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:
- Кондратий Рылеев – Не вчера ли в хороводе
- The Garden By The Bridge
- Вера Павлова – Перед дальней дорогой
- Wish If You…! by Praveen Parasar
- The Key Note poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- 1914 IV: The Dead by Rupert Brooke
- Mother, Among The Dustbins by Stevie Smith
- Two Songs for Hedli Anderson by W. H. Auden
- A Morning Letter by Stevens Cadet
- Remembrance by Maya Angelou
- A Light Woman by Robert Browning
- The man with the blue eye by Neelam Shah
- The Window
- Couplet 3 poem – Amir Khusro poems | Poems and Poetry
- Sonnet CLIII by William Shakespeare
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
- Poem of Joys. by Walt Whitman
- Proud Music of The Storm by Walt Whitman
- Here, Sailor. by Walt Whitman
- I Dream’d in a Dream. by Walt Whitman
- Turn, O Libertad. by Walt Whitman
- A Clear Midnight. by Walt Whitman
- Are You the New person, drawn toward Me? by Walt Whitman
- Ah Poverties, Wincings and Sulky Retreats. by Walt Whitman
- Soledad by Robert Hayden
- Runagate Runagate by Robert Hayden
- Perseus by Robert Hayden
- O Daedalus, Fly Away Home by Robert Hayden
- Among the Multitude. by Walt Whitman
- American Feuillage. by Walt Whitman
- An Army Corps on the March. by Walt Whitman
- All is Truth. by Walt Whitman
- A Carol of Harvest, for 1867 by Walt Whitman
- A Promise to California. by Walt Whitman
- After the Sea-Ship. by Walt Whitman
- A Boston Ballad, 1854. by Walt Whitman
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.