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:
- An Old French Poet by Siegfried Sassoon
- Daffodil Dreams by Vaishnavi Prakash
- The Self and the Mulberry by Marvin Bell
- Mother’s Love by Nin Andrews
- You Must n’t Swim… by Rudyard Kipling
- The Book Of The World by William Drummond
- The Lilac by William Barnes
- Юлия Друнина – Запас прочности
- Dion [See Plutarch] by William Wordsworth
- The Living Lost by William Cullen Bryant
- On the Idle Hill of Summer poem – A. E. Housman
- In Search Of Cinderella by Shel Silverstein
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 07 by Torquato Tasso
- Love by Shahida Latif
- The Gardener XLIV: Reverend Sir, Forgive by Rabindranath Tagore
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
- Address to the Toothache by Robert Burns
- Address to the shade of Thomson by Robert Burns
- Address to the Deil by Robert Burns
- Address to Edinburgh by Robert Burns
- Address to a Haggis by Robert Burns
- Address spoken by Miss Fontenelle by Robert Burns
- Adam Armour’s Prayer by Robert Burns
- A Winter Night by Robert Burns
- A Vision by Robert Burns
- A Tippling Ballad—When Princes and Prelates, etc. by Robert Burns
- A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns
- A Prayer under the Pressure of Violent Anguish by Robert Burns
- A Prayer in the Prospect of Death by Robert Burns
- A Poet’s Welcome to his Love-Begotten Daughter by Robert Burns
- A New Psalm for the Chapel of Kilmarnock by Robert Burns
- A Mother’s Lament for her Son’s Death by Robert Burns
- A Grace before Dinner by Robert Burns
- A Grace after Dinner by Robert Burns
- News, lassies, news (Song) by Robert Burns
- Mally’s meek, Mally’s sweet (Song) by Robert Burns
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.