Issue: Vol. V, No. 3, November-January, 2026-27
A little emotion
I am looking for a little emotion,
as slight as the trembling of a leaf,
as slender as the swaying of grasses,
as gentle as the lapping of a wave at sea.
I’m not searching for a powerful
emotion that will shake me like
an earthquake, that will blind me
like a big illuminated mirror and
leave me sleepless in the night.
I am looking for a little emotion,
so that my heart can hold it up.
We won’t laugh anymore
We won’t laugh anymore as we used to:
happy, casual, carefree, with a dreamy
look and crystal-clear sounds, with that
feeling of being protected from all evil.
We won’t laugh anymore as we used to:
with the thought that joy and happiness
have no end and neither does life, that
love may be found everywhere—in a
bud that opens, in the beating of a
bird’s wings, on a sunny, rainy or cloudy
day, in a shell that waits for a kiss from
the waves.
We won’t laugh anymore as we did then—
at the time, we were only innocent children.
Irma Kurti is an Albanian poet, writer, lyricist, journalist, and translator, and has been writing since she was a child. She is a naturalized Italian and lives in Bergamo, Italy. She was awarded the Universum Donna International Prize IX Edition 2013 for Literature and received a lifetime nomination as an Ambassador of Peace by the University of Peace in Switzerland. In 2020, she became the honorary president of WikiPoesia, the Encyclopedia of Poetry. In 2021, she was awarded the title of Liria (Freedom) by the Italian-Albanian community in Italy. In 2023, she was awarded a Career Award from the Universum Academy Switzerland. In 2026, she was awarded the “Golden Pen Award” by the Korean Association of World Literature (KAOWL) in collaboration with the Korean newspaper “Culture & People”. Irma Kurti is a member of the jury for several literary competitions in Italy. She is also a translator for the Ithaca Foundation in Spain. Irma Kurti has published 124 works, including books of poetry, fiction, and translations. Her books have been translated and published in 25 countries.