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:
- The Dying of America and How to Save Her
- Storm and Sunlight by Siegfried Sassoon
- Remembrance by Maya Angelou
- Николай Рубцов – Воробей
- The New Path
- Inscription. by Walt Whitman
- Sabbaths 2001 by Wendell Berry
- Furious Wounds by Satish Verma
- Creation poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Владимир Маяковский – Голос Красной площади
- Владимир Высоцкий – Веселая покойницкая
- Владимир Маяковский – За четыре года советской власти… (Главполитпросвет №248)
- Fears Get Away
- Robert Burns: Lassie Wi’ The Lint-White Locks:
- Спиридон Дрожжин – В деревне
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
- Angry People by Roger Hayes
- You and I by Roger McGough
- Who hears the wind by Roland Zoss
- Waiting by Rohith
- The Trouble with Snowmen by Roger McGough
- The Time I Like Best by Roger McGough
- The Lesson by Roger McGough
- The Leader by Roger McGough
- The Identification by Roger McGough
- Survivor by Roger McGough
- Stubborn by Roland Flint
- Soil by Roger McGough
- Silences still voice by Rohini Bhatia Singj
- Schlummerland – Slumberland / CD by Roland Zoss
- Prayer by Roland Flint
- Ladies And Gentlemen In Outer Space by Ron Padgett
- ode to love by Rohit Sridharan
- My iPod by Roland Bastien
- Mrs Moon by Roger McGough
- Let Me Die a Youngman’s Death by Roger McGough
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.