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:
- Нина Воронель – В чаще
- Владимир Вишневский – Тем, что в женщине разбудишь
- Олег Бундур – Играю в школьном спектакле
- Beans Taste Fine by Shel Silverstein
- Владимир Маяковский – Если белогвардейщину не добьем совсем… (РОСТА №148)
- An Epistle Containing the Strange Medical Experience of Kar by Robert Browning
- Frogs Eat Butterflies, Snakes Eat Frogs, Hogs Eat Snakes, Men Eat Hogs by Wallace Stevens
- Exposed On The Cliffs Of The Heart by Rainer Maria Rilke
- Doom Of Exiles by Sylvia Plath
- English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 29. Филип Джеймс Бэйли.
- The Café Filtre by Paul Blackburn
- When Smoke Stood Up From Ludlow poem – A. E. Housman
- Ontological by Maggie Anderson
- Philip Levine – Philip Levine
- In A Garden by Sara Teasdale
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
- Олег Григорьев – Угро
- Олег Григорьев – Участковый стал в двери стучать
- Олег Григорьев – Ты боишься высоты
- Олег Григорьев – Тонет муха в сладости
- Олег Григорьев – Схватили за ногу правую
- Олег Григорьев – Стаканы
- Олег Григорьев – Совершенно откровенно
- Олег Григорьев – Слезы
- Олег Григорьев – Сказал я девушке кротко
- Олег Григорьев – Шмель
- Олег Григорьев – Секрет
- Олег Григорьев – С длинным батоном под мышкой
- Олег Григорьев – Разбил в туалете сосуд
- Олег Григорьев – Прометей
- Олег Григорьев – Приехала жена из Сочи
- Олег Григорьев – Полосатая оса
- Олег Григорьев – Пляж давно опустел
- Олег Григорьев – Пьет оса кисель из чашки
- Олег Григорьев – Папа вазу опрокинул
- Олег Григорьев – Однажды Сережа и Оля
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
