For The Record

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.

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random 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 

• The Reformers by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• The Recall by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• The Rabbi’s Song by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• The Quesion by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• The Queen’s Men by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• The Puzzler by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• The Prodigal Son by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• The Pro-Consuls by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• The Prayer of Miriam Cohen by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• The Law of the Jungle by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• The Last Rhyme of True Thomas by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• The Last of the Light Brigade by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• The Last Department by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• The Land by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• The Lament of the Border Cattle Thief by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• The Ladies by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• The Kingdom by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• The Jester by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• The Jacket by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling
• THE IRISH GUARDS by Rudyard Kipling by Rudyard Kipling

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

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

Poems by Author and Category

The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works