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:
- It is the Muses by Sappho
- Bathing In The River
- Asking For Roses by Robert Frost
- The Lilac by William Barnes
- Paying The Captain by Russell Edson
- I have been tricked by flying too close by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- The Looking-Glass. : on Mrs. Pulteney poem – Alexander Pope
- Яков Полонский – Белая ночь
- Thoughts. by Walt Whitman
- The Dying Christian to His Soul poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- The Blue Scarf poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- In the Neolithic Age by Rudyard Kipling
- STRANGE HAPPENINGS by Satish Verma
- Though All The World poem – Alfred Austin
- In Memoriam A. H. H.: 126. Love is and was my Lord and King poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson 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
- Moonlight On The Door by William Barnes
- Me’th Below The Tree by William Barnes
- Meary-Ann’s Child by William Barnes
- Meaken Up A Miff by William Barnes
- Meäry’s Smile by William Barnes
- Meäry Wedded by William Barnes
- Martin’s Tide by William Barnes
- Married Peäir’s Love Walk by William Barnes
- Looks A-Know’d Avore by William Barnes
- Linda Deäne by William Barnes
- Light Or Sheäde by William Barnes
- Leaves A-Vallèn by William Barnes
- Leady-Day, An’ Ridden House by William Barnes
- Keepen Up O’ Chris’mas by William Barnes
- John Bloom In Lon’on by William Barnes
- John Bleäke At Hwome At Night by William Barnes
- Jeane’s Wedden Day In Mornen by William Barnes
- In The Stilness O’ The Night by William Barnes
- I’m Out O’ Door by William Barnes
- Hope In Spring by William Barnes
More external links (open in a new tab):
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
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.