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:
- Владимир Маяковский – Все буржуи мчат на помощь Врангелю… (РОСТА №410)
- Lady Clare poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Дафнис подслушивает сов
- Endymion: Book III poem – John Keats poems
- Before, Behind, And Beyond poem – Alfred Austin
- To Him Who Ever Thought with Love of Me poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- A Boston Ballad, 1854. by Walt Whitman
- Robert Burns Country: In The Character Of A Ruined Farmer:
- Sonnet 4: Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend by William Shakespeare
- The Snake
- A Misty Morning by Mary Etta Mietcalf
- Life, wait for me by Martin Zakovski
- Lamentations by Siegfried Sassoon
- After the Last Glacier is Gone by Benjamin Alva Polley
- A City Remembered by Vernon Scannell
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
- Verdad Innegable by Victoria Luisa Mora Paoli
- Unsaid by Victoria Bukofske
- Unapologetic by Vikrant Sapkota
- To share by Victor A. Bueno M.
- Thrones In Heaven by Victoria Rose
- They Did Not Expect This by Vernon Scannell
- The Terrible Abstractions by Vernon Scannell
- The Men Who Wear My Clothes by Vernon Scannell
- The Loving Game by Vernon Scannell
- The Great War by Vernon Scannell
- Sunshine by Vin lan
- Snake eggs by Victor A. Bueno M.
- Silver Wedding by Vernon Scannell
- Schoolroom On A Wet Afternoon by Vernon Scannell
- They Did Not Expect This by Vernon Scannell
- Schoolroom On A Wet Afternoon by Vernon Scannell
- NOCHE MARINA by Victoria l.mora paoli
- NO SE VIVIR ASI by victoria luisa mora paoli
- Nettles by Vernon Scannell
- My Journey by Vikki Bonyata
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.