A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)
The clouds and the stars didn’t wage this war
the brooks gave no information
if the mountain spewed stones of fire into the river
it was not taking sides
the raindrop faintly swaying under the leaf
had no political opinions
and if here or there a house
filled with backed-up raw sewage
or poisoned those who lived there
with slow fumes, over years
the houses were not at war
nor did the tinned-up buildings
intend to refuse shelter
to homeless old women and roaming children
they had no policy to keep them roaming
or dying, no, the cities were not the problem
the bridges were non-partisan
the freeways burned, but not with hatred
Even the miles of barbed-wire
stretched around crouching temporary huts
designed to keep the unwanted
at a safe distance, out of sight
even the boards that had to absorb
year upon year, so many human sounds
so many depths of vomit, tears
slow-soaking blood
had not offered themselves for this
The trees didn’t volunteer to be cut into boards
nor the thorns for tearing flesh
Look around at all of it
and ask whose signature
is stamped on the orders, traced
in the corner of the building plans
Ask where the illiterate, big-bellied
women were, the drunks and crazies,
the ones you fear most of all: ask where you were.
A few random poems:
- Sestina: Altaforte poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Ballade Of The Summer Term poem – Andrew Lang poems
- From Paumanok Starting. by Walt Whitman
- Низами Гянджеви – Не горюй, ибо друг есть
- Humankind – How Limitless In Genius by Michael Levy
- Hymn To Death poem – Alfred Austin
- Владимир Степанов – Облако-овечка
- The Hwomestead A-Vell Into Hand by William Barnes
- Epilogue poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Robert Burns: Such A Parcel Of Rogues In A Nation:
- Chorus of Youths and Virgins poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Philosophy poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- English Poetry. William Barnes. Third Collection. The Broken Heart. Уильям Барнс.
- Death & Co. by Sylvia Plath
- Sweet Love Is Dead poem – Alfred Austin
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
- Holidays by Nicolene Kissinger
- Holding my heart for YOU by Neelam Sinha
- Hemingwayan waves of time by Ndue Ukaj
- Godo Is Not Coming by Ndue Ukaj
- First kiss for Arys and Nikys by Nicole Vasilcovschi
- Fairytale by Nicole M Nugent
- Eucalyptus Grove, morning by Neal Dachstadter
- Epigoni by Neil Outar
- Enigma of A Phoenix by Neelam Dadhwal
- Dance with ME by Neelam Sinha
- Confession by Neelam Sinha
- Clashes by Ndue Ukaj
- Best Friend by Nicole M Nugent
- Ballad de soul by Neelam Sinha
- Appeal by Ndue Ukaj
- Apollo the great by Neelam Shah
- Afraid of rabbit HOLE by Neelam Sinha
- A soul’s DESIRE by Neelam Sinha
- A seed’s destiny by Neelam Sinha
- Your Eyes by Omair Bhat
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
Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012) was an American poet, essayist, and feminist.