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:
- Ode. Written On The Blank Page Before Beaumont And Fletcher’s Tragi-Comedy ‘The Fair Maid Of The In poem – John Keats poems
- Владимир Британишский – О человеке
- Омар Хайям – Если бог не услышит меня в вышине
- First Look at Mom by Nikhil Jain
- The Hand In The Dark
- Morning Poem #39 by Wanda Phipps
- Mule Song poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- Paradise Regained: The Fourth Book poem – John Milton poems
- Lifetime Of Death by Steve Sant
- Soldier an’ Sailor Too by Rudyard Kipling
- Robert Burns: The Slave’s Lament:
- Валерий Брюсов – Дождь
- Fragment From Aeschylus
- Gratitudes Of A Dozen Roses
- Ancestors by Siegfried Sassoon
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
- Иннокентий Анненский – Любовь к прошлому
- Иннокентий Анненский – Листы
- Иннокентий Анненский – Леконт де Лиль. Явление божества
- Иннокентий Анненский – Леконт де Лиль. Пускай избитый зверь, влачася на цепочке
- Иннокентий Анненский – Леконт де Лиль. Огненная жертва
- Иннокентий Анненский – Леконт де Лиль. Негибнущий аромат
- Иннокентий Анненский – Леконт де Лиль. Над синим мраком ночи длинной
- Иннокентий Анненский – Леконт де Лиль. Из стихотворения «Призраки»
- Иннокентий Анненский – Лаодамия (лирическая трагедия в 4 действиях с музыкальными антрактами)
- Иннокентий Анненский – Из участковых монологов
- Иннокентий Анненский – Из окна
- Иннокентий Анненский – Идеал
- Иннокентий Анненский – Гораций
- Иннокентий Анненский – Гармония
- Иннокентий Анненский – Франсис Жамм. Когда для всех меня не станет меж живыми
- Иннокентий Анненский – Еврипид. Вакханки (перевод)
- Иннокентий Анненский – Еврипид. Троянки (перевод)
- Иннокентий Анненский – Еврипид. Орест (перевод)
- Иннокентий Анненский – Еврипид. Киклоп драма сатиров (перевод)
- Иннокентий Анненский – Еврипид. Ион (перевод)
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.