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:
- Son Of A Scoundrel by Shel Silverstein
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня автомобилиста
- The Young British Soldier by Rudyard Kipling
- On a certain Lady at Court poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Robert Burns: The Bard At Inverary:
- Day’s Rain Is Done poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Cascando by Samuel Beckett
- In Memoriam A. H. H.: 82. I wage not any feud with death poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- On The Bus
- My Daughter by Preeth Nambiar
- Orchard by Nijole Miliauskaite
- The Silence In The Church
- What We Leave Behind by Robert Saltzman
- You by Thonda Sri Indrani
- Иван Бунин – Балагула
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
- Bertie the Goldfish by Ross D Tyler
- Bagua by Rose Mry Boehm
- A turn of events by Ross D Tyler
- A Schoolyard Shame by Ryan Isaacson
- 600 Kilos of Muscle and Bone by Rose Mary Boehm
- Words Of Advice by Ronald G. Auguste
- Who is the Bogeyman? by Ross D Tyler
- Wherever You Go, There You Are by Ryssel Guzman
- We Miss You So Much by Ronald G. Auguste
- Trial by Ruth Padel
- To A Wife, On Mother’s Day by Ronald G. Auguste
- Tiger Drinking at Forest Pool by Ruth Padel
- Threads of Gold by Ronald G. Auguste
- Thoughts by Ronald G. Auguste
- The useless counsellor by Ross D Tyler
- The tragic tale of Bobby Magee by Ross D Tyler
- The Scarecrow by Ross D Tyler
- The (REAL) Tale of the Tortoise and the Hare by Ross D Tyler
- The missing pen by Ross D Tyler
- The Appointment by Ruth Padel
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.