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:
- If by Rudyard Kipling
- Olney Hymn 24: Prayer For Children by William Cowper
- SURVIVAL by Satish Verma
- The Burnt-Out Spa by Sylvia Plath
- Walking The Marshland by Stephen Dunn
- Heaven and You by Samuel Stephen Wakdok
- Another On The Same poem – John Milton poems
- Михаил Кузмин – В густом лесу мы дождь пережидали
- Laodamia by William Wordsworth
- Hast Thou A Song For A Flower by William Gilmore Simms
- Nijole Miliauskaite – Nijole Miliauskaite
- The Sea And the Hills by Rudyard Kipling
- София Парнок – Об одной лошаденке чалой
- The Source by W. S. Merwin
- A Tribute to Mr J. Graham Henderson, The World’s Fair Judge by William Topaz McGonagall
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
- The Country Of Marriage by Wendell Berry
- Testament by Wendell Berry
- Sabbaths 2001 by Wendell Berry
- Ripening by Wendell Berry
- A Warning To My Readers by Wendell Berry
- Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front by Wendell Berry
- Like The Water by Wendell Berry
- In this World by Wendell Berry
- In A Motel Parking Lot, Thinking Of Dr. Williams by Wendell Berry
- For The Future by Wendell Berry
- Do not be ashamed by Wendell Berry
- A Meeting by Wendell Berry
- 1991-II by Wendell Berry
- 1991-I by Wendell Berry
- A Terre (being the philosophy of many soldiers) by Wilfred Owen
- Disabled by Wilfred Owen
- Anthem For Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owen
- Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen
- Conscious by Wilfred Owen
- Insensibility by Wilfred Owen
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.