Conversation

We smile at each other

and I lean back against the wicker couch.

How does it feel to be dead? I say.

You touch my knees with your blue fingers.

And when you open your mouth,

a ball of yellow light falls to the floor

and burns a hole through it.

Don’t tell me, I say. I don’t want to hear.

Did you ever, you start,

wear a certain kind of dress

and just by accident,

so inconsequential you barely notice it,

your fingers graze that dress

and you hear the sound of a knife cutting paper,

you see it too

and you realize how that image

is simply the extension of another image,

that your own life

is a chain of words

that one day will snap.

Words, you say, young girls in a circle, holding hands,

and beginning to rise heavenward

in their confirmation dresses,

like white helium balloons,

the wreathes of flowers on their heads spinning,

and above all that,

that’s where I’m floating,

and that’s what it’s like

only ten times clearer,

ten times more horrible.

Could anyone alive survive it?

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 

• Waking In March by Philip Levine by Philip Levine
• Told by Philip Levine by Philip Levine
• They Feed They Lion by Philip Levine by Philip Levine
• Then by Philip Levine by Philip Levine
• The New World by Philip Levine by Philip Levine
• The Helmet by Philip Levine by Philip Levine
• The Distant Winter by Philip Levine by Philip Levine
• Gangrene by Philip Levine by Philip Levine
• Noon by Philip Levine by Philip Levine
• Making Light Of It by Philip Levine by Philip Levine
• Making It Work by Philip Levine by Philip Levine
• Magpiety by Philip Levine by Philip Levine
• Mad Day In March by Philip Levine by Philip Levine
• M. Degas Teaches Art & Science At Durfee Intermediate School–Detroit, 1942 by Philip Levine by Philip Levine
• Late Moon by Philip Levine by Philip Levine
• Late Light by Philip Levine by Philip Levine
• Last Words by Philip Levine by Philip Levine
• Philip Levine – Philip Levine by Philip Levine
• Philip Levine – Philip Levine by Philip Levine
• Philip Levine – Philip Levine by Philip Levine

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