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:
- Владимир Бенедиктов – На пятидесятилетний юбилей Крылова
- Нина Воронель – Природа сама сочиняет стихи
- Николай Языков – Песни (Счастлив, кому судьбою дан)
- The Silver Moon by Sappho
- The humble earthen lamp by Sunil Sharma
- English Poetry. Thomas Moore. From “Irish Melodies”. 85. Oh For the Swords of Former Time. Томас Мур.
- Song On May Morning poem – John Milton poems
- Шекспир – Но не боюсь и смерть – Сонет 80
- Николай Тихонов – И сказал женщине суд
- The Conclusion by Sir Walter Raleigh
- Sonet 42 by William Alexander
- Grace by Sappho
- Postscript by Seamus Heaney
- Владимир Высоцкий – В тюрьме Таганской нас стало мало
- The Thief
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
- Haiku by Robby Charters
- Forgotten Promises by Rixa White
- For what’s worth breathing by Rixa White
- Everlasting Wander by Rixa White
- They are Cruel by Rixa White
- The Polar Koala Bear by Robby Charters
- The Lame Guy by Rob Leatherman Sr.
- The Invisible by Rixa White
- The Epic of Jack and Jill by Robby Charters
- The Commitment by Rob Leatherman Sr.
- The Beginning of the End by Rixa White
- The Ancient Deception by Rixa White
- Start Growing by Rixa White
- Splenda by Rob Leatherman Sr.
- Show me by Rixa White
- Rhyme by the Bog by Robby Charters
- Power of Peace by Rixa White
- Poetic Justice by Robby Charters
- Old Times by Rixa white
- Nothing is Real by Rixa White
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
