monster — […]
Man Versus Satan by Shahida Latif
Both: Man and Satan are the fuel of falsehood, But the ingredient that tell between them, Is of stupendous, quite contradictory, opposing. Satan remains staunch, unbent and resolute, On the false commission of the deeds. Though Man commits wrongs trespassingly no doubt, Goes against the imposed restrictions or barriers, Chasing taste, attractions or carnal pleasures, […]
Lovers in Cafe by Aiyah De Torres
A perfect morning, the sun shines aglow. Reflecting on leaves kissing by dew. Doves fills the scene outside… Two lovers meet in a wondrous site. Found the love they search too long. Inside the cafe in a midst of Paris, The place where lovers and friends belong. Sitting and sipping a cup of cappuccino. Eyes […]
LET Go.. by Renu Ayyar
Let go, a truth so bitter; Let go, a wound so sore For nothing in life is permanent; And ‘Change’ is the only constant ! Let go, a hidden drop of tear; Let go, a secret concealed & obscured For a day that follows the night without remorse; From a grappling ‘Dusk’ to a delighting […]
In Poetry by Rifat Ilgaz
I loved the fight, in poetry first The freedom word by word, in poetry Line by line I loved to live So I loved anger and bliss… Your bright days, My optimistic friends, All, all in poetry. Whatever I’ve lost… Everything I’ve found, in poetry. Is it our love only, That precedes rhyme, There’s also […]
In Every Language by Rifat Ilgaz
In what language do children cry, In what language do they smile Crying has one meaning in every language Chinese, English, Turkish… Sniffling Maybe a little child-like. Crying your heart out, And sobbing Humanlike! My beautiful child In what language is to make on cry? Starting from the slaves and captives Up to the bards […]
I’m Sexy and I Know It by Aiyah De Torres
He said I’m sexy. My waistline measures forty. I think he’s hungry. Poetry In Englishwww.poetry.monster
I Write a Poem by Aiyah De Torres
I write a poem that will entertain the world. A poem that will fade someone’s fear. The one that will inspire you to smile. Something that can make you out of mind. I write a poem for lovers and friends, To describe the feelings, how is love moves the earth. A poem that encourages deads […]
Girl Child – An Alternate Reality by Rekha Seshadri
Burned to ashes… Never to be held to the warm bosom. As I watched, weak and helpless, The comforting embrace of known arms Enclosed in their hold, not for long. Mud I smelt, wet, dust caused sniffles Calloused hands unwrap the blanket Shivering body laid to rest… The billowing earth, burning lungs, Choked cry stuck […]
Elusive Lover by Renu Ayyar
From the shackles of boredom and entrap of loneliness Emerged sketches of an elusive lover, With chiseled features & curly tresses; Ah! The perfect Greek god Teasing the romantic in me to write; With a feather dipped in ‘Sea of Love’ Holding my trembling hand; as I begin to write just for HIM In his […]
Crows and Hawks by Richard Schiffman
The sky, I’ve noticed, does not stop to chart the flight of crows, nor crows recall their flight through air. Neither does the night record the course of stars. Though earth leaps daily through a flaming hoop of sky, every day it is another earth, another hoop entire. And once the hummingbird has sipped the […]
Clever Stalk by Richard Schiffman
A botanical gardenist of sidewalks. A weedologist with a doctorate in cracks and crannies. A city boy shooting straight from the pavement, the mean street itself, clenched by a thimbleful of dirt, an ecosystem that fit his scrawny seed, from which arose a life, not unconstrained, but free to rise, not far, but far enough […]
Buddies by Richard Schiffman
I called you after you died to hear again your ducky voice on the answering machine. For weeks you continued: “This is Will at Bathrooms Restored, please leave a message after the beep.” But I never did. What was there to say? Even before– what was there to say? You used to call first thing […]
Buddha at Kamakura by Rudyard Kipling
O ye who tread the Narrow Way By Tophet-flare to Judgment Day, Be gentle when “the heathen” pray To Buddha at Kamakura! To him the Way, the Law, apart, Whom Maya held beneath her heart, Ananda’s Lord, the Bodhisat, The Buddha of Kamakura. For though he neither burns nor sees, Nor hears ye thank your […]
Beyond Darkness And Despair by Renu Ayyar
Abysmal, that’s the life she leads; In a filthy lane, is her ‘Abode’. Beasts come knocking on her door, Every day and every night, To fulfill their carnivorous appetite ! Torn between vulnerability & defenselessness; Mortified, she is of her own ‘Nakedness’. The vultures dwelling inside men, Brutally tears up her bruised mass Before vanishing […]
Before you go a little way prospecting by T. Wignesan
for F. A. You, in going a little way from yourself Have gone a long way from my gullible ilk. « I’m trying hard not to like you, » you said The breaths of several men surging in your nostrils And the stench abraded in your flesh : « You are unshaven. » You took […]
Are You a Thinking Man? by Rifat Ilgaz
Doom-birds shuttling back and forth seem to weave in the air the rug of despair. Positions have been taken up, there’s gunfire back there, Cannon-balls darkly shake the earth under your feet Can’t you hear? Lift up your head you’ve slept enough, If you call this a heart, these arteries Let them not beat or […]
A Lost Friend, I Never Had by Renu Ayyar
Amidst plastic faces & concrete jungles, A sedentary lifestyle & corporate bungles I thought I got lucky to find; A sparkling Gem one day, in life! A Gem not just precious; but I thought, was so rare To whom my heart, soul & mind; I could bare Someone who could touch my heart with a […]
A Goddess by Tanisha Avarsekar
Unprecedented force. Bewitching beauty. Mysterious tenor. Fiery bearing. Gleaming temper. Daunting gaze. Amaranthine power. Inconceivable grace. Call it Durga, call it Kali. Call it Artemis, call it Athene. It’s all just the same energy. It’s what a Goddess is, for a devotee. Poetry In Englishwww.poetry.monster
Vacation by Rita Dove
I love the hour before takeoff, that stretch of no time, no home but the gray vinyl seats linked like unfolding paper dolls. Soon we shall be summoned to the gate, soon enough there’ll be the clumsy procedure of row numbers and perforated stubs—but for now I can look at these ragtag nuclear families with […]
Tonight she remembers by Rita Odessa Villaruel
It happened. Although her mother told her it did not, she knows by the way the wind speaks to her tonight that it did. She feels by the way the shadows of darkness echo the secrets of her past, how the barks of her dog remind her of one rainy evening when she was running […]
There Came a Soul by Rita Dove
She arrived as near to virginal as girls got in those days—i.e., young, the requisite dewy cheek flushed at its own daring. He had hoped for a little more edge. But she held the newspaper rolled like a scepter, his advertisement turned up to prove she was there solely at his bidding—and yet the gold […]
The Emotion Line by Rita Odessa Villaruel
This could be the right pulsate of emotion — the one found between too much happiness and a little grief, the space where a smile is shaped out of satisfaction. The measuring device of sentiments my often destructive but self-proclaimed adulthood have created in my head resembles the Number Line: the negative-numbers side being the […]
The Bistro Styx by Rita Dove
She was thinner, with a mannered gauntness as she paused just inside the double glass doors to survey the room, silvery cape billowing dramatically behind her.What’s this, I thought, lifting a hand until she nodded and started across the parquet; that’s when I saw she was dressed all in gray, from a kittenish cashmere skirt […]
The Secret Garden by Rita Dove
I was ill, lying on my bed of old papers, when you came with white rabbits in your arms; and the doves scattered upwards, flying to mothers, and the snails sighed under their baggage of stone . . . Now your tongue grows like celery between us: Because of our love-cries, cabbage darkens in its […]