Because life’s too short to blush,
I keep my blood tucked in.
I won’t be mortified
by what I drive or the flaccid
vivacity of my last dinner party.
I take my cue from statues posing only
in their shoulder pads of snow: all January
you can see them working on their granite tans.
That I woke at an ungainly hour,
stripped of the merchandise that clothed me,
distilled to pure suchness,
means not enough to anyone for me
to confess. I do not suffer
from the excess of taste
that spells embarrassment:
mothers who find their kids unseemly
in their condom earrings,
girls cringing to think
they could be frumpish as their mothers.
Though the late nonerotic Elvis
in his studded gut of jumpsuit
made everybody squeamish, I admit.
Rule one: the King must not elicit pity.
Was the audience afraid of being tainted
–this might rub off on me–
or were they–surrendering–
what a femme word–feeling
solicitous–glimpsing their fragility
in his reversible purples
and unwholesome goldish chains?
At least embarrassment is not an imitation.
It’s intimacy for beginners,
the orgasm no one cares to fake.
I almost admire it. I almost wrote despise.
Copyright ©:
Alice Fulton
A few random poems:
- Nikolai Gumilev –
- Olney Hymn 60: Abuse Of The Gospel by William Cowper
- Written in London. September, 1802 by William Wordsworth
- At Night by Sara Teasdale
- Malay Song
- Victims poem – Yaseen Anwer poems | Poetry Monster
- Владимир Высоцкий – В младенчестве нас матери пугали
- Олег Бундур – Окошки
- Анатолий Жигулин – Не надо бояться памяти
- Shattered Dreams. Broken Promises. by Russell James
- A Wintry Picture poem – Alfred Austin
- Farewell To Spring poem – Alfred Austin
- Николай Языков – Поэт (Радушно рабствует поэту)
- Maudlin by Sylvia Plath
- Berck-Plage by Sylvia Plath
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
- Robert Burns: Will Ye Go To The Indies, My Mary?:
- Robert Burns: Versified Reply To An Invitation:
- Robert Burns: To Gavin Hamilton, Esq., Mauchline,: Recommending a Boy.
- Robert Burns: Despondency: An Ode:
- Robert Burns: Home.:
- Robert Burns: The Lament: Occasioned by the unfortunate issue of a Friend’s Amour.
- Robert Burns: To Ruin:
- Robert Burns: To A Mountain Daisy: On turning down with the Plough, in April, 1786.
- Robert Burns: Ploughman’s Life, The:
- Robert Burns: Montgomerie’s Peggy:
- Robert Burns: Epistle To The Rev. John M’math: Inclosing A Copy Of “Holy Willie’s Prayer,” Which He Had Requested
- Robert Burns: Ah, Woe Is Me, My Mother Dear: Paraphrase of Jeremiah, 15th Chap., 10th verse
- Robert Burns: Third Epistle To J. Lapraik:
- Robert Burns: The Holy Fair:
- Robert Burns: Epistle To John Goldie, In Kilmarnock: Author Of The Gospel Recovered.
- Robert Burns: Elegy On The Death Of Robert Ruisseaux:
- Robert Burns: Rantin’, Rovin’ Robin:
- Robert Burns: Tho’ Cruel Fate Should Bid Us Part:
- Robert Burns: One Night As I Did Wander:
- Robert Burns: Second Epistle To J. Lapraik:
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
