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:
- Couplet poem – Amir Khusro poems | Poems and Poetry
- In the Mile End Road poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Lover poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- The Virgin Maid of Orleans, Translation of Paul Verlaine’s sonnet: La Pucelle by T. Wignesan.
- Children’s Children by William Barnes
- Annie Marshall the Foundling by William Topaz McGonagall
- An Oath poem – Aleister Crowley poems | Poetry Monster
- All About You by Shel Silverstein
- Remembrance by Maya Angelou
- Second Poem by Peter Orlovsky
- from Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare
- I am the earthworm, Lord of the Underworld by Raj Arumugam
- The Evening Soup, Translation of Paul Verlaine’s poem: La Soupe du soir by T. Wignesan
- A Prophecy. February 1807 by William Wordsworth
- Sonnet 82: I grant thou wert not married to my Muse by William Shakespeare
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
- Shall I like An Eternal World by Nithin Purple
- Sea World by Nin Andrews
- For Roman Polanski by Nijole Miliauskaite
- Red Roses by Nithin Purple
- Rainy Day by Nikhil Jain
- “Flight to the Moon” by Nina Gabriel
- First Look at Mom by Nikhil Jain
- The Poet’s Grave by Nijole Miliauskaite
- Nijole Miliauskaite – Nijole Miliauskaite
- Nijole Miliauskaite – Nijole Miliauskaite
- When Lovely Woman Stoops To Folly by Oliver Goldsmith
- The Deserted Village by Oliver Goldsmith
- Picture by Nijole Miliauskaite
- Palms and Hearts by Olawuyi Mutiu
- Orchard by Nijole Miliauskaite
- Only in my dreams by Nina Gabriel
- On Fair Compassion by Nithin Purple
- On An Insight On Grecian Spring by Nithin Purple
- On An Arctic Winter by Nithin Purple
- On A World Of Imaginary & Freedom Dwell by Nithin Purple
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.