May I never be afraid
especially of myself
but
Muhammed Ali are you telling
the truth?
Well you’re being true aren’t you and
you talk so wonderfully in your body
that protects you with physique of voice
raps within dance
May I never be afraid
rocked and quaked
the mantilla is lace
whose black is oak
But if I’m dark I’m strong
as my own darkness
my strength the universe
whose blackness is air
only starry
lace
But if I’m alive I’m strong
as life
Strong as the violets
in Marlon Brando’s fist
his dissemblance flourished into truth
She
took them
I’d take me too
I do
and my Ali I see you
a hard bright speck of me
the savage formalist
authentic deed of gossip
a kind body.
Copyright ©:
Alice Notley

A few random poems:
- If The World Was Crazy by Shel Silverstein
- Gentlmen-Rankers by Rudyard Kipling
- The Dance At Darmstadt poem – Alfred Austin
- A Meeting With Despair by Thomas Hardy
- Inscription to Miss Graham of Fintry by Robert Burns
- Blackberrying by Sylvia Plath
- Frogs Eat Butterflies, Snakes Eat Frogs, Hogs Eat Snakes, Men Eat Hogs by Wallace Stevens
- Miracle Ice Cream
- From Another Sky by Pierre Reverdy
- Hex by Rachel McKibbens
- Владимир Маяковский – Стихотворение это
- Valley-dawn by Sunil Sharma
- Thanatopsis by William Cullen Bryant
- Владимир Британишский – Крик ворон
- Two Kinds of Intelligence by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- The Tame Bird Was In A Cage by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Sun Of The First Day by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Portrait — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Music Of The Rains – English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Merchant by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Lost Star — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Last Bargain by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Kiss by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Kiss — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Home by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Hero — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Golden Boat by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XXVII: Trust Love by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XXVI: What Comes From Your Willing Hands by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XXIX: Speak To Me My Love by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener XI: Come As You Are by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener LXXIX: I Often Wonder by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener LVII: I Plucked Your Flower by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Gardener LV: It Was Mid-Day by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Call Of The Far — English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works