i’m linking things i’m beginning to see
the length of this organ, my dying land
all the mistakes my god has learned
they say the body is wise
in truth and in suffering
biding a time that knows no limits
i’m linking things i’m beginning to see
what became of the san people
who can tell us what happened
and the truth must be the truth
inside our bodies
the terrible words must burn.
Mxolisi Nyezwa is founder and editor of Kotaz, now in its fourteenth year.
GRAY DAVIDSON CARROLL
Poet Gray Davidson Carroll speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about their poem “Silent Spring,” which appears in The Common’s fall issue. Gray talks about poetry as a way to witness and observe the world and how we experience it, and how it’s changing.
MARC VINCENZ
Oh, you genius, you beehive, / you spark, you contiguous line— / all from the same place of origin // where there is no breeze. // All those questions posed … / take no notice, the image / is stamped on your brow, even // as you glare in the mirror, // as the others are orbiting
DIANE EXAVIER
I turn thirty-two / the sky is mostly cloudy / over my apartment / facing Nostrand // and all my parents are dead // I am rolling my hips / toward death in a dying / city on a planet dying / just a touch slower than me // and one sister jokes we only need thirty more years
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Celebrating 15 Years