GHAZAL NO. 2 by M. Cynthia Cheung

/ / ISSUE 25

 

Silks traveled through many hands, starting in the Orient.
Don’t tell me, love, God made the stars for us to orient.

Before we ever started, war gathered across continents.
Still, love, I’d forgotten your penchant to disorient.

Your ash rains again from the west, blotting the lords of the sky.
Tell me how to set fire to pearls—that blinding orient.

You return to the argument: Let me show you how to….
—always said I was too unsophisticated to orient.

Oolong uncoils in my cup, your sugar on my tongue.
Who thought I’d turn infidel? Your sense of orientation?

I can’t pay your price anymore—my useless milk, wasted blood.
Only your skill to distract. It’s ornamental, almost oriental.

The moon covers the sun. It’s God, not astronomy, remember?
Never mind where I’ve gone—the sky’s too overcast to reorient.

ISSUE 25
POEMS

EN ROUTE by Suphil Lee Park

TWO POEMS by Alexandra Teague

GHAZAL NO. 2 by M. Cynthia Cheung

[MY GRANDFATHER WALKED IN THE SNOW] by Cleo Qian

IN THE END, THE ALEFS CURL by Iqra Khan

THREE POEMS by Mónica Gomery

GEOMETRY by Karen Kevorkian

from PSALMS OF LAMENT FOR DIVINE IMPERATIVES by Jennifer Metsker

TWO POEMS by Jimin Seo

THE PLEASURE IS IN THE WORK by Stella Hayes

WHAT ELSE COULD I HAVE DONE by Mikael de Lara Co

FICTION

MY DINNER THEATRE WITH ANDRÉ by Christopher Hebert

KHOSHBAKHTAM by Kent Kosack

TRANSLATION

from RED MELANCHOLIA by Helena Boberg trans. Johannes Goransson (from Swedish)

AND WHAT HAPPENS IF I WANT TO NAME EVERYTHING?, ASKS THE FEMALE DISCIPLE by Mayra Santos-Febres trans. Seth Michelson (from Spanish) 

THREE POEMS by Bronka Nowicka trans. Katarzyna Szuster (from Polish)

[A POEM] by Beatriz Miralles de Imperial trans. Layla Benitez-James (from Spanish)

[UNTITLED 1] by Vladislav Hristov trans. Katarina Stoykova (from Bulgarian) 

FROM NORTH by Baek Sok trans. Jack Jung (from Korean)

WHEN OTHER PEOPLE ARE WRITING POEMS by Oh Kyu-won trans. Jack Jung (from Korean)

TWO POEMS by Ashraf Zhagal trans. Ghada Mourad

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