Poems Rethabile Likes

September by Jennifer Michael Hecht September Tonight there must be people who are getting what they want. I let my oars fall into the water. Good for them. Good for them, getting what they want. The night is so still that I forget to breathe. The dark air is getting colder. Birds are leaving. Tonight there are people getting just what they need. The air is so still that it seems to stop my heart. I remember you in a black and white photograph taken this time of some year. You were leaning against a half-shed tree, standing in the leaves the tree had lost. When I finally exhale it takes forever to be over. Tonight, there are people who are so happy, that they have forgotten to worry about tomorrow. Somewhere, people have entirely forgotten about tomorrow. My hand trails in the water. I should not have dropped those oars. Such a s...

American Smooth by Rita Dove American Smooth We were dancing—it must have been a foxtrot or a waltz, something romantic but requiring restraint, rise and fall, precise execution as we moved into the next song without stopping, two chests heaving above a seven-league stride—such perfect agony, one learns to smile through, ecstatic mimicry being the sine qua non of American Smooth. And because I was distracted by the effort of keeping my frame (the leftward lean, head turned just enough to gaze out past your ear and always smiling, smiling), I didn’t notice how still you’d become until we had done it (for two measures? four?)—achieved flight, that swift and serene magnificence, before the earth remembered who we were and brought us down. Poet: Rita Dove Source: @PoetryFound...

Bui Thi Kim Thanh by Rethabile Masilo Bui Thi Kim Thanh translated by Pamela Mordecai Dem go inna yu ouse, and take yu inna one trunk to de clinic at BiênHòa. De self same day rain come: de rain god did get drunk for so! Dem go inna yu ouse, and take yu inna one trunk pass de DôngNai valley fill up wid junk fran di war, out to de place where de rain chop ’way bark and bast same way. Some man —dem go inna yu ouse, and take yu inna one trunk to de clinic at BiênHòa de self same day. Poet: Rethabile Masilo Source: Qoaling (Collection) Book: Buy on Amazon The poem was inspired by this article .