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:
- The Poor Lover to His Rich Mistress about to Marry His Coxcombly Rival by William Wycherley
- The Zilver-Weed by William Barnes
- Astrophel and Stella: XV by Sir Philip Sidney
- Иннокентий Анненский – Еврипид. Киклоп драма сатиров (перевод)
- A Fleeting Passion by William Henry Davies
- Remorseful Apology by Robert Burns
- Inscription on a Grotto, the Work of Nine Ladies. poem – Alexander Pope
- English Poetry. Richard Hovey. The Old Pine. Ричард Хави.
- Владимир Набоков – Спроси у хрустальной луны
- Гавриил Державин – На рождение царицы Гремиславы
- Николай Огарев – Отцу
- Flickering Dream by Satish Verma
- Even As A Dragon’s Eye That Feels The Stress by William Wordsworth
- Николай Карамзин – Эпиграмма (Я знаю, для чего Крадон)
- Ode to Superstition
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
- Letters to the Otherworld
- English Poetry. Katharine Tynan. A Woman Commends Her Little Son. Кэтрин Тайнен.
- English Poetry. Francis Turner Palgrave. A Churchyard in Oxfordshire. Фрэнсис Тернер Палгрев.
- English Poetry. Adam Lindsay Gordon. The Rhyme of Joyous Garde. Адам Линдсей Гордон.
- English Poetry. Mary Wortley Montagu. Epigram, 1734. Мэри Уортли Монтегю.
- English Poetry. Christina Georgina Rossetti. A Christmas Carol. Кристина Джорджина Россетти.
- English Poetry. Adam Lindsay Gordon. Bellona. Адам Линдсей Гордон.
- The Azure Sea of an alien tongue
- Happy Victory Day – May 9, 2022
- English Poetry. Rupert Chawner Brooke. The Vision of the Archangels. Руперт Брук.
- English Poetry. Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Wait. Элла Уилкокс.
- English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 29. Филип Джеймс Бэйли.
- English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 34. Филип Джеймс Бэйли.
- English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 23.1. Филип Джеймс Бэйли.
- English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 26. Филип Джеймс Бэйли.
- English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 21.1. Филип Джеймс Бэйли.
- English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 20. Филип Джеймс Бэйли.
- English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 42. Филип Джеймс Бэйли.
- English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 9. Филип Джеймс Бэйли.
- English Poetry. Philip James Bailey. Festus – 45. Филип Джеймс Бэйли.
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
