Poems

The Hidden Springs

“I have a feeling for a moment that the elk is God—/ a god that we can watch.” | by Sarah Maclay

Art Deco Sonnet

“O sleekness, O pizzazz, O mirrors, O chrome,/O remnant inklings of a light-struck world” | by Jacqueline Osherow

Ghazal Season

“Once, I wrote a ghazal trimmed in gold,/ to mirror the implausible” | by Jacqueline Osherow

Cochlea

“The murkiness, the smog, the thickened haze/ in me are hard to love.” | by Jehanne Dubrow, 2021 C.P. Cavafy Finalist

Silence in Syria

“Melt the ink into my hands/ like the metal of a tank being welded./ Use this newspaper as a rag” | by Seif-Eldeine, 2021 C.P. Cavafy Finalist

Exit

“On every door in this village/ there are last notes left by families/ crossing the sea to another land.” | by Rasaq Malik, 2021 C.P. Cavafy Finalist

The Starlight in Syria

“The wounded know stars are a furnace/ for mankind’s sins. The wounded curl themselves/ into a ball of starlight” | by Seif-Eldeine, 2021 C.P. Cavafy Finalist

Wheel

“How I loved saying I was deeply skeptical of the adverb, very/ but then I got run over by a truck” | by Michael Martin, 2020 C.P Cavafy Finalist

We Were the Kind

“to tell it true we’d say/ we don’t know what it is/ we’re nowhere near the end of.” | by Michael Martin, 2020 C.P. Cavafy Finalist

Dent on an Old Hum

“I set the ghosts free./ I found a new way to wear my hat.” | by Michael Martin, 2020 C.P. Cavafy Finalist

Any Minor Art World

“He’s far too young to be alone in this life/ and even a tiny frayed lawn chair can feel/ as heavy as a stranger.” | by Michael Martin, 2020 C.P. Cavafy Finalist

Mother Tongue

“Walking to the shuq to buy tapoocheem, chalav, and lechem from a merchant who didn’t care—” | by Mari Pack, 2020 C.P. Cavafy Finalist

Mammals, Mammals

“After learning the word mammal in first grade,/ I threw it at whatever moved.” | by Lance Larsen, 2020 C.P. Cavafy Finalist

Like A Thief in the Night

“My twitchy legs brood at never taking this wreck/ of bone spurs for a hike around the lake./ Meanwhile, my spirit says, don’t sweat it” | by Lance Larsen, 2020 C.P. Cavafy Finalist

If It Wasn’t My Daughter

“If it wasn’t/ my daughter, I wouldn’t have prayed like a man/ in a burning forest” | by Lance Larsen, 2020 C.P. Cavafy Finalist

An Amateur’s Guide to Summer

“crash kiss, pesto and blue corn chips kiss/ that was the summer you tracked them all” | by Lance Larsen, 2020 C.P. Cavafy Finalist