Burning Oneself Out

A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)

We can look into the stove tonight

as into a mirror, yes,

the serrated log, the yellow-blue gaseous core

the crimson-flittered grey ash, yes.

I know inside my eyelids

and underneath my skin

Time takes hold of us like a draft

upward, drawing at the heats

in the belly, in the brain

You told me of setting your hand

into the print of a long-dead Indian

and for a moment, I knew that hand,

that print, that rock,

the sun producing powerful dreams

A word can do this

or, as tonight, the mirror of the fire

of my mind, burning as if it could go on

burning itself, burning down

feeding on everything

till there is nothing in life

that has not fed that fire

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Poems in English 

• The Moon’s the North Wind’s Cooky by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Moon is a Painter by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Merciful Hand by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Master of the Dance by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Little Turtle by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Lion by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Light o’ the Moon by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Leaden-Eyed by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The King of Yellow Butterflies by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Jingo and the Minstrel by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Illinois Village by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Hope of the Resurrection by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Hearth Eternal by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Haughty Snail-King by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Ghosts of the Buffaloes by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Gamblers by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Flower of Mending by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Flower-Fed Buffaloes by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Fairy Bridal-Hymn by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay
• The Empty Boats by Vachel Lindsay by Nicholas Vachel Lindsay

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

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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.

 

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