A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)
If I’ve reached for your lines (I have)
like letters from the dead that stir the nerves
dowsed you for a springhead
to water my thirst
dug into my compost skeletons and petals
you surely meant to catch the light:
-at work in my wormeaten wormwood-raftered
stateless underground
have I a plea?
If I’ve touched your finger
with a ravenous tongue
licked from your palm a rift of salt
if I’ve dreamt or thought you
a pack of blood fresh-drawn
hanging darkred from a hook
higher than my heart
(you who understand transfusion)
where else should I appeal?
A pilot light lies low
while the gas jets sleep
(a cat getting toed from stove
into nocturnal ice)
language uncommon and agile as truth
melts down the most intractable silence
A lighthouse keeper’s ethics:
you tend for all or none
for this you might set your furniture on fire
A this we have blundered over
as if the lamp could be shut off at will
rescue denied for some
and still a lighthouse be

A few random poems:
- Strike, Churl poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Шекспир – Ты утоляешь мой голодный взор – Сонет 75
- Михаил Ломоносов – Лишь только дневной шум замолк
- The Hawk and the Babe poem – Aleister Crowley poems | Poetry Monster
- Шекспир – Я не хочу хвалить любовь мою – Сонет 21
- Robert Burns: Election Ballad: At the close of the contest for representing the Dumfries Burghs, 1790. Addressed to R. Graham, Esq. of Fintry.
- Владимир Костров – Срок настал, московская богема
- The Talisman poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Tale Of A Tub by Sylvia Plath
- Doomes-Day: The First Houre by William Alexander
- His Bargain by William Butler Yeats
- Robert Burns: Delia, An Ode : “To the Editor of The Star.-Mr. Printer-If the productions of a simple ploughman can merit a place in the same paper with Sylvester Otway, and the other favourites of the Muses who illuminate the Star with the lustre of genius, your insertion of the enclosed trifle will be succeeded by future communications from-Yours, &c., R. Burns. Ellisland, near Dumfries, 18th May, 1789.”
- Walls at Drogheda by Tomás Ó Cárthaigh
- A Prayer under the Pressure of Violent Anguish by Robert Burns
- The Mother by Patrick Pearse
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
- Fuck Israel
- Woman And The Weed poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Willie’s Ladye poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Waly, Waly poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Villion’s Ballade Of Good Counsel, To His Friends Of Evil Life poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Valentine In Form Of Ballade poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Three Portraits Of Prince Charles poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Wife Of Usher’s Well poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Twa Sisters poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Queen’s Marie poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Odyssey poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Moon’s Minion poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Loving Ballad Of Lord Bateman poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Laird Of Waristoun poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Heir Of Lynne poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Fairy’s Gift poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Elphin Nourrice poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Dowie Dens Of Yarrow poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Douglas Tragedy poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Burial Of Moliere poem – Andrew Lang poems
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.