JUNE 15-SEPTEMBER 1, 2026

Please send 3-6 previously unpublished texts and a 50 to 75-word biblio-bio. Translators must include a letter of permission from the original publisher or author and copies of the original texts.

osirispoetry@gmail.com

Osiris does not publish any text written with the aid of AI, nor do we publish previously published material. We believe in the integrity of the writer and in the integrity of their work. The hand of the writer, their spirit, their vision, their quirks and idiosyncrasies are all part of the text. Let us continue to celebrate the beauty of imperfection.

Garden at Evening

He forgot about the dust on the floor

and crumbs on the kitchen table,

the shrinking light behind the windows.

It started with the garden,

the ashes from the dead bonfire,

cracked fencing and the clumps

of ragwort, flowering quince, camellias

waiting for something to happen.

Then darkness arrived

as smooth as falling water.

Sometimes, for minutes at a time,

the shred of a sensation, words

half-forming into thoughts, drifted

like blown sand across his mind,

a noise no different form silence,

obliterating time and presence.

Osiris 32, 1991

Exile

for Yannis Ritsos

Though the wells have been abandoned

and there is no water, you go about

hiding seeds in dark places

while all around you stone fruit grows.

You welcome the dark as you work

in the orchard of statues. The moon

sleeps in a cage of olive branches,

dreaming of something other than the night.

Osiris 33, 1991

Rue Chabot, 31 octobre 1987

Rayon chaud d’automne

Une dame au chapeau rouge

rue Mont-Royal

L’enfance soudain

Je me souviens du feutre

au temps de Pâques

ou de la paille

À cet angle précis

une odeur

La mémoire est dans l’instant

l’éternité une saveur

Osiris 29, 1989

Street Songs

Translated from the Polish by Andrew Gorski

I had something to say

The doors were thrown wide open

In my sleep I laughed out loud and shouted

and all the words lapsed into dream.

I had something to take note of

that no one else could see

I walked out onto the street and looked

Stumbled and fell into an open dream.

I walked along holding a child’s hand

and not wanting to talk with him in verse

And waking I still remembered

how much I didn’t want to pull him into my dream.

Osiris 27, 1988

ONCE MORE IN ASSISI

Sun

behind the poppies,

the evening has torches.

A swallow seeks night

and a straw softened rafter,

a temporal motion,

a gesture

given by ancestors

who flew and touched

with their shadows,

before scissors and cutting

Chiara’s blonde hair.

Osiris 18, 1984

Chocs obscurs

Le souvenir de nos paysages

ne sauvera pas la beauté du monde
quand le dernier soleil sera parti

demain
gare désertée
sous les caméras de surveillance

en suspens
attendant que la traversent
des voyageurs en route vers un ailleurs
inimaginable

ou couloir aux portes numérotées
pour des errants assignés à résidence

Osiris 72

Translated from the Romanian by Adam J. Sorkin & Irma Giannetti

The Fire Tower

After the candles too forsake us
like a lantern built step by step
the earth will suddenly glow
unhoped-for diamond
souls will wander without shadows
they will seek one another without their
knees shaking.

Icons banished
the shape of memory burned away
a star will kindle brightly
darkness held at an impasse.

Osiris 72

Translated from the Romanian by Adam J. Sorkin & Carmen Firan

CONSPIRACY

as soon as I turn my gaze
flowers bloom
nuns throw off their habits and cowls
and raise their eyes to the sky as if everything’s there
the river shrugs out of its channel
larvae dress in iridescent butterfly wings
so as to confound our expectations
neglected objects withdraw into themselves
and conspire against separation—
time-worn ropes tethered to a pair of fixed points:
the water we emerged from and the water we pass into
floating white petals blush
as soon as I turn my gaze

OSIRIS 68