A poem by Alan Dugan
She said: “I’m god and all
of this and that world and love
garbage and slaughter all the time
and spring once a year. Once a year
I like to love. You can adjust
to the discipline or not,
and your sacrificial act
called ‘Fruitfulness in Decay’
would be pleasing to me
as long as you did it with joy.
Otherwise, the prayer ‘Decay,
Ripe in the Fruitfulness’
will do if you have to despair.”
Prayer
You know that girl of yours
I liked? The one with strong legs,
grey eyes, weak in the chest
but always bouncing around?
The one they call “The Laugh,”
“The Walk,” “That Cunt,” “The Brain,”
“Talker, Talker, Talker,” and
“The Iron Woman”? Well,
she’s gone, gone gone, gone
gone gone to someone else,
and now they say that she,
“My Good,” “My True,” “My Beautiful,”
is sick to her god-damned
stomach and rejects all
medication. What do you do
to your physical praisers that
they fall apart so fast
or leave me? She needs help now,
yours or that prick’s,
I don’t know which.
“I have worked out
my best in belief
of the rule, ‘The best
for the best results
in love of the best,’
or, ‘To hell with it:
I am just god:
it’s not my problem.”‘
I will sit out this passion
unreconciled, thanks: there are
too many voices. My visions
are not causal but final:
there’s no place to go to
but on. I’ll dance at the ends
of the white strings of nerves
and love for a while, your slave.
Oh stupid condition, I drink
to your Presences in hope of sleep
asleep, and continuity awake.

A few random poems:
- Paradise Lost: Book 03 poem – John Milton poems
- On the Grasshopper (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- Move Eastward, Happy Earth poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- The Neäme Letters by William Barnes
- Love Sonnet XLIV poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
- I explain the silvered passing of a ship at night, by Stephen Crane
- Владимир Британишский – Но особенно снился мне вздыбленный мост
- In Measures by Shaunna Harper
- The Cactus Thicket
- Old well by Yosa Buson
- Goblins Of The Steppes poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Farewell to Hsin Chien at Hibiscus Pavilion by Wang Wei
- Smoke Off by Shel Silverstein
- Full Moon and Little Frieda by Ted Hughes
- Reply to the Threat of a Censorious Critic by Robert Burns
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
- In A Restaurant by Sara Teasdale
- In A Railroad Station by Sara Teasdale
- In A Garden by Sara Teasdale
- In A Cuban Garden by Sara Teasdale
- “If I Must Go” by Sara Teasdale
- I Would Live In Your Love by Sara Teasdale
- “I Know The Stars” by Sara Teasdale
- Helen Of Troy by Sara Teasdale
- Grandfather’s Love by Sara Teasdale
- In A Garden by Sara Teasdale
- Galahad In The Castle Of The Maidens by Sara Teasdale
- From The Woolworth Tower by Sara Teasdale
- From The North by Sara Teasdale
- For The Anniversary Of John Keats’ Death by Sara Teasdale
- Eight O’Clock by Sara Teasdale
- Effigy Of A Nun by Sara Teasdale
- Dusk In War Time by Sara Teasdale
- Dusk In June by Sara Teasdale
- Dusk In Autumn by Sara Teasdale
- Deep In The Night by Sara Teasdale
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
Alan Dugan (1923 – 2003) an American poet, a contemporary classic of American poetry.