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:
- Death Of A Naturalist by Seamus Heaney
- To – – – – –
- March poem – A. E. Housman
- Николай Гумилев – Куранты любви
- Isaiah LXIII by Phillis Wheatley
- Listening poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Федор Сологуб – Певице
- The Pleasure of Princes
- Константин Бальмонт – Мы шли в золотистом тумане
- Ольга Высотская – Волны
- Nomenclature
- Ladies And Gentlemen In Outer Space by Ron Padgett
- Elegy VII. Anno Aetates Undevigesimo (Translated From Milton) by William Cowper
- Владимир Высоцкий – Свой остров
- Epistle from Mr. Somerville, An by William Somervile
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
- Hope A-Left Behind by William Barnes
- Heedless O’ My Love by William Barnes
- Haven Woones Fortune A-Twold by William Barnes
- The Happy Days When I Wer Young by William Barnes
- Hallowed Pleäces by William Barnes
- Gwain To Feäir by William Barnes
- Gwaïn To Brookwell by William Barnes
- Gwaïn Down The Steps Vor Water by William Barnes
- Guy Faux’s Night by William Barnes
- Grief An’ Gladness by William Barnes
- Grammer’s Shoes by William Barnes
- Grammer A-Crippled by William Barnes
- Good Meäster Collins by William Barnes
- Gammony Gaÿ by William Barnes
- A Father Out, An’ Mother Hwome by William Barnes
- Farmer’s Son by William Barnes
- Fanny’s Be’th-Day by William Barnes
- False Friends-Like by William Barnes
- Evenèn Twilight by William Barnes
- Evenèn Light 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.