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:
- Олег Бундур – Ранним утром
- Федор Тютчев – Как бестолковы числа эти
- The Cleaving by Samuel Hazo
- Sir Giles’ War-Song by William Morris
- Иннокентий Анненский – Еврипид. Троянки (перевод)
- A Sense of Humor by Vachel Lindsay
- Наум Коржавин – Памяти Герцена или Баллада об историческом недосыпе
- The Temple poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Владимир Высоцкий – Маски
- All-Accomplished Rover by William Somervile
- I Know From my Bed by Michael Lee Johnson
- General William Booth Enters into Heaven by Vachel Lindsay
- April 18 by Sylvia Plath
- An Address to the New Tay Bridge by William Topaz McGonagall
- Methought I Saw The Footsteps Of A Throne by William Wordsworth
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
- Николай Языков – Песня (Когда умру, смиренно совершите)
- Николай Языков – Песня (Дороже почестей и злата)
- Николай Языков – Песня (Всему человечеству)
- Николай Языков – Песни (Счастлив, кому судьбою дан)
- Николай Языков – Песни (Мы любим шумные пиры)
- Николай Языков – Песни (Душа героев и певцов)
- Николай Языков – Песнь баяна (Люблю смотреть на месяц ясной)
- Николай Языков – Переезд через приморские Альпы
- Николай Языков – П. В. Киреевскому (Ты крепкий, праведный стоятель)
- Николай Языков – П. Н. Шепелеву (Ты мой приятель задушевной)
- Николай Языков – Элегия (Поденщик, тяжело навьюченный дровами)
- Николай Языков – Элегия (Ночь безлунная звездами)
- Николай Языков – Элегия (Мне ль позабыть огонь и живость)
- Николай Языков – Элегия (Любовь, любовь! веселым днем)
- Николай Языков – Элегия (Есть много всяких мук – и много я их знаю)
- Николай Языков – Элегия (День ненастный, темный; тучи)
- Николай Языков – Элегии (Свободен я: уже не трачу)
- Николай Языков – Элегии (Скажи: когда)
- Николай Языков – Елагиной
- Николай Языков – Е. Н. Мандрыкиной (В младой груди моей о вас воспоминанья)
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
