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:
- Exiles by Marilyn Hacker
- Libation
- Омар Хайям – Чье сердце не горит любовью страстной к милой
- Cleared by Rudyard Kipling
- Lost Love Is Never Lost
- Sonnet 1: From fairest creatures we desire increase by William Shakespeare
- Thoughts in a Garden poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Water Strider
- Кариночка, любимая ты наша
- The Lilies by Wendell Berry
- Robert Burns: Ballad On The American War:
- Омар Хайям – Этот мастер всевышний
- The Window
- In the Old Age of the Soul poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Валерий Брюсов – Городу дифирамб
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
- Илона Грошева – Мой друг Евгений
- Илона Грошева – Мечтается Алине
- Илона Грошева – Любовь две синички на ветке
- Илона Грошева – Когда приходит Дима в парк
- Илона Грошева – Каждый год в себе несет воскресение
- Илона Грошева – Ира
- Иида Дакоцу – Сложено на вечере поэзии хайку в храме Номандзи
- Иида Дакоцу – Сквозь зимнюю мглу
- Иида Дакоцу – Синтоистское святилище у подножия горы в Одани
- Иида Дакоцу – С землею смешались
- Иида Дакоцу – Розу покинув
- Игорь Северянин – Sirel
- Игорь Северянин – Синее
- Игорь Северянин – Симфония
- Игорь Северянин – Шутливая рондель
- Игорь Северянин – Щит-солнце
- Игорь Северянин – Парижские Жоржики
- Игорь Северянин – Памяти В. Башкина
- Игорь Северянин – Памяти О.Н. Чюминой
- Игорь Северянин – Памяти Н.И. Кульбина
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.