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:
- Sonnet 07 poem – John Milton poems
- Владимир Маяковский – Точеные слоны
- Brink Of Eternity by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Song of Seven Cities by Rudyard Kipling
- Владимир Корнилов – Небо
- Николай Гумилев – На берегу моря
- A Pastiche For Eve by Weldon Kees
- The Man That Poetry Made
- Children’s Children by William Barnes
- Robert Burns: Epistle To J. Lapraik, An Old Scottish Bard:
- Валерий Брюсов – Фламандцам
- Before the white chrysanthemum by Yosa Buson
- Sonnet CXV by William Shakespeare
- Spelt From Sibyl’s Leaves poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Waiting 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
- Bubblin’ Up by Shel Silverstein
- Bituminous? by Shel Silverstein
- Bigtime by Shel Silverstein
- Better Not Ask Me by Shel Silverstein
- Whatif by Shel Silverstein
- Weird-Bird by Shel Silverstein
- The Toucan by Shel Silverstein
- The Meehoo with an Exactlywatt by Shel Silverstein
- Rain by Shel Silverstein
- Rain by Shel Silverstein
- Picture Puzzle Piece by Shel Silverstein
- One Inch Tall by Shel Silverstein
- It’s Dark in Here by Shel Silverstein
- God’s Wheel by Shel Silverstein
- Forgotten Language by Shel Silverstein
- Danny O’Dare by Shel Silverstein
- Boa Constrictor by Shel Silverstein
- Beans Taste Fine by Shel Silverstein
- Batty by Shel Silverstein
- Ations by Shel Silverstein
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.