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:
- Far Within Us #2 by Vasko Popa
- Not My Enemies Ever Invade Me. by Walt Whitman
- Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- The Net by Sara Teasdale
- The Crystal Gazer by Sara Teasdale
- A Prayer in the Prospect of Death by Robert Burns
- Sonnet Of Motherhood X poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
- Security by William Stafford
- King Arthur’s Men Have Come Again by Vachel Lindsay
- Song in the Manner of Housman poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Николай Языков – Баян к русскому воину
- At Sea poem – Aleister Crowley poems | Poetry Monster
- MOURNING by Satish Verma
- Robert Burns: On The Late Captain Grose’s Peregrinations Thro’ Scotland: Collecting The Antiquities Of That Kingdom
- Two sparrows and my heart by Nizar Sartawi
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
- A Riddle Song. by Walt Whitman
- A Song. by Walt Whitman
- A Glimpse. by Walt Whitman
- An Old Man’s Thought of School. by Walt Whitman
- Pioneers! O Pioneers! by Walt Whitman
- Perfections. by Walt Whitman
- Pensive on Her Dead Gazing, I Heard the Mother of All. by Walt Whitman
- Pensive and Faltering. by Walt Whitman
- Pensive and Faltering. by Walt Whitman
- Patroling Barnegat. by Walt Whitman
- Passage to India. by Walt Whitman
- Ox Tamer, The. by Walt Whitman
- Over the Carnage. by Walt Whitman
- Out of the Rolling Ocean, the Crowd. by Walt Whitman
- Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking. by Walt Whitman
- Out from Behind this Mask. by Walt Whitman
- Others may Praise what They Like. by Walt Whitman
- Or from that Sea of Time. by Walt Whitman
- One Sweeps By. by Walt Whitman
- One Song, America, Before I Go. 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.