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:
- A Greek Girl poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Иван Киуру – Звездный полет
- Magnolia Shoals by Sylvia Plath
- Aquatic Nocturne by Sylvia Plath
- Владимир Маяковский – Дела вузные, хорошие и конфузные
- Sonnet 6: Then let not winter’s ragged hand deface by William Shakespeare
- Омар Хайям – Будут гурии, мед и вино
- Mohay Apnay Hi Rung Mein poem – Amir Khusro poems | Poems and Poetry
- Анатолий Жигулин – Калина
- About Face poem – Alice Fulton
- Last Words by Sylvia Plath
- Insolent Storm Strikes At The Skull by Sylvia Plath
- To the Victor by William Ellery Leonard
- Степан Щипачев – Жил мальчик в деревне
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 06 – part 06 by Torquato Tasso
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
- Cold Eyes by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Bridesmaid From Rio by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Bottles Of Sunshine by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Bliss Of Eternity by Vaishnavi Prakash
- A Stepmother’s Vain Love by Vaishnavi Prakash
- A Slice Of School by Vaishnavi Prakash
- A Palanquin Of Love by Vaishnavi Prakash
- a deceving reflection by vanessa anderson
- The Tenants Of The Little Box by Vasko Popa
- The Judges Of The Little Box by Vasko Popa
- The Admirers Of The Little Box by Vasko Popa
- Far Within Us #6 by Vasko Popa
- Give Me Back My Rags #4 by Vasko Popa
- Far Within Us #7 by Vasko Popa
- Far Within Us #3 by Vasko Popa
- Far Within Us #2 by Vasko Popa
- Give Me Back My Rags #1 by Vasko Popa
- Between Games by Vasko Popa
- Anne Pennington by Vasko Popa
- Give Me Back My Rags #11 by Vasko Popa
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