Ahlberg, Allan | Ahvenjärvi, Juhani | Angelou, Maya | Bakhtiar, Shireen | Beatty, Paul | Boland, Eavan | Brooks, Gwendolyn | Brown, Sterling | Bryant, Dana | Chapman, Tracy | Clifton Read, Lucile | Coleman, Anita Scott | Coleman, Wanda | Cullun, Countee | Dashiell, J.M. | Dove, Rita | Dylan, Bob | Evans, Mari | Gaines, Reg E. | Giovanni, Nikki | Goldbarth, Albert | Harper, Michael | Hayden, Chris | Hayden, Robert | Jordan, June | Lorde, Audre | Madhubuti, Haki R. | Mc Kenty, Bob | Moore, Richard | Reed, Ishmael | Salt'n'Pepa | Sayar, Keyvan | Scott-Heron, Gill | Shakur, Tupac | Sinervo, Helena | Stevens, Cat | Teasdale, Sarah | The Sugarhill Gang | Walcott, Derek | Walker, Alice | Walker, Margaret | Williams, Saul | Wyclef Jean | Young, Al
Ahvenjärvi, Juhani
Incessant hapiness cannot be borne by anyone.
It's different for bears: when it rains, their pelt gets wet
and they leave deeper footprints in the marsh than when they're dry.
When it rains, the ticklish effect of the drops makes me laugh.
it's different for bears: laughter doesn't
make them laugh.
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I used to feel sorry for supermarket trolleys.
Now I have seen them creeping
up to the edges of parking lots.
The sea wind cleanses them of the still-lifes
that are imagined in their laps.
I used to feel sorry for supermarket trolleys
the skittering wheel whose destination is the fog
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Around every corner an engine grumbles.
On the engine sits a man, staring:
no, he does not know what the engine is doing, but it has something to do
with his work. I have in my pocket a stone, painted orange.
I tell the man I have stolen it.
If the man is a policeman, he will set fire to his hair with it
if a taxi-driver, he will take it home and listen
---------------------------------
We argue about playing the cello. You play and I talk.
When a train passes between us I do not hear the cello,
but I am sure that you use the time
to tear up the grass around you.
I make notes
about the smoke-rings that float through the train's
smoking compartment. What different
work we do, how badly
sheltered from the rain
(I lean against a sick maple.)
