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

A few random poems:

External links

Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus

Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh

Consider This And In Our Time by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
The Common Life by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
Cocaine Lil and Morphine Sue by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
Christmas Oratio by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
Carry Her Over the Water by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
Canzone by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
Calypso by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
Base Words Are Uttered by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
Autumn Song by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
August 1968 by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
Atlantis by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
As I Walked Out One Evening by W. H. Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
As We Like It by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
As the poets have mournfully sung by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
Are You There? by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
After Reading a Child’s Guide to Modern Physics by W. H. Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
Academic Graffiti by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
A Walk After Dark by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
A New Year Greeting by W H Auden by Wystan Hugh Auden (W.H. Auden)
Continual Conversation With A Silent Man by Wallace Stevens by Wallace Stevens

More external links (open in a new tab):

Doska or the Board – write anything

Search engines:

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.

Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012) was an American poet, essayist, and feminist.