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:
- “Look up, desponding hearts! See, Morning sallies” poem – Alfred Austin
- Ольга Берггольц – Песня о жене патриота
- C’est la nuit aveugle by Martine Morillon-Carreau
- Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray
- Job Interview by William Matthews
- Epigram at RoslinInn by Robert Burns
- Song—Behold the Hour, the Boat, arrive by Robert Burns
- 1914 III: The Dead by Rupert Brooke
- Song at the Feast of Brougham Castle by William Wordsworth
- Teach Us To Number Our Days by Rita Dove
- What Are Solar Roofing Shingles?
- NIGHT RAID by Satish Verma
- A Child’s Evening Prayer by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- American Soil by Walter William Safar
- Hummingbird by Nicole M Nugent
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
- Book Leaf by Shaunna Harper
- Blue Period by Shaunna Harper
- Amoraphobia by Shaunna Harper
- A Eulogy by Shaunna Harper
- Welcome To My World © by Shannen Wrass
- Time Out To Cry by Shannen Wrass
- The Wrath of Love by Shawn Ervin
- The Voice of Woman by Shahida Latif
- The Victory by Shahida Latif
- The Spring passing away by Shailendra Chauhan
- The Ineffectual Dives by Shahida Latif
- The Earth Trembles by Shahida Latif
- The Demon by Shawn Ervin
- The Callous Statues by Shahida Latif
- Sheppard’s Quest by Shawn Ervin
- Selfish World, Selfish People by Shahbaz Khan
- Repentance by Shailendra Chauhan
- “Wishing to float” by Seema Gupta
- Serendipity by Seema Gupta
- Tiny Warrior by Sharmagne Leland-St. John
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