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:
- Dedication To Lady Windsor poem – Alfred Austin
- Metaphors by Sylvia Plath
- Address to the Deil by Robert Burns
- Владимир Солоухин – Вдоль берегов Болгарии прошли мы
- I am your friend by Vinaya Kumar Hanumanthappa
- Владимир Маяковский – Дурацкий сон (РОСТА №234)
- A Ballad of Our Lady (Ave Maria, gracia plena)
- A Song On A Sigh by William Strode
- Teachers Day special
- Омар Хайям – Что меня ожидает, неведомо мне
- Владимир Маяковский – Чаеуправление (реклама)
- Trial by Ruth Padel
- Владимир Корнилов – Гумилев
- After Long Silence by William Butler Yeats
- Владимир Маяковский – Врангель (РОСТА №477)
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 Rowing Song by Roald Dahl
- The Crocodile by Roald Dahl
- St Ives by Roald Dahl
- Violet Beauregarde… by Roald Dahl
- “Veruca Salt…” by Roald Dahl
- My teacher wasn’t half as nice as yours seems to be by Roald Dahl
- “Mike Teavee…” by Roald Dahl
- Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf by Roald Dahl
- I’ve Got a Golden Ticket by Roald Dahl
- I had a little nut-tree, by Roald Dahl
- Hot and Cold by Roald Dahl
- “Goldie Pinklesweet…” by Roald Dahl
- Excerpt – “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” by Roald Dahl
- Augustus Gloop… by Roald Dahl
- Of Myself – the Essay and Poems on Myself by Abraham Cowley
- Poets
- On the Danger of Procrastination by Abraham Cowley
- ON THE SHORTNESS OF LIFE AND UNCERTAINTY OF RICHES by Abraham Cowley
- CLAUDIAN’S OLD MAN OF VERONA by Abraham Cowley
- THE DANGERS OF AN HONEST MAN IN MUCH COMPANY by Abraham Cowley
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
