"I was banished from my mother's inner sleep.
Never again would I be held
by her small night,
without a pillow, unaware
of the need to be happy.
Other punishments awaited me.
I was taught to spell my name.
I was left alone with my body,
which never spoke to me.
I learned to count my days."
Original poems by Johnny Lorenz, with translations of the poetry of Mario Quintana. Published by Poets & Traitors Press.
"Incantation before Occupying the Streets" in RALEIGH REVIEW
"I pour rum on the earth for Exú who tangles the routes of my enemies
my body is an envelope sealed by the tongue of Saint George"
published in Raleigh Review f2020
(from my work-in-progress: Handbook of Incantations)
"Postcards from the Labyrinth" - poem featured on the podcast THE SLOWDOWN by Tracy K. Smith, the US Poet Laureate
"Flecha/Arrow" - bilingual poem published in RESISTENCIA INTERNACIONAL AO GOLPE - anthology in Brazil responding to the legislative coup that occurred there:
"Gostaria que a palavra fosse flecha,
mas ela se transforma em nuvem,
vira espuma,
sonho, miragem.
The history of a nation
is written on the pages of the sea,
on the flesh of a body."