One Molted Childhood

from Portrait of Me Incensing the Mushrooms Channeling Demeter

By Kizziah Burton

...
says the mother searching says the daughter wandering says the one watching
says the river that divides them says the bridge says the one following the one walking across
says the ancestor and the child says the first and the last says the ghost all the ghosts moving in circles
says the one swinging the torch in the realm of the dead
says the stalker hunting the stranger that hides the daughter behind his back
says the mother burying her life in quicksand like a dog buries a bone to come back for later
says the quicksand sucking down two lives says the hook in the daughter’s mouth
says the hand tenderly unhooking the lip releasing her body like a fish into the water
says the childhood she molts and abandons on the rock
....

One Effective Workout

The Famous Sisyphus
By Lars Emil Foder

The famous Sisyphus, who was sentenced by the gods
to forever roll a stone larger than himself up a mountain
again and again as punishment for trying to cheat death,
is by now in excellent shape: killer abs, giant biceps,
incredible thigh muscles, and a back that is a mountainous
landscape itself. You can follow him on Instagram.

~ Translated by Anne Kierkegaard

One Cast-Off Bandage

from The Pyramid Texts

Ancient Egypt

Collect thy bones; arrange thy limbs;
shake off thy dust; untie thy bandages.
The tomb is open for thee; the double doors of the coffin are undone for thee;
the double doors of heaven are open for thee.
....

...thy soul is in thy body; thy might is behind thee; remain master of thy powers.
Raise thyself up,
travel over the southern regions; travel over the northern regions;
be thou powerful over the powers that are in thee.

~ Translated by Samuel Mercer

One Appropriated Tear

from A poet, like a soldier 

By Nichita Stănescu 

A poet, like a soldier
has no life of his own.
His own life is wrecks
and ruins.

With the forceps of his cerebrum he lifts
the emotions of ants
brings them closer and closer to his eye
until they and his eye become one.
....

 
During waves of heat
he fans himself with flocks of birds
he startles into flight.

None of you should believe a poet when he cries.

His tear is never his own.
He has wiped tears from things
and cries things’ tears.


~ Translated by Sean Cotter | Book

One Lurking Locust

from Mars

By Alfred Gong

Mars took quarters in the city hall,

he was enthusiastic about towers

and above all, he appreciated card indexes. 

He collected ragpicker and bums,

and made them knight and adviser.

Hidden in a fold of his garment

the locust lurked.

 --Translated by Gertrude Schwebell

One Bird-Smeared Poem

My clumsy poem on the inn-wall none cared to see. 

With bird-droppings and moss's growth the letters were blotched away. 

There came a guest with heart so full, that though a page to the Throne, 

He did not grudge with his broidered coat to wipe off the dust, and read. 

 --Po Chü-i (Bai Juyi)

One Waxing Weapon

from Old English Rune Poem

xv (eolxh)

Elk-sedge is found     most often in a fen
it waxes in water      and wounds severely
burns in the blood     of each man’s body
who with his hand      takes hold of it

~ Anonymous, translated by Miller Oberman

One Frictioned Footing

I would often think how like a smooth slope any form of art is and of the amount of effort the artist must expend in order to keep from sliding back to where the footing is easier. 

~ Czeslaw Milosz

One Grass-Sewn Wound

from vesper 

By Iryna Shuvalova

...
in the end every wound is simply a ditch
a groove in the ground from which a long stubborn root has been torn
a burrow from which a fox has been smoked and chased endlessly through rainy fields
a rut carved by a helpless wheel in a sodden road

soon the wind the rain will come for it and the grass the grass
the birch goosefoot dog-grass burdock hemlock will sew the uneven edges together
the earth will lick its grazed memory
with its coarse green tongue

and so we too
forget to hate as we sleep
and simply grow like grass
covering the earth
with our clinging brittle
superfluous
love 

 ~ Translated by Uilleam Blacker | More