With Valentine’s Day upon us, many go in search of persuasive romantic gestures. Some will bring flowers, others chocolates. But if you prefer to seduce with language, we offer the following international aphrodisiacs.
“I sensed my skin crack from love’s dilating joy.”
—Forugh Farrokhzad luxuriates in sensual memory in her ravishing “Connection,” translated by Sholeh Wolpé.
“To kiss you at the foot of every streetlamp.”
—A besotted Raquel Garzón plots to take PDA global in “Naïve,” translated by Louise Popkin.
“We began with the foxtrot—but can you feel the pulsing of tango?”
—Marjana Savka has a new twist on an old metaphor in “A Short History of Dance,” translated by Askold Melnyczuk.
—Uwe Kolbe evokes lush matinal languor in “To Awaken with Her,” translated by Anne Posten.
“Draw a border around me. / Make me your country.”
—Abdulla Pashew turns geography erotic in “Union,” translated by Hemm Bakr and Alana Marie Levinson-LaBrosse.
