Winning Selections from the 2019 Poems in Translation Contest

September 2019

We’re proud to present the winners of our poetry contest, held in conjunction with the Academy of American Poets. Tune in every Saturday this month as we publish new work by the winning poets, copublished in Poets.org’s Poem-a-Day series.

The Winners of the Words Without Borders—Academy of American Poets Poem-in-Translation Contest

By the Editors of Words Without Borders

We received 717 poems from 282 poets from 87 countries translated from 55 languages.

Cloth Birds

By Dorothy Tse

There’s no cloth hawker in the bazaar / willing to make dirty deals

Translated from Chinese by Natascha Bruce

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An Apocryphal History of the Discovery of Migration, or The Sacrifice of the Pfeilstörchen

By Alba Cid

it’s awful of me to interrupt, but I just / need you to understand how certain kinds of wounds can be useful.

Translated from Galician by Jacob Rogers

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Roommate, Woman

By Lee Young-ju

On waking, I see my body has been rearranged.

Translated from Korean by Jae Kim

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Tomboy

By Claudia Masin

I don’t understand how we walk around the world / as if there were a single way for each of us

Translated from Spanish by Robin Myers

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Winning Selections from the 2019 Poems in Translation Contest

September 2019

The Winners of the Words Without Borders—Academy of American Poets Poem-in-Translation Contest

Cloth Birds

An Apocryphal History of the Discovery of Migration, or The Sacrifice of the Pfeilstörchen

Roommate, Woman

Tomboy