A poem by Alan Dugan
For old Billy Dugan, shot in the ass in the Civil War, my father said.
The old wound in my ass
has opened up again, but I
am past the prodigies
of youth’s campaigns, and weep
where I used to laugh
in war’s red humors, half
in love with silly-assed pains
and half not feeling them.
I have to sit up with
an indoor unsittable itch
before I go down late
and weeping to the storm-
cellar on a dirty night
and go to bed with the worms.
So pull the dirt up over me
and make a family joke
for Old Billy Blue Balls,
the oldest private in the world
with two ass-holes and no
place more to go to for a laugh
except the last one. Say:
The North won the Civil War
without much help from me
although I wear a proof
of the war’s obscenity.

A few random poems:
- Владимир Вологдин – Не играйте, мальчики, в войну
- Songs From “Prince Lucifer” I – Grave-Digger’s Song poem – Alfred Austin
- Set out by Mahak Raithatha S
- Алексей Жемчужников – Так прочен в сердце и в мозгу
- hai_kou_unpublished.html
- October Journey by Margaret Walker
- St. Francis of Assisi by Vachel Lindsay
- After Yesterday poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- Английская поэзия. Редьярд Киплинг. «Расходы и поступления». (1919-1926). 9. Джейн выходит замуж. Rudyard Kipling. «Debits and Credits». (1919-1926). 9. Jane’s Marriage
- Robert Burns: My Nanie, O:
- Grace by Sappho
- Robert Burns: Lassie Wi’ The Lint-White Locks:
- Parted by Siegfried Sassoon
- Robert Burns: Wilt Thou Be My Dearie?:
- The Brave and the Love Flute by Tomás Ó Cárthaigh
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
- Lord Roberts by Rudyard Kipling
- Loot by Rudyard Kipling
- Lichtenberg by Rudyard Kipling
- L’Envoi by Rudyard Kipling
- La Nuit Blanche by Rudyard Kipling
- Kitchener’s School by Rudyard Kipling
- Kim by Rudyard Kipling
- Justice by Rudyard Kipling
- Jubal and Tubal Cain by Rudyard Kipling
- In the Neolithic Age by Rudyard Kipling
- In the Matter of One Compass by Rudyard Kipling
- In Springtime by Rudyard Kipling
- If by Rudyard Kipling
- I Keep Six Honest… by Rudyard Kipling
- Hymn Before Action by Rudyard Kipling
- Hunting-Song of the Seeonee Pack by Rudyard Kipling
- Helen all Alone by Rudyard Kipling
- Harp Song of the Dane Women by Rudyard Kipling
- Half-Ballad of Waterval by Rudyard Kipling
- Gunga Din by Rudyard Kipling
More external links (open in a new tab):
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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.