Poet and translator Peter Cole was born in Paterson, New Jersey. Coeditor of Ibis Editions, he has taught at institutions such as Yale University, Wesleyan University, and Middlebury College. Cole divides his time between Jerusalem and New Haven, Connecticut.
By Peter Cole
Either the world is coming together,
or else the world is falling apart —
here — now — along these letters,
against the walls of every heart.
Today, tomorrow, within its weather,
the end or beginning’s about to start —
the world impossibly coming together
or very possibly...
By Taha Muhammad Ali
You asked me once,
on our way back
from the midmorning
trip to the spring:
“What do you hate,
and who do you love?”
And I answered,
from behind the eyelashes
of my surprise,
my blood rushing
like the shadow
cast by a cloud of starlings:
“I hate departure . . .
I...
