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 Circular by Thomas Hardy
- A Pastoral Upon The Birth of Prince Charles: Presented to the King, and Set by Mr Nic. Laniere by Robert Herrick
- To a Gentleman and Lady on the Death of the Lady’s Brother and Sister by Phillis Wheatley
- Literary Cubism – A Non-Structured Structure For Twenty-first Century Storytelling
- T.A.H. poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- 1914 V: The Soldier by Rupert Brooke
- Time To Transplant by Nijole Miliauskaite
- Robert Burns: Death and Doctor Hornbook : A True Story
- Pelleas And Ettarre poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Федор Сологуб – Моя верховная воля
- Robert Burns: To Mr. M’Adam, Of Craigen-Gillan: In answer to an obliging Letter he sent in the commencement of my poetic career.
- Sun and Fun poem – John Betjeman poems
- Fanny’s Be’th-Day by William Barnes
- Кондратий Рылеев – К N. N. (Когда душа изнемогала)
- Владимир Луговской – Пила
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
- Ольга Ермолаева – Если о плачущих
- Ольга Ермолаева – Будет весь день долбить
- Ольга Ермолаева – Барственный Шехтель все ирисы лепит на фриз
- Ольга Берггольц – Вечерняя станция
- Ольга Берггольц – Ты в пустыню меня послала
- Ольга Берггольц – Ты будешь ждать
- Ольга Берггольц – Трагедия всех трагедий
- Ольга Берггольц – Стихи о себе
- Ольга Берггольц – Слепой
- Ольга Берггольц – Сейчас тебе всё кажется тобой
- Ольга Берггольц – Романс стойкого оловянного солдатика
- Ольга Берггольц – Разведчик
- Ольга Берггольц – Пусть голосуют дети
- Ольга Берггольц – Приятелям
- Ольга Берггольц – Феодосия
- Ольга Берггольц – Здравствуй
- Ольга Берггольц – Знаю, чем меня пленила
- Ольга Берггольц – Заметь, заметь, Как легчает сердце
- Ольга Берггольц – Я все оставляю тебе при уходе
- Ольга Берггольц – Я так хочу, так верю, так люблю
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
