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

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random poems:

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 

• Зинаида Александрова – В гости к бабушке by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Утки, беленькие грудки by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – У моря by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Топотушки by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Таня и волчок by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Смешные человечки by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Шарик by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Сама by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Ромашки by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Раз – два – три – четыре – пять by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Прятки by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Подснежник by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Песня моряков by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Одуванчик by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Новый снег by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Новые ясли by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Невидимка by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Мы оделись раньше всех by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Молодой месяц by Зинаида Александрова
• Зинаида Александрова – Мне рукою машет маленький сынок by Зинаида Александрова

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

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

Poems by Author and Category

The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works