Bilingual/Bilingüe ~ Rhina P. Espaillat My father liked them separate, one there, one here (allá y aquí), as if aware that words might cut in two his daughter’s heart (el corazón) and lock the alien part to what he was—his memory, his name (su nombre)—with a key he could not claim. “English outside this door, […]
A Lady ~ Amy Lowell You are beautiful and faded, Like an old opera tune Played upon a harpsichord; Or like the sun-flooded silks Of an eighteenth-century boudoir. In your eyes Smoulder the fallen roses of outlived minutes, And the perfume of your soul Is vague and suffusing, With the pungence of sealed spice-jars. Your […]
[Im]migratory Patterns ~ James A. H. White Ask me where I’m from, & depending on the day / immigrant I feel like being, I may point at the sky as if it were the embodiment of all places. Ask me what I’ve given up, & depending on the hour / emigrant I feel like honoring, […]
Damnatio Memoriae ~ Nicholas Samaras “Damnation of Memory” How smart the Roman Senate was to remove from remembrance all those who brought discredit to their State by various causes of dishonor. How smart to close the record of memory, to erase the existence of anybody: no life, no influence or legacy. And you, old mentor, […]
Vermeer’s Pearl ~ Lloyd Schwartz I used to boast that I never lived in a city without a Vermeer. —You do now, a friend pointed out, when the one Vermeer in my city was stolen. It’s still missing. The museum displays its empty frame. But there are eight Vermeers in New York, more than any […]
