Translation from Imaginary Yiddish
Night, say something
I’m awake as well
in my house in my usual bed
with my usual
bad right leg.
At four o’clock in the morning
my heart beats
in its usual fashion
if only it were a door knob
to open everything.
Salt on the sidewalk in winter
salt on the garden slugs in spring
salt tears fall into our soup
at last it tastes right
with the proper seasonings.
House of fog, house of smoke—
who isn’t looking for home
built of something more substantial
than straw, mud,
or brick?
Tell me to speak English.
What’s your mama loshen?
As to the niggun
fire, water, tree, and river
have no words.
Nostalgia for exile
nostalgia for wandering
nostalgia for gilgul, the wheel.
If we keep moving
how can G-d remain still?
What Inspires You
The poem, “Translation” was inspired by reading Jewish scholar & civil rights activist Abraham Heschel’s book on the Hebrew prophets. And also the romantic & spiritual poetry he wrote as a student in Berlin before WW2. I have also added a humorous reference to the 3 Little Pigs and to the phrase “Yo Mama,” which here is about mother tongue.
I’m inspired by all the natural sciences, astronomy, archeology, culture (my own & others), travel, land art, roadside attractions, music, the unconscious mind, ocean, deserts, mesas, forests, justice, and pretty much what happens every day.
Bio
Miriam Sagan is the author of over thirty books of poetry, fiction, and memoir. She is a two-time winner of the New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards as well as a recipient of the City of Santa Fe Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts and a New Mexico Literary Arts Gratitude Award. She has been a writer in residence in four national parks, Yaddo, MacDowell, Gullkistan in Iceland, Kura Studio in Japan, and a dozen more remote and interesting places. She works with text and sculptural installation as part of the mother/daughter creative team Maternal Mitochondria (with Isabel Winson-Sagan) in venues ranging from RV parks to galleries.
Find the Spring 2026 Issue HERE
Previous NPM 2026 poets
| April 1 | Amy Forstadt |
| April 2 | Annette Sisson |
| April 3 | Beth Kanell |
| April 4 | Bonnie Proudfoot |
| April 5 | Charles Stringer |
| April 6 | D. Dina Friedman |
| April 7 | David Colodney |
| April 8 | Deanna Ludwin |
| April 9 | Eileen Pettycrew |
| April 10 | Felice Alexandra |
| April 11 | Grace Massey |
| April 12 | Hallie Fogarty |
| April 13 | Isabel Cristina Legarda |
| April 14 | Jon Yungkans |
| April 15 | Kim Welliver |
| April 16 | Laura Foley |
| April 17 | Laurie Kuntz |
| April 18 | Marissa Glover |
| April 19 | Michelle McMillan-Holifield |
| April 20 | Miriam Sagan |