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:
- The Princess: A Medley: Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Hare-hunting by William Somervile
- On The Queen’s Visit To London, The Night Of The 17th March 1789 by William Cowper
- The Scarecrow by Ross D Tyler
- You Look Up Pictures of Icelandic Ponies by Ruth Madievsky
- The First Extra poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Владимир Маяковский – Сказка о красной шапочке
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Прометей
- Impromptu, to Lady Winchelsea poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Solomon To Sheba by William Butler Yeats
- The Motto
- Ho, everyone that thirsteth poem – A. E. Housman
- Life and Love by Nithin Purple
- The rainy Pleiads wester poem – A. E. Housman
- Tis Time, I Think, By Wenlock Town poem – A. E. Housman
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
- One’s-Self I Sing. by Walt Whitman
- One Hour to Madness and Joy. by Walt Whitman
- Once I Pass’d Through a Populous City. by Walt Whitman
- On the Beach at Night, Alone. by Walt Whitman
- On Journeys Through The States. by Walt Whitman
- Old Ireland. by Walt Whitman
- Offerings. by Walt Whitman
- Of the Visage of Things. by Walt Whitman
- Of the Terrible Doubt of Appearances. by Walt Whitman
- Of Him I Love Day and Night. by Walt Whitman
- O You Whom I Often and Silently Come. by Walt Whitman
- O Tan-faced Prairie Boy. by Walt Whitman
- O Sun of Real Peace. by Walt Whitman
- O Star of France. by Walt Whitman
- O Living Always—Always Dying. by Walt Whitman
- O Hymen! O Hymenee! by Walt Whitman
- O Bitter Sprig! Confession Sprig! by Walt Whitman
- Now List to my Morning’s Romanza. by Walt Whitman
- Now Finale to the Shore. by Walt Whitman
- Not Youth Pertains to Me. 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.