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:
- To The Honourable T. H. Esq; On the Death Of His Daughter by Phillis Wheatley
- Ок Мельникова – Сохрани
- About Troy poem – Zbigniew Herbert poems | Poetry Monster
- The Ballad Of Father O’Hart by William Butler Yeats
- Степан Щипачев – Голос
- The Force Of Prayer, Or, The Founding Of Bolton, A Tradition by William Wordsworth
- Шекспир – Про черный день – Сонет 63
- Cloris, it is not thy disdaine by Sidney Godolphin
- Addressed To Miss Macartney, Afterwards Mrs. Greville, On Reading The Prayer For Indifference by William Cowper
- South Africa by Ronald G. Auguste
- Омар Хайям – О, не растите дерево печали
- Wake Oslo up again by Philo Ikonya
- Lines Written in Windsor Forest poem – Alexander Pope
- The May-Tree by William Barnes
- 1914 V: The Soldier by Rupert Brooke
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
- Alicante Lullaby by Sylvia Plath
- Aerialist by Sylvia Plath
- Study in Hands by Théophile Gautier
- Smoke by Théophile Gautier
- Last Wish by Théophile Gautier
- Work and Play by Ted Hughes
- Wind by Ted Hughes
- Tractor by Ted Hughes
- Thrushes by Ted Hughes
- Thistles by Ted Hughes
- The Warm and the Cold by Ted Hughes
- The Thought-Fox by Ted Hughes
- The Owl by Ted Hughes
- The Minotaur by Ted Hughes
- The Harvest Moon by Ted Hughes
- The Child Is Father To The Man by Ted Hughes
- Spring & Fall: To A Young Child by Ted Hughes
- September by Ted Hughes
- Pied Beauty by Ted Hughes
- Old Age Gets Up by Ted Hughes
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.