...Smith-Wesleyan Editorial Group Introduction Meridians great circles of the earth passing through the geographical poles at any given point on the earth's surface; any of the lines of longitude running north and south on a globe or map, representing such a circle or half circle; the highest...

...Odilia Rivera Copyright © 2001 by Wesleyan University Press 2001 MAMI HAIKUS OdiliaRivera Wields a machete eyes afire with unlived dreams her song is still sweet Ella querfa Ella no pudo tener Su propio fuego [Meridians:feminismr,ace,transnationalism2001, vol. 2, no. 1, p. 218] ©2001...

...Juliet S. Kono Copyright © 2000 by Wesleyan University Press 2000 GIFT FROM JAPAN (In Japanese, manglelese) JulietS. Kono Fine prop often makes us peaceful feeling. Please put in favorite picture into this frame, and exhibit it. Surely that, it will tender precious moment of you...

...Reetika Vazirani Copyright © 2001 by Wesleyan University Press 2001 THE CHALLENGE ReetikaVazirani swallow me I challenged swallow me up if you're so great in one look she swallowed now I'm a spot in her eye marvelous to see so much terrible too no rest striding through with her lime eyes open...

...Odilia Rivera Copyright © 2001 by Wesleyan University Press 2001 GARDENS OdiliaRivera The porch is white a dark-skinned man wears a white suit I sneak into his backyard to eat yellow flowers; orange is not my color at five years old, the smell of green cigars drew me to his garden...

...Purvi Shah Copyright © 2003 by Wesleyan University Press 2003 PURVI SHAH PlainSong (forCami) The girl can't chart a graph given a point and a slope or produce an essay expounding on Cannibal's symbolic name, but she can cup her hands and make sound fly through the cave of her wrists, lips...

...Lucille Clifton Copyright © 2003 by Wesleyan University Press 2003 LUCILLE CLIFTON blessingtheboats (at St. Mary's) may the tide that is entering even now the lip of our understanding carry you out beyond the face of fear may you kiss the wind then turn from it certain that it will love you...

... for love for love all night it is the one breast comforting the other Reprinted from BlessingtheBoats:NewandSelectePdoems1988-2000, with permission of author and Boa Editions, Ltd. ©2000 by Lucille Clifton. [Meridians:feminismr,ace,transnationalism2003, vol. 3, no. 2, p. 5] ©2003 by Wesleyan University...

...Odilia Rivera Copyright © 2001 by Wesleyan University Press 2001 FIRE FLIES OdiliaRivera Clouds shift over deaf ears boys rotten from the start. sirens in the distance plague us always we cannot listen Listless, dangerous, and strange teach the same lesson. Bridges meet and separate listen...

...Marilyn Chin Copyright © 2002 by Wesleyan University Press 2002 THE COCK'S MarilynChin WIFE In the end of the millennium, the cock is still beautiful. He crows in the morning in his magnificent red beard. But the cock's wife was shorn of her dazzling pink overcoat, To be bathed in sea salt...

...Reetika Vazirani Copyright © 2001 by Wesleyan University Press 2001 THE PREFERENCE ReetikaVazirani OF VISHNU now to change a cloak a ring who am I Arjuna's charioteer? discus lotus mace or conch? do I drive whose wheels? but don't call me lover of Mallika seen in Shiva's palm sometimes loving...

...Reetika Vazirani Copyright © 2001 by Wesleyan University Press 2001 HER FINAL WORD TO VISHNU ReetikaVazirani now that I've praised you temple's afternoons my hunger's a throat called the Fever sunk in your name Tirumal Dark One ifI sleep you will phone me I'll miss it that's the way it seems...

...Marilyn Chin Copyright © 2002 by Wesleyan University Press 2002 BAD DATE MarilynChin Bad Date I won't say where I went to dinner, Because my host is a Sada-Scorpio. He served me Perfume River Ratatouille From Mrs. Min's Village Wok video. He pretended to be well-meaning. His decor flaunted...

...Maureen Tolman Flannery Copyright © 2002 by Wesleyan University Press 2002 GARROTE MaureenTolmanFlannery Small, unobtrusive tool of fine wood, patina golden with the wear of wheat, its point, like the sloughed-off antler of a yearling buck, whittled to a smooth gentle tip that would slide...

...Mary Ann Larkin Copyright © 2002 by Wesleyan University Press 2002 AUGUST DAYS MaryAnn Larkin Now come the August days. Mrs. Sizemore sits on her porch, cuts fruit for the children. The white enamel pan between her feet catches the peels and pits. Eat yourpeach,Joseph,she says, takeyourplum...

...Juliet S. Kono Copyright © 2000 by Wesleyan University Press 2000 THEIR CAPS BLOWN OFF JulietS. Kono dandelion seeds drift in the wind. Caught in little cloud puffs on my window screen in Shimogyo-ku. At first, I thought they were insects and looked closely at them, for legs. The summer...

...Suniti Namjoshi Copyright © 2001 by Wesleyan University Press 2001 FOR ANNA MANI (1918-2001) BySunitiNamjoshi The brave women I knew have grown old. Each was like a tree, or like a lighthouse, or like a gull circling the lighthouse, or like a dolphin, circling the gull, who circles...

...Adrienne Su Copyright © 2001 by Wesleyan University Press 2001 EPIGRAM AdrienneSu No man is an island, I learned in first-year Latin. About women, they said nothing. until we got to feminism: "Work, not a husband or children, is a woman's reason for being," and I gave myself to poetry...

...Adrienne Su Copyright © 2001 by Wesleyan University Press 2001 GEOGRAPHY AdrienneSu Everytime I return to the neighborhood, I've come from a different place. I'm beginning to know my tendency: The level I seek is not in a high-rise, But I like to walk, so rural routes are out, And while...

...Odilia Rivera Copyright © 2001 by Wesleyan University Press 2001 EL AZUCAR OdiliaRivera DE LA CANA Lavidaestrabajo Lavidaeslucharhastael.fin Sus palabras de una nifiez muerta o que nunca naci6 Las palabras salen de mi cabeza casi como frases con algun arte Mientras espero, ellos preparan...